Business communications letter

1. Business communications letter What do you want to communicate to your contact?

2. Today you need to complete several things. This will take a great deal of focus. • Your task: • Create a business communications letter for your contact to the prospective higher education institution and send it to 3 places. • You will need to create and turn in (in electronic form if you wish) a copy of your resume. • I will provide you with the information, you need to provide the results.

3. Purpose • Why are you writing this letter? • Is it to advertise / communicate a new business opportunity? Is this a complaint letter? Is this letter a part of an ongoing communication with another organization or person? • The main idea is to know why you are writing this letter. • This makes sure that you don’t digress from the reason why you are communicating with an organization or a person in the first place. And you can write the content of the letter accordingly.

4. Technical points • Like every typical letter, the letter should contain You or your organization’s name and address, and the date on the top right-hand corner. Often, when letters are sent by post, they are sent on company stationery. This may usually contain these details. In this case, it is not required to repeat the obvious.

5. Technical points (continued) • This rule is pretty relaxed in e-mail communications for business reasons. • However, most business e-mails carry a signature of the organization in an image format at the end of the mail, which contains the name, address, logo of the company and the details of the sender such as his designation and contact details.

6. Reference • The next part is the Reference. • In typical letters sent between organizations or letters sent by post, there is often an alphanumeric reference number. This can be an organization’s internal reference number. • While replying to a letter, it is important therefore, to quote the reference number of the letter you had received. You can quote this reference in the body of the letter in the form • "With reference to your letter, ref num ABCD/03/07…" or "This is with reference to your letter, ref num ABCD/03/07, dated 12th March, 2007…". • Your organization’s internal reference number can also be quoted before the salutation part of the letter.

7. Reference-In business e-mails • In business e-mails, this reference is often quoted in the ‘Subject’ part of the e-mail, and is often a statement or a phrase such as "Re: Business Proposal."

8. The Body of the Letter • This is the actual communication that you are sending out. • Keeping in mind the purpose of the letter, state the reason for the communication within the first paragraph of the letter body. Then in the subsequent paragraphs, you can write more. Be sure that the language used is formal and that your points are stated clearly and concisely.

9. Enclosures • If you are attaching any documents along with the letter, please mention that at the end of the letter, after the closing, in the format: "Encl:" followed by the list of the documents.

10. Email enclosures • In an e-mail, you can mention this in the first paragraph of the body of the letter itself in the format: "Please find attached…".

11. Closing Remarks • In the Closing Remarks section, you create a platform for further interaction with statements such as "Looking forward to hearing from you", and "Please feel free to contact us with any queries, comments or suggestions" or "Thanks for your help" or "Looking forward to meeting you…".

12. Closing of the Letter • After this section, you move to the Closing of the Letter. A simple, "Yours Sincerely", or a "Sincerely" should be followed by your signature, name and designation.

13. Other • The general trend is that the formality of language is comparatively more relaxed while communicating via e-mails. • Remember, the purpose of any communication is to convey a thought or an idea or something to another person. It is useful, therefore, to make sure you know what you are writing about and that you convey it in such a manner that the other person will understand what you have to say. Thus it is important to communicate in a way that avoids any confusion, and clearly conveys your thoughts. • *Remember to have a professional email address that conveys the impression that you are a quality applicant.

14. The Resume’ • The first section of your resume should include information on how the employer can contact you. • First, Last NameStreet AddressCity, State, Zip Phone (Cell/Home)Email Address

15. Objective (optional)What do you want to do? If you include this section it should be a sentence or two about your employment goals. A customized objective that describes why you are the perfect candidate for the job can help your resume stand out from the competition.

16. Career Highlights / Qualifications (optional) • A customized section of your resume that lists key achievements, skills, traits, and experience relevant to the position for which you are applying can serve dual purposes. It highlights your relevant experience and lets the prospective employer know that you have taken the time to create a resume that shows how you are qualified for the job.

17. Experience • This section of your resume includes your work history. List the companies you worked for, dates of employment, the positions you held and a bulleted list of responsibilities and achievements. • Company #1City, StateDates Worked • Job TitleResponsibilities / Achievements • Company #2City, StateDates Worked • Job TitleResponsibilities / Achievements

18. EducationIn the education section of your resume, list the colleges you attended, the degrees you attained, and any special awards and honors you earned. • College, DegreeAwards, Honors • SkillsInclude skills related to the position / career field that you are applying for i.e. computer skills, language skills. • References available upon requestThere is no need to include references on your resume. Rather, have a separate list of references to give to employers upon request. Source About.com