Business Portfolio - Good Examples

Well Designed Cover Letter #1

11 Spring Blvd.
Apartment 3
Philadelphia, PA 19104

September 20, 2005

Mr. Jack Bland, Supervisor, Recruitment Operations
Superior Oil Company
1422 Morrison Building
Cleveland, OH 44115

Dear Mr. Bland:

I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Superior Oil Company's career opportunities at your information session at the University of Pennsylvania on September 15th. I was very impressed by Superior's focus on using the newest technology to both explore and drill for oil, as well as the firm's focus on sustainable development. I also enjoyed the opportunity to speak with several alumni working at Superior, most notably Janet Smith, who seems thrilled with the variety of assignments she has been involved with since joining the organization two years ago.

I am particularly interested in securing a Marketing Associate position at Superior. I am currently engaged in a marketing consulting project through my internship with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. The project involves conducting research on foreign currency options and formulating a marketing strategy and target market position for the Stock Exchange's Foreign Currency Options service. I have also completed many marketing projects through my course work at Wharton. One of the more significant projects was an in-depth consumer behavior study on day-care centers. The research results were based on questionnaire responses and computer-assisted statistical analysis. The project culminated in a class presentation which was extremely well received by both the professor and my classmates.

Outside of my class and work experiences, my extracurricular activities have helped me to develop a variety of skills which would be useful to Superior. I currently serve as an Account Executive for the international organization AIESEC. AIESEC's central program is the Traineeship Exchange in which companies employ foreign business students to participate in the regular operations of the firm. As an Account Executive, I meet individually with top executives from the Greater Philadelphia business community and market the benefits of the AIESEC Traineeship Exchange program. I am also fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and hope to incorporate these language skills in my future employment.

I am aware that you will be interviewing at the University of Pennsylvania on December 5, 2005 and hope to have the opportunity to meet with you then to further discuss both my interest and qualifications. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions before then.  Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Larry White
Enclosure: Resume

Well Designed Cover Letter #2

45 Walnut Street
Apt. 15B
Philadelphia, PA 19105

September 30, 2005

Ms. Carol Connors, Vice President
DEF Company
55 Water Street
New York, NY 10041

Dear Ms. Connors:

It was a pleasure to meet you at John Smith's graduation and I appreciate your offer to forward my resume to the Corporate Finance Division of DEF. As a recent graduate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, concentrating in Finance, I am actively seeking a position in financial analysis. Since speaking with you, I have had the opportunity to to learn more about the DEF Company and was intrigued to read about the recent deals in which DEF has been involved. I found the firm's work on the McIdget IPO as well as the acquisition of Pell Corporation by YZ Partners to be particularly impressive, and would be extremely interested in working on similar activities in the future.

My coursework at Wharton has prepared me well for a position as a financial analyst. As an undergraduate, a substantial portion of my curriculum emphasized case analysis in terms of company financing and expansion. For example, when investigating a case for the American Drug Company, which was considering investment in Colombia, I analyzed the factors associated with financing operations in dollars versus currency of the host country. My analysis included currency risk and credit risk, as well as liquidity risk.

I have also had the opportunity to put my finance knowledge to work through practical experiences with several organizations. In my role as the Director of Investments with the Student Federal Credit Union at Penn, I was instrumental in helping to manage $1.6 million in CDs, Agencies, and CMOs and leading the committee in both the purchase and tracking of these securities. The position not only helped me to better understand the financial markets but also strengthened my leadership and teamwork skills. In my role as a summer analyst in the Financial Accounting division with Johnson & Johnson, I performed monthly closing activities for the Corporate Advertising and Science & Technology organizations and reviewed quarterly results with department heads. I also updated the 2005 Business Plan and helped create the 2006 Business Plan for the Corporate Advertising area. My work at J&J helped me to learn about the financial operations of a large and complex organization such as Johnson and Johnson.

I look forward to having an opportunity to discuss my qualifications and your professional needs concerning a position with your firm. I will contact you during the week of October 10th to determine if there is a time which is convenient for a visit to your office, as I plan on being in New York during the last week of October.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Richard Jones
Enclosure

Phoebe R. Holmes

1234 SE Rock Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97206

503-123-4567

phoebe.r.holmes@jobs.com

EMPLOYMENT

• State of Oregon Licensed Home Inspector, 2006 - present

• Teacher: Theatre Arts, ESL, Psychology, Japanese, Yearbook, Portland High School, 2002 - 2006

• Instructor: Bernard English School, Tsukuba, Japan, 2001-2002

• Language Teacher (ALT): The Japan English Teaching Programme (JET), The Sapporo City Board of Education, Sapporo, Japan, 2000-2001

VOLUNTEER WORK

• Board Member: Chaos Theotre, Director, Heather Rose Walters, Portland, OR, 2005 - 2006

• Adjudicator: LEST Acting Competition, Concordia University, Portland, OR, 2004 - 2005

• Workshop Co-Facilitator: “Drama in the Classroom,” Sapporo Mid-Year Conference, JET Programme, Sapporo, Japan, 2001

• Judge: Sapporo-Portland Sister City Oratorical Contest, Sapporo, Japan, 2000

• Workshop Facilitator and Director: Teen Theatre (sponsored by Womancare, a domestic abuse care center), Dexter, ME, 2000

RELEVANT STUDY / EXPERIENCE

• Co-Founder, Writer, and Director: Portland World Theatre, 2003 - present, http://www.portlandwt.com

• M.A. Candidate: Theatre Arts Department, State University of New York at Stony Brook, with emphasis on the history of Noh and Avant-Garde Theatre, 1998

• Housing Services: Four years of study at Oregon State University, 1992-1996

EDUCATION

• M.A.: Performing Arts, concentration in directing, research, and traditional Japanese Theatre.  University of Maine, 2000.  Thesis Title: Defining Postmodern Aesthetics in the Work of Three Avant-Garde Theatrical Directors: Ariane Mnouchkine, Anne Bogart, and Joanne Akalaitis.  Thesis Advisor: Dr. Tom Micotowicz

• B.A.: Fine Arts / B.A.: International Studies, concentration in Japanese Culture and Language.  Minor: Japanese.  Oregon State University, 1997

• Study of Japanese Culture and Japanese Language: Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, 1995

REFERENCES

• Heather Rose Walters: Director, Chaos Theotre, 503-267-108X

• Bud Jones: Project Manager, Intel, 503-756-561X

• Debbie Zawada: Business Officer, Portland High School, 503-667-319X