This is a guest post by Debra Wheatman. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here.

W. Fowler coined the term “elegant variation” to denote the unnecessary use of synonyms to denote a single thing.  One of his examples was a newspaper excerpt in which the writer referred to the same person, the King of England, as Emperor, His Majesty, and the Monarch.  Fowler’s objection to this kind of “elegant variation” was that

“the effect is to set readers wondering what the significance of the change is, only to conclude that there is none.”

When it comes to drafting a strong resumé, elegant variation is not only acceptable, but desirable.

Your resumé is a marketing document. The product being marketed is you. The death knell of any marketing campaign is boredom. Boring products don’t sell. If your resumé comes across as uninteresting, so do you: you probably won’t get put in the short pile; you probably won’t get interviews, and someone with a more exciting resumé will get the job.

Many resumés use the same verbs and phrases over and over again. You can use “elegant variation” to engage the reader with the use of compelling, absorbing, engrossing, gripping, riveting, and fascinating action verbs and descriptive words.

Here are some examples of “elegant variation” in action –

Why say “led” when you can claim to have spearheaded, propelled, pioneered, orchestrated, officiated, optimized, instituted, inspired, headed, governed, enacted, directed, crafted, controlled, championed, built, or supervised.

Why say you “developed” something when you can use cultivated, advanced, evolved, fostered, amplified, promoted, expanded, actualized, refined, augmented, enriched, extended, magnified, or strengthened.

Why “handle” something when you can address, advance, alter, apply, centralize, compile, conduct, construct, coordinate, determine, execute, exhibit, formalize, govern, oversee, or establish it.

Obviously, these words cannot and should not be substituted without understanding context and nuance. It behooves you to spend the time to find alternates whenever possible.

There are numerous tools that can help your resume be more stimulating. I have a dog-eared and coffee-stained copy of Roget’s International Thesaurus. This book was a gift from my father when I was in college and is still without a doubt, the most useful resource for writing – period. When I am writing for clients, including business documents, resumés, and cover letters, I keep this book very close by to help me identify synonyms to avoid repeating the same words over and over.

The Internet is a wonderful source of new words to use in your career documents. Some examples that I use regularly are dictionary.com and visualthesaurus.com.

Job descriptions can provide a plethora of phrases and key words that you should review. Part of what draws the attention of a hiring manager is the use of key words that are related to the job vacancy. It is very easy to identify positions online; review the roles in connection with your résumé so you can create some compelling content as you draft your document.

Employ some creativity when creating your focused, succinct, cogent, inspirational, targeted, exceptionally results-focused résumé. (How’s that for a few adjectives?) Entice your reader with a taste – not the plate of what you have to offer!

Debra Wheatman is a human capital management strategist and the founder of Careers Done Write, a career services firm. Debra is also the Career Doctor, a career advice blog for business leaders and executives.

People have been writing letters for centuries. Before the telephone and the Internet, sending a letter (by messenger, and later by post) was the only way to communicate with someone who was geographically distant.

Even with all our modern technology, letters haven’t become obsolete. Most of us will write many letters during our business life: perhaps including a covering letter to accompany our resume, a letter to be sent to clients, or a thank you letter after an interview or other opportunity.

In this article, I’ll take you through the common types of letters that you’re likely to need to write at some point. I’ll offer general and specific advice which should help you if you’re at a loss for words or unsure how to structure a letter. You might want to bookmark this page so that you can refer back to it when you need it!

I’ll cover business letters first, then mention some tips for personal letters too.

Business Letters

The standard format of a business letter varies from country to country, and standards often aren’t set in stone. If you’re not sure how your letter should be laid out, check Daily Writing Tips’ guidelines on How to Format a US Business Letter and How to Format a UK Business Letter.

A quick tip if you’re still struggling about layout: look through your correspondence, find a business letter (ideally one from the company that you’re writing to), and use their format as a model. Here are four more points to take into consideration:

1. You should use a simple, standard font such as Arial or Times New Roman for business letters, and a font size of 10-12 pt (depending on the font). Even if your letter is short, don’t use a large font size to increase the space it takes up on the page – this will look unprofessional. This goes especially for writers, who are often tempted to use fancy fonts and layout.

2. You should never handwrite a business letter. However, you may send a very brief handwritten note on a printed compliments slip, in lieu of a letter.

3. For all business letters, you should keep your audience in mind. Don’t use business jargon when you’re writing to customers, for instance. Keep your letters as short as possible – if you need more than a page, consider whether the information might be better delivered in a leaflet or brochure.

4. Always check your spelling and proof-read your letters; if possible, ask someone else in your company to go through them. It’s surprising how mistakes can slip past your eyes: errors can alter your meaning and may confuse or even offend the recipient.

Job Applications

When writing a letter as part of a job application, remember that it will give the employer their first impression of you. Always:

• Ensure that you have provided all the information requested.
• Mention any enclosures (usually your resume and perhaps an application form).
• Address the letter to “Mr Smith” or “Mrs Jones”, rather than using their first name. If you are unsure of the gender of the recipient, use their first name and surname (such as “Sam Jones”).

Here’s an example of the start of an application letter:

Dear Mr Smith:

Application for the Junior Manager Role, ref: 123A

I am writing to apply for the position of Junior Manager, as advertised on your website. Please find my resume enclosed.

I believe that I would be an ideal fit for this role, as I meet all of the requirements on the job specification. In particular, my spoken communication skills are outstanding (as you can see from my resume, I captained the debating team at my college).

Business Thank You Letters

In a business context, thank you letters are often appropriate and expected. When you have attended an interview, it is considered polite to send a thank you note – and it could harm your chances of getting the job if you don’t do this. You might also send a thank you letter when someone has given you their time and advice.

In general, you should:

• Make it very clear that you’re writing to thank the recipient.
• Mention a specific detail of how they helped you.
• Express your gratitude for the time or effort they spent.
• Avoid using the letter just as an excuse to promote yourself (though if you are following up an interview, it’s appropriate to highlight your suitability for the job).

An example paragraph from a thank you letter is:

Thank you for giving me your time on Friday 18th, when you kindly showed me around the factory. It was fascinating to see how the widgets are manufactured, and I now feel confident that I want to pursue a career in the widget manufacturing field. I’ve attached my resume and wonder if you’d be kind enough to keep it on file, in case any future positions arise that I might be suitable for?

Letters of Complaint

If you have received poor service or have been dissatisfied with a product, you can write to the company involved to make a complaint. To get the result you want, such as a refund, follow these tips:

• Explain clearly who you are in relation to the company (eg. “I am an XYZ customer”).
• Let them know exactly what you’re complaining about, without using emotional or abusive language.
• Give specific location, time and date if appropriate.
• Make it clear what you would like them to do in response.

You might also want to include a warning, such as “If this is not resolved, I will be forced to take my business elsewhere.”

Throughout your letter of complaint, your tone should be polite but assertive. Don’t make ridiculous threats or demand an unreasonable compensation – but also don’t be afraid to tell them about the inconvenience or financial loss that you’ve suffered. You can practice writing a letter of complaint here, or use the example below as a model:

I recently ordered several party platters of food from your store in Littletown, including one platter of seafood. The food was delivered two hours late, and the seafood platter was missing. I had to spend $40 to purchase extra food at short notice for my party. This was very inconvenient, as I had to drive to the store when I had planned to be with my guests.

I have never used your party platter service in the past, and regret to say that I very much doubt I will be doing so again unless you can assure me that this was an isolated incident. Although I was not charged for the seafood platter, I would be grateful for compensation in view of the inconvenience – and cost – of buying replacement food at such short notice.

Personal Letters

A thoughtful letter from a friend can brighten anyone’s day. Most of us send emails rather than letters nowadays – which means that a letter will really stand out.

Even if you’d never normally sit down to write a letter except in a business context, there are a couple of types of personal letter that you’ll want to familiarize yourself with:

Letter of Condolence

A letter of condolence or letter of sympathy is one which you send to someone who has been bereaved. It can be very difficult to find the right words to say, but taking the time to write a letter or note rather than just sending a “With Sympathy” card will mean a lot to the recipient.

Some tips to bear in mind are:

• Acknowledge the loss – don’t gloss over it.
• Express your sympathy.
• Offer a brief anecdote or recollection of the deceased, mentioning the role s/he played in your life.
• Mention that your thoughts (and, if appropriate for you and the recipient, your prayers) are with the bereaved and their family.

Note that if you’re writing to someone elderly, it’s particularly important to send a handwritten letter. A typed letter will often come across as cold or even rude.

All letters of condolence will be unique, but you might like to use this example as a general guide:

I was so sorry to hear that John had passed away. My sympathies are with you at this time: I know it must be very difficult for you.

John was so good to me when I first came to Littletown – I remember how he welcomed me into your church and made me feel completely at home. I’ll miss him very much.

My thoughts and prayers are with you, and with Johnny and Becca.

Personal Thank You Letters

When someone has given you a gift or done you a particular favor, it’s polite to send them a thank you note or letter. You might do this by email – but you still need to send a separate note to each person, rather than emailing a group of people.

Thank you letters are required is in response to wedding gifts. You should send these through the post, and in many cases, you may want to handwrite them. As well as saying “thank you” for the gift, it’s often nice to acknowledge the particular role that a person played in your wedding – even if that’s just saying “We were so pleased that you could come and be with us on the day.”

Other times when you could send a thank you letter include:

• For birthday and Christmas gifts.
• When you’ve stayed as a house guest somewhere (this is sometimes called a “bread-and-butter letter”).
• After someone has treated you to a meal, a theater trip, a vacation or similar.
• To your parents, grandparents or other relatives who have helped you out with a big purchase or a college degree.

Your thank you letter doesn’t need to be long. In many cases, a few lines is plenty:

Thank you for the gorgeous sweater – just the thing for the cold Canadian winter! I’ll be thinking of you every time I wrap myself up in it. We’re going to be travelling over Christmas, but hope to pop down and see everyone during the new year. Thanks again!

If you’re not very confident about your letter writing skills, sending some personal thank you notes is a great way to get started. People are always delighted and touched by being thanked in this way – they’ll overlook any small slips of grammar, and you don’t need to worry too much about layout and formatting in personal letters.

At some point in life, you’re almost certainly going to have to write a reference letter for someone. It might be a former employee or student, or even a family friend. Here’s what you need to know about the purpose of reference letters and how to write the most effective letter possible.

Note: I will be using “candidate” to refer to the person who the reference letter is about, “you” to refer to the person writing the reference letter, and “recipient” to refer to the person receiving the letter. I’ll emphasise here, though, that reference letters are not only for job or academic “candidates”, it’s just a handy term to use to keep this article straightforward!

What is a reference letter and when are they used?

A reference letter is usually written to testify to a person or (occasionally) a company’s skills, character and/or achievements. Sometimes a reference letter is known as a “recommendation letter”. It is a formal document, and should be typed and written in a serious and business-like style.

Reference letters are used in a wide variety of situations; there is no definitive list that covers all possible scenarios. The most common examples are:

• When a candidate applies for a job, they may need a reference to support their application.
• If an interviewee is given a job offer, they may need to supply a reference letter before the contract can be signed.
• A student applying for an academic course often requires a reference letter to support their application.
• A student applying for funding will often need to supply reference letters.
• Companies may use reference letters as testimonies to their trustworthiness and ability to carry out a job well.
• Prospective tenants may need to provide their landlord with a reference letter, testifying to their good financial status. (This could be from a prior landlord or from a current employer.)

Who should write a reference letter?

If you are approached and asked to write a reference letter for a job candidate, a student or a company, consider whether you can legitimately do so. A reference letter is a formal document, and it is crucial that you do not lie or fudge the truth in it, or there could be legal repercussions. If someone wants a reference letter from you:

• The candidate should be someone you know reasonably well. For example, you cannot provide any authoritative comment on the academic ability of a student who’s only been attending your lectures for a week.
• You should know the candidate in a capacity which gives you the ability to write a meaningful reference. For example, if you have worked with the person, it would be appropriate for you to write a reference letter to a prospective employer for them.
• You should be able to provide an honest and positive reference. If you truly feel that the candidate has no good qualities for you to emphasis, or if you have had a personality clash with them in the past, you should tell them to seek a reference letter from someone else.

What goes into a reference letter?

The exact structure of a reference letter will differ slightly depending on the type of reference it is, but this is a good basic outline:

1. Start using the business letter format: put the recipient’s name and address, if known, and address them as “Dear [name]”. If the recipient is currently unknown (this would be likely on an academic application, for instance), then use “Dear Sir/Madam” or “To whom it may concern”.
2. It is often helpful to introduce yourself in the first couple of lines of your letter. The recipient will not need your life history: just give a brief sentence or two explaining your position and your relationship to the candidate.
3. Your next paragraph should confirm any facts which you know the candidate will be supplying along with your letter. For example, if you are writing a reference for a job applicant, some or all of these details may be appropriate:
   • The person’s job title, and role within the company.
   • The person’s leaving salary when they were last employed by you (or your organisation).
   • The dates which the person was employed from and until.

   If you are writing a reference letter for an academic course, you will need to confirm the person’s academic grades.

4. In your third paragraph, you should provide your judgement upon the candidate’s skills and qualities. It is often appropriate to state that you would gladly re-employ them, or that their contributions to your college class were highly valued. Single out any exceptional qualities that the candidate has – perhaps their drive and enthusiasm, their attention to detail, or their ability to lead.
5. Where possible, use your fourth paragraph to give a couple of concrete examples of times when the candidate excelled. (You may want to ask the candidate to tell you about any extra-curricular projects they’ve been involved in, or invite them to highlight anything they’d particularly like you to include in the reference letter.)
6. Close your letter on a positive note, and if you are willing to receive further correspondence about the candidate’s application, make this clear. Include your contact details too.
7. As with any business letter, you should end appropriately; “Yours sincerely” when you are writing to a named recipient, and “Yours faithfully” when you do not know who will be receiving the letter.

Things to avoid

Make sure that you avoid:

• Mentioning any weaknesses the candidate has.
• Saying anything that could be construed as libel.
• Writing in an informal manner: keep the letter business-like. Jokes, slang and casual language are not appropriate and may harm the candidate’s chances.
• Including personal information not relevant to the application. Mentioning the candidate’s race, political stance, religion, nationality, marital status, age or health is usually inappropriate.
• Spelling mistakes, sloppy writing or typos: this letter is hugely important to the candidate, and you should take care to make it look professional.

Reference Letter Examples

There are a number of good templates for reference letters available on Business Balls. I’ve included one below, which would be appropriate for a general-purpose reference – if you were writing a reference in your capacity as the candidate’s former employer, you would need to include more specific details:

Date

To whom it may concern

I confirm that I have known (name) for (number) years.

(State relationship – social, business, working together in some other capacity, club, activity, project, etc.)

At all times I have found (name/him/her) to be (state characteristics – eg, dependable, reliable, hard-working, conscientious, honest, peace-loving, courteous, etc – to be as helpful as possible think about what the reader will most prefer to see, in terms of satisfying concerns, or seeing evidence of relevant required skills or characteristics).

I’m happy to provide further information if required. (optional)

Yours faithfully, etc.

You can find examples of full reference letters on About.com’s “job searching” section. They list letters appropriate for a variety of different situations: here’s one from a previous employer in support of a job candidate:

To Whom it May Concern:

I highly recommend Jane Doe as a candidate for employment. Jane was employed by Company Name as an Administrative Assistant from 2002 – 2005. Jane was responsible for office support including word processing, scheduling appointments and creating brochures, newsletters, and other office literature.

Jane has excellent communication skills. In addition, she is extremely organized, reliable and computer literate. Jane can work independently and is able to follow through to ensure that the job gets done. She is flexible and willing to work on any project that is assigned to her. Jane was quick to volunteer to assist in other areas of company operations, as well.

Jane would be a tremendous asset for your company and has my highest recommendation. If you have any further questions with regard to her background or qualifications, please do not hesitate to call me.

Sincerely,

John Smith
Title
Company
Address
Phone
Email

If you are still unsure what best to include in the reference letter, imagine yourself in the position of the candidate’s prospective employer, or of the panel reading his/her academic application. What information would they need to know? What qualities would they like their candidates to have? Obviously, you should never lie or mislead in a reference letter, but you should try to focus on areas which will give the recipient the most useful information possible about the candidate.

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Here’s a question from Alfonso Rodriguez from Lima, Peru:

Would you be so kind as to tell me what is the correct way to write down an address when the building has no number, I think there is an abbreviation form.

If any of you readers outside the U.S. know of an abbreviation that designates a building without a street number, please tell us in the comments.

In the United States, new construction requires the existence of a street number before a building is built. As for older buildings, according to the person I talked to at the USPS 800 number, all buildings in towns have street numbers. Rural addresses may make use of the abbreviation RR:

D.Q. Jones
RR 5 Box 19
Molesville TX 77293

Many buildings have both names and street addresses. If a building is well-known in the town where it is, the name can serve in lieu of a numbered address, as long as the town and state are included. For example, an envelope addressed to someone at the Empire State Building, New York, N.Y. would probably reach its destination without the address 350 5th Ave.

USPS address-reading machinery reads addresses from the bottom up:

4…………D. Q. Jones
3………..12233 Jefferson Ave Apt 1
2………. Newport News, VA 23602
1…………USA

According to the official USPS guidelines, designations such as Apt (apartment), Dept (department), and Ste (suite) go on the same line as the street address:

234 Hilltop Dr Apt 504
Greenwich PA 23853

NOT
234 Hilltop Dr
Apt 504
Greenwich PA 23853

In the event that the space available for the address is not large enough for Apt to be written out, the symbol # can be used in its place:

234 Hilltop Dr #504
Greenwich PA 23853

It a street address is especially long, some of the vowels may be omitted.
For example, 23 Espendhade-Dogwood Terrace could be shortened to:

23 Espnshd-Dgwd Ter.

USPS abbreviations for street suffixes

USPS abbreviations for “secondary unit designators” (ex. Apt.)

This one’s a pdf: USPS guidelines regarding acceptable and unacceptable address sequence

A reader inquires:

Is it permissible to list Enclosures at the top of a letter right after Subject and/or References or should they always be listed at the bottom of the letter after your closing?

I suppose that anything is “permissible,” but some things are not advisable. Shaking up the conventional order of a business letter is not a good idea.

People opening a business letter expect it to be arranged in the following conventional order:

1. writer’s return address
2. date the letter is being written
3. name, title, and address of recipient
4. salutation (with colon)
5. a RE or subject line if desired (some guides place the subject line above the salutation)
6. body of the letter
7. closing and signature
8. notice of enclosure

Busy people appreciate anything that makes their work easier. Observing conventional order in a business letter is one of those things.

Here are some related articles:
Dear Sir and other business conventions
The perils of writing to someone you don’t know