Monday, July 7, 2008

Writing a Lush Cover Letter


CV Cover Letter, first impression is last impression.

Usually employer reads CV cover letter first and when he/she finds it the clicking one, he moves to the CV or resume and consequently your interview and other things.

Good CV Cover Letter must follow these Key Points.

  • CV Cover letter must be directed to some person. What better is that you try to find the name of person with hiring power and use this name instead of phrases like “dear sir/madam” or “to whom it may concern”. If you cannot find the name, its good for better writing skill that you address the CV cover letter to a title, or to the Human Resources department.

  • Do not take your CV Cover Letter light and consider it as a professional business letter.

  • Length of resume Cover Letter should not exceed one page or one page CV Cover Letter is very ideal for better writing skills.

  • Use the same type and color of paper that was used to print resume for good impressive CV Cover Letter.

  • Resume Cover Letter should be printed on quality paper of white or very light color.

  • Explain briefly what you offer and what you want and doing this do not forget that CV Cover Letter must be in accordance with company needs and requirements.

  • Remember that your CV or resume talks about you and your cover letter talks about the company. For all this reason bring from your CV the aspects relevant to the position (your abilities, competence and achievements). For better writing skills, your purpose shouldn’t be making new summaries of your CV.

  • The function of resume cover letter should be to convince, to persuade the reader that you are the most suitable candidate for the position.

  • Take some information about company and write it in your cover letter. This will show your enthusiasm and interest in the company.
  • Better writing skills demands that you check spelling and grammar before finalizing the letter.

  • Better cover letter writing skills demands that you use short phrases and keep your CV cover letter concise. Ideal CV cover letter shouldn’t exceed four or five paragraphs.

  • A lush resume cover letter always use action verbs and better writing skills also demands this.

  • Using “I” more times give an impression of egoistic image of candidate. There fore, remove the element of “I” from your resume cover letter.

  • Do not use copies of CV Cover Letters or paragraphs you have earlier send to some hiring power. Every time use different CV Cover Letter means targeting the respective employer.

  • You want to make your cover letter special, do not forget to mention extra qualification (courses) you have done.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Report


Good report writing skill includes the capability to write and compile long, complex reports and this is a must requirement for almost all managers. It is very important that the reports you prepare are understandable and perceptive. It will also be appreciable if it has reasonable arguments that build persuasively to recommendations that have an excellent prospect of being accepted.

What is a Report?

A report is a planned written presentation aimed to invite readers in response to some definite purpose. Report can have different varieties, but generally the function is same that is giving description of something, to respond a query, or to suggest a solution to some problem.

What should be the characteristics of an effective report?

An effective report is always supposed to be

  • Appropriate to its purpose and audience;
  • precise;
  • consistent;
  • clear;
  • to the point; and
  • well organized.
A report has its dominant role over other written communication is that it follows
standardized format. This thing specially facilitate readers to find and focus on specific
pieces of information and is the part of good report writing skills. Here I am specifying
a format that most reports use, however you can modify this format according to your desire and need.
  1. Letter of Transmittal
  2.  Title Page
  3. Table of contents
  4. Executive Summary
  5. Foreword (Introduction)
  6. Debate (Discussion)
  7. Conclusions
  8. Recommendations/Suggestions
  9. Citations
·         Weblography
·         Bibliography
·         Other references

Letter of Transmittal:

Letter of transmittal accompanies the report. Letter of transmittal can also be in the form of memo of minute form.
The function of letter of transmittal is to personalize the report for specific reader and point the segments of report
which can be the matter of interest for reader.

Title Page:

Title page of report generally contains the following information:

  •  Title of report
  •  Authority for report
  •  Author’s name, position and qualifications
  • Place of Origin (For e.g. University)
  • Date
 
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents are very important in any report. It should list all titles and major
headings listed in order and should have proper page numbering. Standard page
numbering begins with Introduction. The Executive Summary is usually numbered
with lower case Roman numerals
(i, ii, iii, iv, etc.)
Body of Report:
Body of report consist of four elements.
 
  1. the introduction, 
  2. the discussion, 
  3. the conclusion and the recommendations.
 
Introduction:
 
While writing introduction of report, you should keep these things into mind.
 
  • Giving necessary background of the report,
  • What are the aims, premises, scope, limitations of your report?
  • Possible benefits for audience you are writing for?
  • If special terms use in the report, define them clearly
  • Explanation of arrangement of report
  • Last but not the least, explain why report is necessary.
 
Discussion:
 
Discussion part of report explain, investigate and evaluates the procedures, data, consequences,
relationships, visual material, methods and outcomes in the report.
Discussion part of report is the main body of the report. Perfect discussion should follow these guidelines.
 
  • Use headings and sub-headings,
  • Keep overall pitch of discussion part at an appropriate level,
  • Organize material logically,
  • Use clear, concise language,
  • Support your arguments with concrete examples,
  • Use of charts and statistics where necessary.
 
Conclusion:
 
Conclusions are drawn from evidence, examination of facts, interpretation presented in the discussion.
In conclusion no new material should be introduced.
Good report writing skills demands that conclusion section of report should give:
  • Key points
  • Main findings
  • Conclusion.
 
Recommendations:
 
The recommendation section is not necessarily part of every report.
If we are giving recommendations, we should keep following things in mind.
Recommendations should present:
 
  • informed opinions,
  • suggestion
  • possible actions to be taken
  • application and recommendations
Executive Summary
Executive summary is very critical part of report writing skills. It is the concise summary
presentation of the essential elements of the report, from introduction to recommendations.
Executive summary of report should be the real reflection of whole report. It should be
  • independent, 
  • comprehensive,
  • Clear,
  • Concise (10-15% of the length of the report)
Precisely, executive summary should include
the summary of following:
  • Purpose
  • Scope
  • Accomplishments
  • Key points
  • Conclusions
  • Suggestions

Monday, June 9, 2008

Million worth points for Better Essay Writing



  • For better essay writing what you need to do is first select an appropriate topic for your essay/paper/dissertation.
  • Choose basic idea for your essay/dissertation. For Example: IT experts always face great deal of changes and challenges.
  • Essay writing demands that you divide your essay/dissertation into introduction, body and summary paragraphs.
  • Introductory paragraph of your essay/paper should ideally begin with an interesting and attention grabbing sentence and this is must for your better writing skills. For Example: The age we are living, the concepts and notions are totally changed and all headed by some thing new and judge what is it, it’s whole sole is the magic of Information Technology.
  • If you think there is need to introduce any thing, introduce it in the beginning, and later you can give details.
  • When it comes to finish your introductory paragraph of your paper/dissertation, finish it with short summary or goal statement and this is must for better writing skills. For example: The blessings of IT is unlimited and the time make it compulsory for us get expertise in the field and only then we can move forward.
  • When you are writing an essay/dissertation, it happens that in two or three paragraphs the ideas presented in the introductory paragraph are developed.
  • In body paragraphs of your paper/dissertation, you can give detailed information and examples.
  • Better writing skills demands that You develop the central idea in the body paragraph and finish it with summary of that idea. It will be good giving at least two examples or facts in each body paragraph of essay/dissertation to support central idea.
  • The last paragraph is summary paragraph and it is aimed to summarize your essay/dissertation.
  • Its good idea to begin summary paragraph by swiftly restating the principal ideas of your body paragraphs of your paper.
  • It will be very ideal that your second to last sentence restate your basic thesis of the essay/dissertation. For Example: The field of information Technology no doubt is the need of present business state and the present society.
  • For better writing skills, we suggest that you give your final statement based on what you have shown in the essay and it consist of future prediction. For Example: Yes this is sure what I have written here is true, but under all truths lays the fact to best utilize the functionality.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Business Email Writing.


Practical Aspects of Business Email


The field of Information Technology has spread its arms to the extend that now our most communication is via internet/email and not old postage system.

Here, I am sharing some tips to help you out, when you are writing business letters through email.

  • Heading, your address, recipient’s address and date are not must ingredients in any business email.
  • Use a descriptive subject line in your business email.
  • Avoid using unsuitable, silly email addresses in your business email, and register some professional sounding address.
  • Avoid special formatting and tabs in your business email.
  • Keep everything to the left margin in your business email.
  • Keep your business email formal, just because it’s an email and soft copy is not excuse for informality.
  • Usually email readers do not want to spent much time in reading and want to get any thing in glance, so for this matter keep your letter less than 80 characters wide.
  • I suggest that in your business email you do not give attachments by yourself unless one are requested by recipient.

Business Letters


How you define Business Letter?

  • Business letter is a formal way of communicating between two or more parties.
  • Business letters can be informational, persuasive, motivational or promotional.
  • Business letters are most common type of business correspondence and differ from memo in many aspects.

How Business letter differ from memo?

  • Letters circulate outside the organization, rather than remaining within the organization.
  • Letters are also used to communicate sensitive messages and therefore do not follow direct organizational patterns.
  • Letters can also be written with the purpose to convince or persuade reader.
  • Letters comprise of unique format.

Elements of Good Letter.

  1. Most important element of writing a good letter is first identifying audience you are writing for. If you are writing for your customer, consider that customer do not know any thing about your product and you need to define product features from scratch and most prominently those features in which you thing he can have most interest.
  1. The next important element is that you make sure you have presented your objective in a clear and concise manner. What you need to do is just get to the point and do not go to unnecessary details.
  1. One very important thing is to remain professional no matter what kind of letter you are writing. Remain polite and courteous even if it is a complain letter.

A Typical Business Letter - Block Format.

Company Logo


Company Name
Company Address

Date

Recipient’s Name
Recipient’s Title
Recipient’s Company
Recipient’s Address

Salutation:

Main Text: - Introduction

- Body

- Conclusion

Closing,

Signature

Sender’s Name and Title

Attachments:/Enclosures:/CC

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Writing an appreciative Memo

Memos

Memos and letters are the types of communication that are most commonly used in business communication. Both of them are used for similar purposes, But memo is some how quiet different from letters.


The main points where we can see the clear difference are:
Memorandums are very commonly used within an organization as a part of internal communication.

· Memos are usually non-traditional and direct in style.

· Memos do not pay attention to any thing like salutation.

· Memos are short and to the point.

· Memos even do not have complimentary closing.

· Memos’ follow identical format that is very different from letter

Memo Format:

Memorandum

Date:

To:

From:

Subject:

Text of Memo

Important things to must remember about memos:

  • The body or message area of memo is the “core” of memo. Your message here must be concise, clear good-written and well organized.
  • To make your point prominent and readable you can use headings, subheadings and so on.
  • Use of bullets and numbering is also a good idea to write list of things.
  • You can also give conclusion, if you wish to make request.
  • Your memo for instance continues to a second page, there is no need to use letterhead or repeat the date:, To:, From:, Subject etc.
  • If there is some attachments, add the notification at the very end of memorandum, right above the bottom margin and against the left margin. Identify attachment on the following way—Attachment: Exhibit I.

Creative Writing, your need

What is Creative writing?

Creative writing is supposed to be any writing which can be fiction, nonfiction, journalistic, academic and literature. The work we can find in many forms such as novels, epics, short stories, plays/dramas, autobiography/memoir and poems etc.

The important thing with writing is to be creative and it is not the product of plagiarism. In this context we can say that creative writing is writing of the original mind of creater and is more contemporary and process oriented name for literature.

Key Steps, getting your self started with Creative writing.

Step 1: Be kind to yourself, start small.

Step 2: Create on regular basis.

Step 3. Experiment. Play. Enjoy.

Steps defined.

Step 1: Be kind to yourself, start small.

It happens to many of us that we feel very uncomfortable taking initiative of starting anything. Usually we waste lot of time this way and left alone with blank piece of paper and bulk of ideas in our mind.

What we need to overcome this problem is pick small project first. It can be any thing like; a poem, an article, dialogs or any thing else.

Step 2: Create on regular basis.

As any this you want to accomplish and/or achieve you need to make it habit for you. This will help reach your true potential.

You should give regular time each day to create. You can start with minimum of 15 minutes and gradually increase it. I make you assure, you definitely will find huge difference to your creative output.

Step 3. Experiment. Play. Enjoy.

As you already have taken the step, now is your time. Enjoy exploring new ideas, new characters, new ways of expressing yourself and you creative mind.

Once you have taken the step, your learning starts; which ways you write most effectively, which criteria of writing you most enjoy and what you would like to experiment next time.

Have the attitude created that creative writing is an enjoyable experience, it makes huge difference in quality of writing you produce.

Tip 1: If you get bored of one type of writing, you do not need to give up, just switch to a different type of writing and tried a pattern you have never tried before.

Tip 2: Writing more and more and writing the different ways, richer will be your skill of creative writing.