Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 748, Writing a Letter of Inquiry.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 748.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is about writing a letter of inquiry.
That is, you're asking a question.
You're trying to get information about That's normally what an inquiry is.
In this case, really, it is a letter asking for a job.
Let's get started.
I was laid off from my job three months ago.
Since then, I've been pounding the pavement looking for another job.
So far, nothing has turned up, so I decided to take the bull by the horns and deliver inquiry letters to every company that might have a job opening.
Dear Ms.
Smith or the name of their personnel officer.
I worked for six years as a software engineer for McEw Corp and I have extensive training and experience related to software development.
I have enclosed a copy of my resume.
I would appreciate an opportunity to speak with you regarding any openings you may have or any consulting work your company requires.
Thank you for your consideration and please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely, Steve Woz, I'm planning to personally deliver each letter with the hope of talking with someone in the company.
It is going to take a lot of time and legwork.
Our story begins when I say, I was laid off from my job three months ago.
To be laid L-A-I-D off means to lose your job, to be fired, to say I'm sorry, you no longer work here.
Since then, since that time, I've been pounding the pavement looking for another job. to pound p-o-u-n-d the pavement p-a-v-e-m-e-n-t is an expression that means to spend a lot of time walking along the streets especially going to different businesses or different houses pavement is another word for street.
And to pound usually means to hit something hard, like with a tool called a hammer.
But here you are hitting the ground with your feet.
You're pounding the pavement.
It's a general expression meaning to work very hard, to be looking in many different places, either because you're trying to sell something or because, in this case, you need a job.
I say that so far, nothing has turned up.
To turn up is a two-word say it with me phrasal verb meaning to appear suddenly, to suddenly be present.
But I'm saying that nothing has turned up, meaning I still don't have a job.
So I decided to take the bull to and deliver inquiry letters to every company that might have a job opening.
The expression to take the bull B-U-L-L by the horns means H-O-R-N-S, means to do something without hesitation, even when it looks difficult or challenging to take direct control over something.
You feel your life is out of control.
You need to make a strong, bold decision.
You're going to take the bull by the horns.
You're going to actually do it, whatever that is, even when it seems difficult.
Inquiry letters are letters that you send to a company asking them something.
Often it's asking for a job.
An inquiry is another word for a question.
A job opening is when a company is trying to find someone to work for them.
We might also call it a vacant position, but job opening is more common.
You might ask someone, does your company have any openings?
That is, are they looking for people to hire to work there?
Then we get to the actual letter that I write.
I begin by saying, Or whatever the name of the personnel officer is.
Personnel is a word related to the employees of a company.
An officer would be someone who's a boss, someone who's in charge.
So a personnel officer is the person who is the boss of the department that goes out and finds people for the company and gets them to work there.
Sometimes we call it the personnel office.
Sometimes it's called the human resources office.
My letter begins by saying, I am writing to inquire, to ask...
Your qualifications are...
The things you know, your education, your experience, perhaps something about you as a worker that make you qualified or fit for a job.
You are able to do it.
So you talk about your qualifications, the things that show or demonstrate that you will be able to do this job.
I say that I worked for six years as a software engineer someone who makes software programs for McEucorp and I have extensive training and experience related to software development.
When you have extensive training, you have a lot of it.
Something that would cover a long period of time and perhaps a lot of knowledge about that area.
I don't have a little bit of training.
I have extensive training.
I say then...
I have enclosed a copy of my resume.
To enclose means to put one thing inside of something else.
In this case, it's a piece of paper inside an envelope.
Usually this word is used in a written letter to indicate that there is something else in the envelope besides the letter that you are reading.
In this case, it's a copy of my resume.
R-E-S-U-M-E.
A resume gives a brief description of your experiences and qualifications where you went to school, what kind of skills, what kind of knowledge you have, where you worked before you applied for this job.
I then say I would appreciate an opportunity to speak with you Regarding any openings you may have or any consulting work your company requires.
So he's saying do you have anything that is close to my qualifications or do you have any consulting work?
To consult usually means to ask someone else their advice or opinion.
Consulting is working for companies but just doing specific projects.
You're there for maybe a month, two months, six months.
You're not a permanent employee of the company.
I then say thank you for your consideration and please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Consideration means the time that you spent thinking about something, especially making your decision, about someone's proposal or request to do something.
So I'm thanking the person we might say in advance for taking the time to read my letter and perhaps to call me about any job openings.
I say, please don't hesitate to contact me.
To hesitate means to delay or wait to do something, usually because you're not sure if it's a good idea that you do it.
I say, don't hesitate to contact me.
It's not a problem.
You can call me, you can email me, and so forth.
Then I sign the letter sincerely, Steve Woz.
At the end, I say I'm planning to personally deliver each letter.
Normally, letters are delivered by the post office, but here I say I'm going to deliver the letter.
I'm going to actually go to each of these companies with the hope of talking with someone in the company.
So he's going to take the letter to the personnel officer, but he's going to try also to talk to other people in the company to see if he can find out any more information about whether they have any job openings.
He says it's going to take a lot of time and legwork.
Leg work.
One word is another word for a lot of traveling, doing a lot of work that is difficult or boring.
Sometimes we use this word even if we aren't talking about walking or traveling or running, moving ourselves personally.
Sometimes we use the word to talk about the hard somewhat difficult research or investigation that you have to do in order to complete a project.
I then say I have no intention of sitting home and twiddling my thumbs while I wait for my next job.
To say you have no intention of doing something means you have no plans to do that.
You're not going to do it.
I say that I don't want to be twiddling my thumbs.
Your thumbs are the short, you can think of it, finger that you have.
You T-W-I-D-D-L-E means to hold your hands together and to twiddle your thumbs means to take your thumbs and move them in small circles, one around the other.
It's an expression, however, that means to waste your time, not to do anything.
Instead, just sit back, wait, don't worry about it.
That would be twiddling your thumbs.
I say I do not want to sit around and twiddle my thumbs.
I want to go out and do something.
And that's what I'm doing, trying to go to each company and deliver this letter of inquiry.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I was laid off from my job three months ago.
Since then, I've been pounding the pavement looking for another job.
So far, nothing has turned up.
So I decided to take the bull by the horns and deliver inquiry letters to every company that might have a job opening.
I'm writing to inquire about any job openings you may have for someone with my experience and qualifications.
I worked for six years as a software engineer for McEw Corp and I have extensive training and experience related to software development.
I've enclosed a copy of my resume.
I would appreciate an opportunity to speak with you regarding any openings you may have or any consulting work your company requires.
Thank you for your consideration and please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely, Steve Woz.
I'm planning to personally deliver each letter with the hope of talking with someone in the company.
It is going to take a lot of time and legwork, but I have no intention of sitting home and twiddling my thumbs while I wait for my next job.
We thank the person who did all of the legwork on this script, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
