SITUATIONS : How to Write for.--When men are face to face with the necessity of getting employment, the question of how to write a satisfactory application becomes an important one. How few men realise the possibilities of writing with a view to securing an appointment is proved by the employer who inserts an advertisement in a paper such as the Daily Telegraph or the Manchester Guardian. His appointment may be a simple one for the ordinary qualifications of a book-keeper or a' clerk, and the three-line advertisement will probably draw hundreds of applications. The possible employer may not know any one of his applicants, and probably forms his opinion of them by the letters they send, and when he comes to go through the three hundred applications, it may be said of fully two hundred and ninety-five that there is not a single reason why he should turn to any particular one in the group. The man who is applying for au appointment is too apt to say all the obvious things, and too much inclined to include all the facts that he might well leave out, and to leave out all the facts which he ought to put in. He approaches the task in a perfunctory way, modelling his eflbrt on a traditional style, and when the letter comes to be opened by the man who has the appointment to give, it is almost identical with hundreds of letters sent in by other applicants.
In the matter of writing a good business application for a situation, much must be left to the discretion of the man who is writing. Situations adver tised vary in their details, and a model letter which would answer all purposes Could not be devised, and even if it were given it would be so universally adopted that it would become more stereotyped than the older methods. But some broad general hints may be given, which might improve almost every letter of application. The man Nvho would write a successful letter of application should start by choosing good paper and envelopes. In such a matter the little things count, and letters addressed on poor paper often convey an adverse impression. A man might be perhaps the most capable and the most efficient applicant for an appointment out of the three hundred sent in, and his qualifications would not certainly be altered by the quality of the paper on which he wrote, but the fact remains that in things of which they have no knowledge, men are prone to judge by appearances, and poverty stricken paper suggests the failure or incompetent.
Some employers of labour have agreed that there is nothing which stamps the application so much as the opening sentences. When one reads two or three hundred letters of this type, it is surprising how often the same phrases crop up. "In reply to your advertisement in the Daily Telegraph of December 22nd" is the opening of nearly every letter, and the maddening reiteration makes any deviation from this rule extremely acceptable. Such an opening, while being extremely correct, is the most obvious, and the employer at once forms the impression of a man who is not too fertile in ideas. So much might be said of similar overworked phrases used by the man who is looking for a situation. " Referring to your advertisement," " Iu response to your advertisement," "I saw your advertisement in the Daily Telegraph," and such phrases, are all overworked alternatives to the first one quoted.
It is difficult to give alternatives, because alternatives generally adopted take on the same stereotyped flavour, but a few suggestions might be made which would set the mind of the man, who has the task of sel ting forth his qualifications to a prospective employer, working in the right direction. He might begin his letter by stating that "I was interested in your adver tisement in yesterday's Daily Telegraph," &c., or "I think if you were to examine my credentials you would find that they would qualify me for the appointment you are advertising in the Daily 'Telegraph," or again, "Applying for the position you are advertising, I think a consideration of my qualifications would justify me in taking up your time by my applica tion." These illustrations might be multiplied indefinitely, and they are not given as representing either the limit of literary style or the highest possible note of excellence in penning an application. They are suggested as methods of jumping off the usual line, which would prevent the writer's letter being classified with two hundred more letters starting practically with the same words—an advantage in itself.