Cover letter

 COVER LETTER

The first thing a potential employer sees in your job application is the cover letter.

When you write your cover letter to include keywords,  you can ensure you have the best chances of standing out to hiring managers and passing through the ATS programs they may use.

Keywords  in a cover letter are action verbs, nouns, adjectives and phrases that relate to specific skills, abilities and other qualifications and traits that employers look for when they screen applications, resumes and cover letters. 

Action verbs and action words are probably the most common keywords and phrases that hiring managers may look for in your cover letter. 

This is because many employers like to see what you did and the outcomes of your past work performance and action words can help emphasize the experience you have.

Skills-based keywords provide evidence of how your skills and expertise match the job qualifications. 

-Solved  -Researched  -Created  -Built  -Developed   -Directed

Analyzed  -Planned  -Designed  -Taught- Trained  

- Mediated   .Networked  -Wrote -Typed -Measured  -Delegated

Results-oriented keywords

You may include words and phrases keywords  in your cover letter to highlight how you helped your past workplace reach goals and make progress towards growth and development:

-Increased  -Produced  -Gained  -Reached -Resolved

-Improved  -Persuaded  -Contributed  -Saved -Leveraged

-Innovated  -Secured  -Organized  -Upgraded

-Achieved  -Established  -Redesigned  -Recorded

Action verbs and keywords to consider using in your cover letter as they relate to your past work experience:

-Succeeded  -Managed  -Led  -Collaborated  -Communicated

-Presented  -Instructed   -Developed   -Motivated  -Monitored

-Integrated   -Guided  -Mentored  -Analyzed  -Implemented

-Initiated  -Spoke   -Applied   -Tracked

1. Read the job description carefully

Be sure you've read and reread the job description so you know exactly what the employer is looking for. 

You should notice specific keywords in the job description

These words and phrases are what you'll want to try to match with your unique experience when you 

write your cover letter.

2. Tailor your skills, experience and qualifications

Make a list of the specific keywords from the job description that match your background. 

Use these keywords exactly as you see them in the job description when you describe your professional and educational background in your letter. 

For instance, if you are applying to a software development role and you notice the job description lists requirements such as, "management experience," "coding," or other technical keywords for skills, you would include them in the form they are written. 

Additionally, only include keywords and phrases that you can relate directly to your experience.

3. Try to include a mix of keyword types

When you write your cover letter, use a combination of keywords from different types. 

For example, include a mix of skills-based, results-oriented and recognition-based keywords. 

Similarly, action verbs are highly effective at providing employers evidence of your past role, responsibilities and performance.

It's important to write naturally and include these matching words and phrases organically, so it's best to avoid forcing a keyword or phrase into your cover letter if it doesn't sound appropriate.

Incorporate strong results-oriented keywords, as these types of keywords are some of the most effective to use for highlighting what you achieved in past roles. This is important because it allows employers to get an idea of what you will bring to their company if they hire you.   

Avoid over-used phrases and buzzwords, such as "self-motivated," "determined," "hard-working" and other commonly over-used words and phrases. 

Keep your cover letter succinct and clear with only the keywords you plan to use.

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General cover letter  (sample)

Jane Chi

705 Oleander Ct.

Portland, OR 97216

555-807-5165

jane.chi@gmail.com 

June 1, 2019

Michael Cortez

Talent Acquisition

TopTier Data Analysts, Inc. 

9307 Washington Blvd. 

Seattle, WA 98109

Dear Mr. Cortez,

I am a hard-working and determined professional seeking an opportunity to succeed at TopTier Data Analysts, Inc. In my current position with Worldwide Information Tech, I led a team to consistently meet project goals a few days ahead of schedule, and we exceeded our production quota by 7%.

 I am confident that my knowledge, ability and experience will allow me to deliver successful results for any company in a range of administrative positions.

Here are highlights of my key skills:

• Effectively manage my time through careful planning and organization of work activities

• Possess an aptitude for identifying and resolving problems efficiently

• Excellent communication skills that result in positive interpersonal relationships

• Consistently meet deadlines and produce detailed, complete work at a high standard

• Repeatedly prove my ability to make sound decisions based on valid information

• In my capacity as a leader, I learn to apply new information quickly and accurately

• Strong computer skills and proficiency in MS Office

I am certain that I can be an asset in any position requiring hard work, enthusiasm and reliability. Can we schedule a meeting to discuss how I can benefit TopTier? I look forward to hearing from you shortly. The enclosed resume lists all of my relevant experience and qualifications.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Jane Chi

                    ********************

 Types of job and types of work 

A full-time job is for the whole of the normal working week. 

A part-time job is for less time than that. 

You say that someone works full-time or part-time.

A permanent job does not finish after a fixed period; 

A temporary job finishes after a fixed period. 

You talk about temporary work and permanent work.

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All these words are used in front of   job and work:

-Satisfying,stimulating,fascinating,exciting :thework is interesting and gives you positive feelings.

-Dull, boring, uninteresting, unstimulating: the work is not interesting.

-Repetitive, routine: the work involves doing the same things again and again.

-Tiring, tough, hard, demanding: the work is difficult and makes you tired.

My work is so rewarding 

'I work in advertising. I love my work! It's really rewarding and stimulating- satisfying and interesting. 

Originality and creativity are very  important in this industry, of course; we have to come up with - produce -lots of new ideas. 

'No two days are the same. I could be contacting film companies for new advertising campaigns one day and giving client presentations the next. 

I like the client contact and I am very much hands-on - involved with the productive work of the agency rather than managing it. 

'When I joined the agency, I hit it off with my colleagues immediately. I still get on well with them and there's a very good rapport between us. This is all part of my job satisfaction.'

I like the perks 

'I'm in luxury goods sales.

 I have some nice perks, like a company car.

 I have to meet demanding sales targets every month, so the work can be very 

stressful.

But I enjoy the flexibility that I have in working when I want to without someone breathing down my neck all the time. 

Unlike my husband, who has to travel into London every day, I don't have to commute to an office -I'm out seeing clients most of the time.

 My boss allows me to work from home when I'm not seeing clients. 

My office uses hot-desking, so when I do go into the office I use whichever desk is free. 

I only get two weeks a year vacation time. If there's a family emergency, 

I can take time off without having to ask my boss. 

I work quite long hours - about 60 hours a week -but I enjoy my job.' 

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Wages, salary and benefits

My name’s Luigi and I’m a hotel manager in Venice.

 I get paid a salary every month. In summer,we’re very busy, so we do overtime –work a lot of extra hours. 

The pay for this is quite good. Working in a hotel, we also get some nice

perks –for example, free meals!

I’m Ivan and I work as a waiter in Prague. 

I like my job even if I don’t earn very much: I get paid wages every week by the restaurant. 

We get the minimum wage –the lowest amount allowed by law. 

But we also get tips – money that customers leave in addition to the bill. 

Some tourists are very generous!

I'm Catherine and I'm a saleswoman based in Paris. 

I get a basic salary, plus commission: a percentage  on everything I sell. 

If I sell more than a particular amount in a year, I also get extra money - a bonus, which is nice. 

There are some good fringe benefits with this job: I get a company car, and they 

make payments for my pension, money that I'll get regularly after I stop working.

 All that makes a good benefits package.

My name's Alan.

 I'm a specialist in pay and benefits.

 Compensation and remuneration are formal words used to talk about pay and benefits, especially those of senior managers.

 Compensation package and remuneration package are used especially in the US to talk about all the pay and benefits that employees receive. 

For a senior executive, this may include share options 

(BrE) or stock options (AmE): the right to buy the company's shares at low 

prices.

Compensation is also used to talk about money and other benefits that someone

receives if they are forced to leave the organization (if they are forced to leave

the organization,perhaps after a boardroom row), perhaps after a disagreement

with other managers in what newspapers call a boardroom row. 

This money is in the form of a compensation payment or severance payment.

 If someone also receives benefits with this, the payment and the benefits form a compensation package or severance package.

In Britain, executives with very high pay and benefits may be referred to as fat cats,implying that they do not deserve this level of remuneration.

Most workers are paid (= receive money) every month and this pay goes directly into their bank account. It is called a salary.

We can express the same idea using the verb to earn:

My salary is $60,000 a year. (= I earn $60,000 a year.)

With many jobs you get (= receive) holiday pay and sick pay (when you are ill). 

If you want to ask about holidays, you can say:

 How much holiday do you get? or How many weeks’ holiday do you get?

The total amount of money you receive in a year is called your income. 

This could be your salary from one job, or the salary from two different jobs you have. 

And on this income you have to pay part to the government – called income tax.

Apart from the words pay and salary, there are also wage  and fee .

a Study the difference in the use of these words.

wage (now usually pl.) a fixed amount of money that is paid, usually every week, to an employee, 

esp. one who does work that needs physical skills or strength, rather than a job needing a college education.

salary (usually monthly or quarterly) payment for regular employment on a yearly basis pay money paid for regular work or services,

 esp. in the armed forces (the Navy, the Army, and the Air force) fee charge or payment for professional advice or services (e.g. private teachers or schools, examiners, doctors, lawyers, surveyors).

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The career ladder

 

A job for life 

Many people used to work for the same organization until they reached retirement: the age at 

which people retire, or end their working life. Career paths were clear: you could work your way 

up the career ladder, getting promotion to jobs that were more senior, with greater responsibility. 

You would probably not be demoted: moved to a less senior job. 

To leave the company, you could resign or hand in your notice. 

In-house staff or freelancers? 

Modco has outsourced many jobs previously done by in-house personnel: outside companies clean the offices, transport goods and collect money from customers. 

This allows Modco to concentrate on its main business activities. 

Modco uses more freelancers, independent people who may work for several different companies, and they employ people for short periods on 

temporary contracts. 

Modco expects flexibility, with people moving to different jobs when 

necessary, but for many employees, this means job insecurity, the feeling that they may not be in their job for long. 

The way that they are doing their job is discussed at performance reviews: 

regular meetings with their manager.

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Personnel and human resources 

In larger organizations there is a human resources department (HRD) that deals with pay, recruitment, etc. 

This area is called human resources (HR) or human resource management 

(HRM). Another name for this department is the personnel department. 

The process of finding people for particular jobs is recruitment or, especially in American English, hiring. 

Someone who has been recruited is a recruit or, in American English, a hire. 

The company employs or hires them; they join the company. 

A company may recruit employees directly or use outside recruiters, recruitment agencies or employment agencies.

 Outside specialists called headhunters may be called on to headhunt people for very important jobs, persuading them to leave the organizations they already work for. 

This process is called headhunting

Dagmar Schmidt is the head of recruitment at a German telecommunications company. 

She talks about the selection process, the methods that the company uses to recruit people:

‘We advertise in national newspapers. We look at the backgrounds of applicants: their experience of different jobs and their educational qualifications. 

We don’t ask for handwritten letters of application as people usually apply by e-mail; handwriting analysis belongs to the 19th century.

We invite the most interesting candidates to a group discussion. 

Then we have individual interviews with each candidate. 

We also ask the candidates to do written psychometric tests to assess their intelligence and personality.

After this, we shortlist three or four candidates. 

We check their references by writing to their referees: previous employers or teachers that candidates have named in their applications.

 If the references are OK, we ask the candidates to come back for more interviews. 

Finally, we offer the job to someone, and if they turn it down we have to think again. 

If they accept it, we hire them. 

We only appoint someone if we find the right person.

Fred had already  refused two job offers when he went for a discussion to see if he was suitable for the job.

 They looked at his driving licence and contacted previous employers Fred had mentioned in his application. 

A few days later, the supermarket asked him if he would like the job and Fred  said yes.

Harry didn’t hear anything for six weeks, so he phoned the company. 

They told him that they had received a lot of requests for the job. 

After looking at the life stories of the  people asking for the job and looking 

at what exams they had passed during their education, the company 

 had chosen six people to interview, done tests on their personality and intelligence and they had then given someone the job.

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LOSING YOUR JOB

 I you do something wrong, you are ...

- fired 

- sacked 

- terminated

If you've done nothing wrong, you are ... 

-laid off

-made redundant 

- offered early retirement

Employees who are made redundant may get advice about finding another job, 

retraining, etc. This is called outplacement advice.

                 *************

Bullying 

If someone such as a manager bullies an employee, they use their position of power to hurt or threaten them, for example verbally. 

Someone who does this is a bully. 

Sexual harassment is when an employee behaves sexually towards another in a 

way that they find unwelcome and unacceptable. 

The related verb is harass. 

Discrimination 

If people are treated differently from others in an unfair way, they are discriminated against. 

If a woman is unfairly treated just because she is a woman, she is a victim of sex 

discrimination.

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Limited liability 

- I'm the managing director and main - shareholder of a small electronics company in Scotland called Advanced Components Ltd.

 'Ltd' means limited company. 

The other shareholders and I have limited liability: we do not have to use our personal property, such as a , house or car, to pay the company's debts.

I'm the chief executive of a British company called Megaco PLC. 

'PLC' means public limited company, so anybody can  buy and sell shares in Megaco on the stock  market. 

I'm CEO of Bigbucks Inc. 'Inc' stands for 1 ( incorporated.- his shows that we are a 1 corporation, a term used especially in the 

US for companies with limited liability.

        

                 **************

BANK

Traditional banking 

I'm Lisa. I have an account at my local branch of one of the big high-street banks. 

I have a current account for writing cheques, paying by debit card and paying bills. It's a joint account with my husband. Normally, we're in the black, but sometimes we spend more money than we have in the account and we go into the red. 

This overdraft is agreed by the bank up to a maximum of £500, but we pay quite a high interest rate on it. 

BrE: cheque; AmE: check 

I also have a deposit account or savings account for keeping money 

longer term. 

This account pays us interest (but not very much, especially after tax!). 

We have a credit card with the same bank too. 

 

Buying with plastic is very convenient. We pay off what we spend each month, so we don't pay interest. 

The interest rate is even higher than for overdrafts! 

Like many British people, we have a mortgage, a loan to buy our house. 

BrE: current account, cheque account    AmE: checking account 

New ways of banking 

My name's Kevin. I wasn't happy with my bank. 

There was always a queue, and  on the bank statement that they sent each month they took money out of my  account for banking charges that they never explained. 

So I moved to a bank that offers telephone banking.

 I can phone them any time to check my account balance (the amount I have in my account), transfer money to other accounts and pay bills. 

Now they also offer Internet banking. I can manage my account sitting at my 

computer at home.' 

Personal investing 

Lisa again: 

We have a savings account at a building society which is going to be demutualized  and turned into a bank with shareholders. All the members will get a windfall, a special once-only payment of some of the society's assets to its members. 

We have some unit trusts, shares in investment companies that put money from 

small investors like me into different companies. 

My cousin in the US calls unit  trusts mutual funds. 

I also pay contributions into a private pension, which will give me a regular income when I stop working.

 I've never joined a company pension scheme and the government state pension is very small!.

                   

 Useful expressions connected with work.

1) to work shift-work [nights one week, days next]

2) to be on flexi-time [flexible working hours]

3) to work nine-to-five [regular day work]

4) to go/be on strike [industrial dispute]

5) to get the sack [thrown out of your job]

6) to be fired [more formal than ‘get the sack’; often used as a

direct address: ‘You’re fired!’]

7) to be dismissed [more formal than ‘be fired’]

8) to be made redundant [thrown out, no longer needed]

9) to be laid off [more informal than ‘made redundant’]

10) to give up work [e.g. in order to study]

11) to be on / take maternity leave [expecting a baby]

12) to be on / take sick leave [illness]

13) to take early retirement [retire at 55]

14) to be a workaholic [love work too much]

15) to be promoted [get a higher position]

16) to apply for a job [fill in forms, etc.]

17) to fall behind in one’s work [be late in doing something]

18) to work overtime/overnight [additional time worked/during night]

19) to work full-time/part-time [regular employment/temporary job]

20) to do odd jobs [occasional job]

21) to have steady work [fixed, permanent job]

22) to take a day off [day free from work]

23) to ask for leave of absence [permission to be absent from work]

24) to be on the dole/unemployment pay [government

unemployment pay]

25) to shirk work [avoid work]

26) to give smb (a week’s, a month’s, etc.) notice [to tell someone

that they must leave their job in a week, a month, etc.]

12 Using the expressions above say what you think has happened

or is happening.

1) I lost my job. They had to make cutbacks.

2) He’s enjoying life on a pension, although he’s only 58.

3) One week it’s six-to-two, the next it’s nights.

4) They’ve made her General Manager as from next month!

5) I was late so often, I lost my job.

6) I get in at nine o’clock and go home at five.

7) Your trouble is you are obsessed with work!

8) I’m a student, so I’ll be able to work only a few hours a day.

9) Sandy has caught a bad cold and has been off work for a week.

10) Harrison has now his mother visiting him, so he asked for

permission not to come to work for a couple of days.

11) David lost his job last month and now he earns his living by

any job that turns up.

12) Try as he may, Larry still fails to cope with all of this work.

NB: as from in sentence 4) or as of mean ‘on and after a given

date or time’ (formal)

e.g. I’m not working now; the baby’s due in 3 weeks.

She’s on maternity leave.