Application Letter Topic Memo

The application letter you write must be realistic. You must find a job announcement in print or online for which you could apply (not that you actually would) now or very soon (by the end of the next academic term). Most class members, then, should not apply for the upper management position at Ford or the job in Anchorage. Don’t apply for the job you’ll be ready for in two years after you graduate. If you apply for some out-of-state job, it’s up to you to explain in your letter why you want to relocate and how you’ll do that and continue your education. It’s usually not realistic.

Various things can be applied for besides the usual paid job. For example, you can write whatever a graduate school asks for in its application materials (sometimes an essay or statement, sometimes a letter). You can apply for a paid or unpaid internship. You can apply for an organization like the Peace Corps. There are lots of possibilities. Whatever you do, however, you must supply the instructor with a copy of the job announcement, question, or instructions to which you are responding. You can copy an online announcement into your job memo, or, if you’re working with a print announcement, you can give the instructor a hard copy in class. If a print announcement is short, you can simply copy it into the memo.

So here are the instructions for the application letter topic memo. Before you turn in an application letter, write the instructor a memo about the job or other position you’ve found to apply for. You’re getting the instructor’s permission to write the letter. Describe

• the position in your own words: what education, experience, skills, personal characteristics, and so on are required by the position
• your qualifications for the position in terms of education, experience, knowledge of the organization, skills, interests, and so on.

Copy the announcement into your memo at the bottom or give the instructor a hard copy of it.