Virtual Assistants – How's Your Application Letter Going?

As Virtual Assistant (VA), whoever you are, your application letter is the most important link between you and your prospective employer – so it better be good! Especially if you are applying for a high VA position anywhere in the world. You can ask my son Jomar Hilario, who is a guru in this field that he prefers to call Virtual Career (VC) – because you have to make a career out of it – he has mentored a great many would-be VA/VC here and abroad. 

The actual VA letter, from unusualworldd.com , part of which you see above and which I have edited in Word 2013 "Track Changes," is a very poor one, intentionally so, because the source, Unusual Worldd, wants to teach you lessons. The application letter is short, as it should be. Yes, my advice is free, as you can see here: I want to help VA/VC applicants simply because I know that the more you give, the more you receive!

I am reproducing the letter (about 97% of it).

Dear Mr Simpson,

I am writing this letter to response your vacancy published at National Daily News for civil engineering position. I intend to apply as Civil Engineer in your company. I have highly skilled in civil engineering. I attached my resumé for your consideration.

I have read your job requirements in the advertisements. I believe that my skills and experiences are suitable with your job requirements. I have worked as Civil Engineer at Peter Incorporation. I was responsible to created and implemented industrial plan; performed statistical analysis for assessing industrial construction strength; provided innovative treatment for reducing environmental pollution; and composed reports. I provided training for new employee in environmental pollution treatment. I have established innovative treatment for environmental pollution for several projects.

I have the following expertises: environmental risk assessment, survey and mapping analysis, cost evaluation techniques, and disease friendly construction. I have experienced in using advanced technology for survey analysis. I am proficient with modelling software and applications. I am capable for problem solving; making decision in crucial cases and working in a team. I am able to handle high pressure environments.

There are plenty of composition errors in the letter – I counted 16 mistakes in the 1st and 2nd paragraph, both grammatical and informational.

Aside from grammatical mistakes, what good lessons can you learn from that bad letter? Here are 3:

(1)   Position applied for – In the very first paragraph of your letter, you have to mention (a) where you got the information and (b) use the exact words to describe the position you are applying for: "Civil Engineer."

(2)   Expertises and experiences – In your letter, summarize experiences and expertises in at least 2 sentences as listed in your resumé. Don't say, "Other achievements are explained in my resumé." Instead, mention one other that is relevant, or delete that sentence.

(3)   Job requirements – Be sure you meet the job requirements; if not, try your best to match them with your experiences and expertises in the letter.

Given all that, for best results, call an Author's Editor!517

For free Author's Editor advice for VA application, email frankahilario@gmail.com