How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of Letters) Part 41

648 West 168th Street, New York, N. Y., April 4, 1922.

Mr. B. C. Kellerman, 1139 Broad Street, New York, N. Y.

Dear Sir:

This may interest you:

I can take dictation at an average rate of 100 words a minute and I can read my notes. They are always accurate. If you will try me, you will find you do not have to repeat any dictation.

I never misspell words.

I am nineteen, a high school graduate, quick and accurate at figures. I have a good position now, uptown, but I should prefer to be with some large corporation downtown. I am interested in a position with room at the top.

I am willing to work for $18 a week until I have demonstrated my ability and then I know you will think me worth more.

A letter or a telephone message will bring me in any morning you say to take your morning's dictation, write your letters, and leave the verdict to you.

Will you let me try?

Very truly yours, Edith Hoyt.

Telephone Riverside 8100

_Application for position as secretary_

149 East 56th Street, Chicago, Ill., December 1, 1923.

Mr. Ralph Hodge, Boone & Co., 2000 So. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

Dear Sir:

This is in answer to your advertis.e.m.e.nt for a secretary. I have had the experience and training which would, I think enable me satisfactorily to fill such a position. I recognize, of course, that whatever my experience and training have been they would be worse than useless unless they could be modified to suit your exact requirements. (Here set out the experience.)

The lowest salary I have ever received was twelve dollars a week, when I began work. The highest salary I have received was thirty dollars a week, but I think that it would be better to leave the salary matter open until it might be discovered whether I am worth anything or nothing.

Very truly yours, (Miss) Mary Rogers.

_Answer to an advertis.e.m.e.nt from an applicant who has had no experience_

245 East 83rd Street, Chicago, Ill.

Mr. Ralph Hodge, Boone & Co., 2000 So. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

Dear Sir:

This is in answer to your advertis.e.m.e.nt for a secretary, in which you ask that the experience of the applicant be set forth. I have had no experience whatsoever as a secretary.

Therefore, although I might have a great deal to learn, I should have nothing to unlearn.

I understand what is expected of a secretary, and I hope that I have at least the initial qualifications. I have had a fair education, having graduated from Central High School and the Crawford Business Academy, and I have done a great deal of reading. I am told that I can write a good letter. I know that I can take any kind of dictation and that I can transcribe it accurately, and I have no difficulty in writing letters from skeleton suggestions.

Your advertis.e.m.e.nt does not give the particular sort of business that you are engaged in, but in the course of my reading I have gathered a working knowledge of economics, finance, business practice, and geography, some of which might be useful. I am writing this letter in spite of the fact that you specified that experience was necessary, because one of my friends, who is secretary to a very well-known corporation president, told me that she began in her present place quite without experience and found herself helped rather than handicapped by the lack of it.

I am twenty-two years old and I can give you any personal or social references that you might care for. I have no ideas whatsoever on salary. In fact, it would be premature even to think of anything of the kind. What I am most anxious about is to have a talk with you.

Very truly yours, (Miss) Margaret Booth.

_Applications for position as sales manager_

1249 Huntington Ave., Boston, Ma.s.s.

Mr. Henry Jessup, White Manufacturing Co., 89 Milk Street, Columbus, O.

Dear Sir:

Mr. A. C. Brown of the Bronson Company tells me you are in immediate need of a sales manager for the Western Illinois territory.

Western Illinois offers a promising opportunity for the sale of farm implements and devices. During my experience with the Johnson & Jones Company, I got to know the people of this section very well, and I know how to approach them. The farmers are well-to-do and ready for improvements that will better their homes, lands, and stock. There could not be a better place to start.

As Mr. Brown will tell you, I have been with the Bronson Company for five years. I started as clerk in the credit office, gradually working out into the field--first as investigator, then salesman, and for the last two years as sales manager of the Western Virginia territory. The returns from this field have increased 100 per cent. since I began.

With the hearty cooperation of the men on the road, I have built up a system about which I should like to tell you. It would work out splendidly selling Defiance Harrows in Western Illinois.

My home is in Joliet and I want to make my headquarters there.

I have no other reason for quitting the Bronson Company, who are very fair as far as salary and advancement are considered.

My telephone number is Cherry 100. A wire or letter will bring me to Columbus to talk with you.

Very truly yours, Gerald Barbour.

70 Blain Ave., Boston, Ma.s.s., May 4, 1921.

Mr. John Force, 6 Beacon Street, Boston, Ma.s.s.

Dear Sir:

This letter may be of some concern to you. I am not a man out of a job, but have what most men would consider one that is first-cla.s.s. But I want to change, and if you can give me a little of your time, I will tell you why and how that fact may interest you.

In a word, I have outgrown my present position. I want to get in touch with a business that is wide-awake and progressive; one that will permit me to work out, unhampered, my ideas on office organization and management--ideas that are well-founded, conservative, and efficient. My present position does not give play to initiative.

If you at this time happen to be looking for a man really to manage your office, audit accounts, or take charge of credits, my qualifications and business record will show you that I am able to act in any or all of these capacities.

I have written with confidence because I am sure of myself, and if I undertake to direct your work, you may be a.s.sured that it has a big chance of being successful.

If you so desire, I shall be glad to submit references in a personal interview.

Very truly yours, Clive Drew.

Telephone Winthrop 559-w