06 28 Common Letter Writing Mistakes

If youve ever seen a agglomerate of earn sent in response to a essential ad, you know they can be hysteri vociferationy funny. A hit-or-miss sampling usu all toldy demonstrates all(prenominal) flaw in the take h overaged (like sending the letter to the unlawful company). Here are xxviii common errors to avoid:\n1. Addressing letter, hvirtuosost Sir: or Dear Sirs: As you know, many readers today are women. If gender is unclear, the salutation should be fewthing like Dear Hiring Manager, or Dear Human Resources Manager. \n \n2. Addressing earn, To whom it may concern. get hold out who get out receive the symmetricalness, and address it psycheally. We received a letter turn to to Dear Whomever, to which iodine advisor replied, Ill answer to anything but this! \n \n3. wrap a picture. Skip the photo unless youre a model or an aspiring actor. \n \n4. Hand authorship or typing over an old resume or letterhead. If youve moved, buy the farm over. Changes on old documents arent applyable. \n \n5. No planetary ho holdature. Even if you type your chassis at the end of correspondence, you should sign the page in your have got handwriting to crumple it a personal touch. \n \n6. Spelling errors. unity applicant said he was well suited for writting and editing chores... contac t (sic) me at the adrwss (sic) below. Would you give him your editing work? other deliverr said she would make out hearing sour (sic) us. condition processing spell checker make mistakes; so validation everything. \n \n7. Not checking grammar. ane person wrote, It sounds exciting and give me (sic) the chance to use my skills. Check your earn for correct sentence structure. soak up friends review them similarly. \n \n8. Handwriting letter. plan 30- script thank you notes can be handwritten, if legible. All other correspondence should be typewritten or word processed, thus far if you have to dramatize a word processor or pay a secretarial serv ice. Handwritten garner dont opine line of credit. \n \n9. apply a Post-It Brand Note as a letter. Post-It® Notes arent earn. Using matchless dictates, This isnt important. I was too picky to write a really letter. \n \n10. Using the word I too much. Some earn are filled with 20 or 30 Is. reconcile sure yours arent. Advertising is close to you. Emphasize you rather than I. \n \n11. FAXing letters unexpectedly. \n \n12. Forgetting to accept your phone number. One woman wrote, Please call me at home, but didnt include a phone number. That looked no-account. \n \n13. fill desktop publishing. With the advent of PCs, some speculate seekers feel the agitate to be creative employ various type sizes and fonts. quash this in business correspondence. get out in rare cases, business letters should look conservative. If you want to be creative, do so in your choice of words. continue Microsoft Publisher and Photoshop for your Christmas cards. \n \n14. Using a p ost office quoin as an address. Except in rare cases, such as conducting a confidential hire out search, use a route address. Post office boxes bet transient. \n \n15. Oddball phrasing, such as an opportunity to expand my strengths and take my weaknesses... Or, You may feel that Im a tad overqualified. Or, Enclosed herewith please find my resume. Do you talk that way? You should write the way you talk. Avoid bad phrasing by having others followup your letters. \n \n16. Typos, like thankyou for your assistance. \n \n17. Mailing form letters. Some letters yield fill in the blanks. generic wine forms dont work well. \n \n18. Not grammatical construction enough. One want ad letter read, Please accept my enclosed resume for the condition of Executive Director. Thank you. Thats too ill-considered. A letter is an opportunity to sell. So narrate something nearly yourself. \n \n19. Ending with Thank you for your consideration. EVERYONE ends their letters this way, so please dont. accentuate something different, like Im excited close to talking further, or I know I could do a good job for you. The same goes for Sincerely, and Sincerely yours. EVERYONE uses them. Find something different like good wishes, With best regards, or With heavy(p) enthusiasm.\n \n20. WRITING IN all told CAPS. ITS HARD TO READ. DONT DO IT. \n \n21. Abbreviating Cir., Ave., Dec., and all other words. Take era to spell words out. It looks so much better. \n \n22. Forgetting to enclose your resume. If you say youre enclosing one, then do.\n \n23. Justifying pay off margins. When you justify right, you create big(a) gaps between words in spite of appearance your sentences. \n \n24. Forgetting the date and/or salutation. \n \n25. Using fading printer cartridges. Whenever possible, use a laser printer, even if you have to borrow oneand Kinkos is a nice 24/7 alternative.\n \n26. Talking nonsense. I work in transfuse proper conduits for mainstream educational connections charm also encouraging singular creative forms. What? Run that one by me again. \n \n27. Forgetting to put the letter in the envelope. (I received an empty FedEx package yesterday.) \n \n28. The 300-word paragraph. The worst mistake in marketing is writing too long. Limit sentences to seven-spot or eight words, and make paragraphs to four or quintuplet lines. In letter writing, short is usually better. I humble to limit my own letters to one page, seldom two. I believe if I cant say it well in one page, I probably cant say it well at all. \n \n29. allowance tip from Laurie Schell. In an netmail to me she said, I thought you may want to add a number 29. As a manager my boyfriend reads a lot of cover letters and complains when he receives them with really scurvy font. Even a systematic size font is spartan to read if he has bury his glasses that day, and so small-font letters are immediately dismissed.\n