How to Write a Covering Letter

Do your research

Before you sit down to write your letter do some research on the company and into the role to which you are applying. The easiest way to do this is on the Internet. Be sure you know exactly what the company does and how they are placed among-st their competitors.

Try to gauge what the company’s business plan is. For example if they have spent a lot of money on a flashy website they could be hoping to expand more into online sales. As accurately as you can try to, know exactly what will be expected of you should you get the job. For example what are the duties of a marketing manager and what qualities they should posses?

Carrying out research shows to the employer that you have initiative and that you are genuinely interested in the company, it will also allow you to use style and terminology that is appropriate to the audience. For example the company may be relaxed or very formal, new or established, rapidly expanding or in the doldrums.

If you are applying for an advertised position make sure that the job advert is in front of you and refer to it frequently.

Addressing your covering letter

It is imperative that you address your letter carefully. After spending time wording it to perfection you do not want it to be directed to the wrong person or to go astray.

If you are applying for an advertised vacancy there is probably a contact name on that advert, and so address your letter to that person.

If you are writing to a company for a job when they have not advertised a vacancy, the chances are that unless you have contacts on the inside you will not know the name of the person you need to write to. In this case you can address your letter to the manager of the specific departments to which you are applying, for example Marketing Manager, Sales Manager, otherwise you can send it to the Human Resources Manager or Recruitment Manager. Visit the company’s website and see if you can track down the name of a relevant recipient. Alternatively give the company a call and ask for the name of the head of department to which you are applying.

You should make sure that the recipient’s name, department and address details on the envelope are the same as at the top of the letter.

Beginning the letter

• Dear Mr Coxon – If you know the name of the person to whom you are writing
• Dear Ms Chambers – If you are not sure of the marital status of the female recipient
• Dear Sir/Madam – If you are in totally in the dark as to the name of the recipient

What content to include in your cover letter

The opening paragraph should be short and hard-hitting. Begin with an arresting sentence in which you explain why it is you are writing, for example ‘I would like to be considered for the position of Marketing Manager’.

If you are applying for an advertised position then say where you saw the advert, ‘ In response to the Marketing Manager job vacancy advertised in ‘Marketing Weekly’. If someone referred you to your contact, mention your friend’s referral in this section.

Examples of good opening paragraphs:

• In response to the advertised position in The Guardian on July 12th, please consider my CV in your search for a Client/Server Architect.
• I was pleased to hear from Jeremy Green that you will soon have a vacancy for a Marketing Assistant. I am very interested in this position, and I think that with my skills I could be an asset to your company.
• Having recently read in The Times of your company’s plans for expansion, I am writing to establish whether this will involve an increase in personnel. As a final year business student at Durham University, I am seeking a position in January that will develop my marketing and finance skills.
• I am writing to apply for the Photographic Assistant position advertised in the November 1 listing of Car Magazine.

The Second Paragraph

Why should an employer be interested in hiring you? Briefly describe your professional and academic qualifications that are relevant to the position. If the job was advertised refer to all of the required skills written therein.

The Third Paragraph

Emphasise what you can do for the company, not vice versa. Outline a relevant career goal, for example if you are applying for Sales positions do not say that you are training to be an airline pilot. Incorporate your research. Expand on the most relevant points of your CV

The Fourth Paragraph

Request actions, for example indicate your desire for a personal interview and that you’re able to meet with the employer at their convenience.

Some job adverts will ask you to include salary requirements, you can choose to ignore this, opting instead to wait until the interview to talk about money, or include a broad salary range, for example £16 – 20K.

Closing the letter

Sign off your covering letter ‘Yours sincerely’ then do not forget to sign it. Write an enclosure line at the bottom.

The Cover Letter Format

As with standard formal letter writing, your address goes at the top right hand corner, miss a line and then put the date. The recipient’s address goes on the left side on the line after the date.

Employ appropriate margin and paragraph spacing so that your letter is not bunched up at the top of the page but is evenly distributed and balanced.

The envelope should look as professional as its contents. Do not use any fancy stationary, a simple white envelope is best. Use a good pen, with black ink and use your best hand. Alternatively the envelope can be typed.

Always type your covering letter and use the same quality plain paper onto which you printed your CV. You may be asked to hand write your letter since some companies employ a graphologist to analyse your handwriting. For Example: If you have a very shaky style it means you drink too much.

Important points to note

• Avoid sounding pompous or using clichés and catch phrases, there are some statements that are used all the time such as ‘I have excellent interpersonal skills’, you want your letter to be unique.
• Try to avoid using ‘I’ too much. A page of I did this and I did that is not appealing – it says to the employer that you haven’t thought about them.
• Do not use abbreviations.
• Do not exceed four paragraphs of content.
• To satisfy the skim reader, incorporate some industry sound bites and buzzwords.
• Subtly flatter the company, for example ‘you are the industry leader’
• Check and then recheck your spelling, grammar and punctuation. Get someone else to read it through also.
• If you are making a speculative application you should follow up the letter with a phone call, e-mail or office visit.
• Paper clip your covering letter to your CV, one should never be sent out without the other.

  
  

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Depression, Anxiety Persistent Problems at Universities

Depression and anxiety remain serious problems affecting nearly a quarter of BU students, according to data from a 2012 mental health survey—statistics that reflect a national trend. But there is encouraging news: more students are seeking help. And the University has stepped up efforts to identify and treat students in crisis.

Of the 1,696 undergraduate and graduate students responding to the 2012 Healthy Minds Study, 20 percent screened positive for anxiety or depression and 6 percent reported serious thoughts of committing suicide in the past year. While that number has remained steady since February 2010, the last time BU participated in the Healthy Minds study, the so-called “help gap” has narrowed, with 55 percent of troubled students receiving help as opposed to 46 percent in the earlier study.

The Healthy Minds Study, a collaboration of researchers based at the University of Michigan, is an annual national email survey that examines mental health issues among college students. The BU study is a partnership between Student Health Services (SHS) and the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Data collection for the 2012 BU study, coordinated by David Seeman, a Behavioral Medicine senior staff psychologist, was part of a national sample of 25,000 students at 29 universities.

“BU is a caring community, and what we’re doing is working,” says Dori Hutchinson (SAR’85,’96), a Sargent College associate clinical professor of occupational therapy and director of services at the BU Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. On National Depression Screening Day last October, BU held its fourth annual screening for depression, where students, faculty, and staff on both the Charles River and Medical Campuses can avail themselves of free, confidential screening and have the chance to speak with a clinician, who makes referrals to counselors and advises people on where to seek help.

“The first year, we referred 30 percent of those screened,” says Hutchinson. “This year, it was 65 percent. When we set up at the sites this year, students were waiting for us.” Hutchinson recalls that 10 years ago BU mental health services were marginalized, and there was a strong stigma associated with getting help. While the stigma endures, particularly in a few groups, this has changed dramatically, she says.

Students now can choose from a range of resources, including SHS Behavioral Medicine and Wellness and Prevention Services, the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, the three-year-old Student Support Network, and the mental health advocacy group Active Minds. The University trains student health ambassadors, undergraduates who serve as liaisons between students and SHS.

BU faculty and staff are increasingly knowledgeable about these resources, and Kenneth Elmore (SED’87), dean of students, has made student mental health a priority by meeting regularly with campus mental health professionals.

“It’s a cultural change,” notes Hutchinson. “The University has made an investment in students’ well-being. BU has a wide continuum of responses.” Kids are struggling, she says. According to national statistics, student stress stems mainly from four areas—academics, family issues, finances, and relationships. But faculty, staff, and students are more alert to the signs of depression, anxiety, or other mental health problems. These include declining grades, isolation from friends and family, inability to concentrate, eating or sleeping excessively or not enough, risky sexual behaviors, and alcohol and drug use.

The BU study found that 53 percent of respondents reported having at least one day in the past month where emotional difficulty had impaired their academic performance, and 24 percent three or more days, a result fairly consistent with the 2010 study, whose responses were 51 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Of students who considered interrupting their studies at BU, 21 percent cited mental health concerns as the reason. Of students who screened positive for depression at the time of the 2012 study, 45 percent had received either medication or counseling during the past year, compared to 37 percent of those who responded to the 2010 study—a statistically significant difference, according to Seeman. Of students who received counseling, 58 percent were seen at Behavioral Medicine.

Despite efforts to heighten awareness that depressed students need not suffer in silence—“Tell Somebody” is Behavioral Medicine’s mantra—the 2012 study found that 22 percent of students didn’t know there were mental health services available at BU. Yet responses to open-ended questions in the survey paint a mostly positive picture of Behavioral Medicine at BU.

“Student Health Services helped in my improvement through providing psychiatric help,” wrote a female undergraduate. “My insurance doesn’t cover costs in Massachusetts so their care was essential.” A female graduate student hospitalized for major depression while studying at BU reported that “academic staff in my department and Behavioral Medicine were helpful and supportive; they gave me the necessary privacy and respect that helped me remain in school.” Other students credited Behavioral Medicine with providing regular counseling when they couldn’t afford to see outside therapists.

One consistent complaint received by Behavioral Medicine over the past few years is the lack of mental health resources on the BU Medical Campus. “Setting up treatment is difficult for students due to complications of getting to the Charles River Campus,” wrote one male graduate student.

No one knows why nearly a fourth of college students nationwide suffer from anxiety or depression. Maybe these disorders are identified more as their stigma is shed. Certainly the level of stress at a university such as BU accounts for some of this data, says Seeman. Or perhaps social lives spent increasingly online are taking a toll on real relationships—the inexorable replacement of friends with “friends,” he suggests. Students are also more likely to come to college with preexisting mental conditions because of the increased use of medication earlier in life, he says. Experts say that another factor for the numbers could be that the current generation of students feels more pressure to succeed, but has developed less resilience because of cultural changes—although this is difficult to verify.

For psychologists like Seeman, who are trying to make sense of a wide range of variables, the depression among young people poses a challenge. But the real news is that for students who are struggling, there is help.

It appears that stress, depression, and anxiety may hit some groups of students harder than students overall, says Seeman. For example, the BU data from the 2012 study indicate that nonheterosexual students struggle more with emotional issues such as anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts than do students in general. But these students are also more aware of needing help than other students and are making more use of therapy or medication, he says. On the other hand, international students and Asian-American students tend to be less aware of resources for help for mental health problems and tend to use therapy and/or medication less often. “Clearly this information will help us target outreach to these particular groups,” Seeman says.

“We are doing fairly well in supporting students in distress, but there are some gaps which could be collaboratively addressed—some in the form of stigma, some in lack of knowledge,” the report says. “We expect that the data from this effort will help improve the lives of present and future students at Boston University and nationwide.”

Among the psychological services available for students suffering from anxiety is the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, founded by David H. Barlow, CAS professor of psychology. The center offers cutting-edge treatments for faculty, staff, and students, as well as non-BU affiliated individuals. “We make every effort to expedite services to our own BU family, first and foremost”, says Lisa Smith, director and clinical associate professor. Clinical services are offered on a sliding scale fee with numerous programs offering free services to those who are eligible.

For most, online access doesn't exist in North Korea

You won't find people in North Korea checking Facebook or Twitter for the latest updates on the tense situation created by its leader, Kim Jong Un. That's because the nation of 24 million is largely shut out from the Internet. Few outside the government and military have ever been online.

"In North Korea, we don't see evidence that much of anyone has access," Jim Cowie, chief technology officer and co-founder of Renesys, which does global Internet measurement, told NBC News.

"You don't see banks or factories or universities attached to the Internet," he said. "In North Korea, Internet is extremely limited. They don't have those resources. There's basically one service provider and that is state-controlled."

The country's Internet access physically comes through from China, he said, supplemented "sometimes" by a satellite provider.

"We don't have first-hand knowledge of who has access," Cowie said, but Internet use is "very tightly restricted."

So much so that North Korea was named one of 12 "enemies" of the Internet last year by Reporters Without Borders, which monitors censorship globally. "We still consider North Korea as an enemy of the Internet," Delphine Hagland, the group's director in Washington, D.C., told NBC News. Other countries making that list included China, Iran, Syria and Vietnam.

There aren't many other sources of information available in North Korea, which according to the CIA World Factbook, has "no independent media," with "radios and TVs ... pre-tuned to government stations."

About 1 million people in North Korea have cellphones, but they are not phones with Internet access.

There may be some exceptions, said Hagland. North Koreans who live near the border with China "can have the (illegal) option of connecting to the Chinese mobile network."

In its report, Reporters Without Borders also noted the existence of what's sometimes called a "sneakernet" — that is, people handing off data to one another via physical media, rather than across a network. The North Korea-China border is "sufficiently porous to allow mobile phones, CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives containing articles and other content to be smuggled in from China."

North Korea did, for a very short time recently, allow tourists who were staying at one hotel to have Internet access via their 3G cellphones. But that access was yanked within less than a month, according to a report in Wired UK.

That brief mobile Internet availability was not tied to Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt's visit to the country, along with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. The two had gone to North Korea in January to seek the release of American detainee Kenneth Bae — which did not happen — as well as to promote Internet freedom.

Nearly two years ago, the United Nations said that access to the Internet should be considered a basic human right. But North Korea has not gotten — or has ignored — that memo.

Schmidt, who met with North Korean scientists and software engineers, said after his visit that the country runs a risk of being left behind economically if it does not provide Internet access.

"Once the Internet starts, citizens in a country can certainly build on top of it, but the government has to do something,” he told NBC News' Ed Flanagan at that time. “They have to make it possible for people to use the Internet, which the government in North Korea has not yet done.”

Jobs in Tanzania

Posting Date	Job Title	Company	Job Location
2013-03-29	Cost Controller/Quantity Surveyor Reference ID : REQ 0509 Summary : Cost Controller/ Quantity Surveyor Jobs in Africa Our client is a class one civil,...	Datum Recruitment Services	Arusha - Tanzania
2013-03-27	Support/Implementation Consultant Internship Roles: 1. Logging customer and internal support calls 2. Resolution of support calls-customer and in-house...	Bluekey Software Solutions EA Ltd	Dar es Salaam - Tanzania
2013-03-25	Human Resources Officer Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) is a locally registered NGO first established in 1994. It is the largest...	CCBRT	Dar es Salaam - Tanzania
2013-03-20	Camp Manager Job Summary: As the Manager, It is your job to make sure that every guest has an incredible stay at Mbalageti Safari Camp Ltd. You...	Mbalageti Serengeti	Mwanza - Tanzania
2013-03-19	Sales Executive SALES EXECUTIVE Attractive Commission Plan with significant earnings potential Digitall Ltd. an international Print Services...	Digitall Ltd	Dar es Salaam - Tanzania
2013-03-08	Biomedical Engineering Technician Duties to Include: • Repairing, installing, maintaining and inspecting medical equipment and instrumentation including life support...	CCBRT	Dar es Salaam - Tanzania
2013-03-08	Inventory Control Officer Duties to Include: • Assisting the Supply Manager in the supervision of all matters related to stock management • Developing an...	CCBRT	Dar es Salaam - Tanzania
2013-03-07	Country Manager - Mozambique Reference: MS110352 Salary: market related Start: April / May 2013 CA Global Civil Infrastructure (Africa Careers) is...	CA Global	Tanzania
2013-03-06	Evaluator for Restaurants If you are comfortable providing approximately 2,000-8,000 well-written words in exchange for unique dining and travel experiences, then...	Coyle Hospitality Group	Tanzania
2013-03-05	Operation Director Key Responsibility 1.Under the leader of the general manager of the Filiale, responsible for the Sales&Marketing Department, make...	Right Corporation	Tanzania
2013-03-05	Project Manager Experienced engineer with site investigation experience for field activities for site selection programmes for an LNG project for a major...	Aurecon (Pty) Ltd.	Dar es Salaam - Tanzania
2013-02-28	Mechanical Engineer A great opportunity for a Reliability Engineer Opencast/Expat/Rotation to work for a company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Our...	Channel Empowered Recruitment	Tanzania
2013-02-27	Education/Social/Healthcare Volunteer/s This project is looking for long term volunteers to help establish an eco-friendly children's village with education, social and...	Volunteer 4 Africa	Tanzania
2013-02-27	Balance of Plant Maintenance Engineer Balance of plant maintenance engineer (BOP / Gas-fired turbines) – Tanzania Reference: MS76345 Salary: Competitive with an...	CA Global	Tanzania
2013-02-27	Overhead/Power Lines/Electrical Engineer CA Global: Power and Energy (Africa Positions) has a client that is in need of Resident Electrical Engineers (Transmission Line / Over Head...	CA Global	Dar es Salaam - Tanzania

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More money added on spending but we it make a difference

In view of Tanzania's increasingly demanding economy and the fast-paced growth taking place in the country, Tanzania government plan to raise spending by 17% in 2013-2014 financial year to 17.7 trillion TZS (11 billion USD) 

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