To paragraph or not to paragraph?

Learning to write well can change your entire life. And if you think this is a bold statement, consider the following scenario.

Imagine that you and another 20 people are applying for a job. This once, for a change, the recruiter has decided to read each application received.

You send over your application letter and it looks like this:

Dear Manager,

The opportunity presented in this listing is very interesting, and I believe that my strong technical experience and education will make me a very competitive candidate for this position. The key strengths that I possess for success in this position include: I have successfully designed, developed, and supported live use applications; I strive for continued excellence; I provide exceptional contributions to customer service for all customers. With a BS degree in Computer Programming, I have a full understanding of the full life-cycle of a software development project. I also have experience in learning and excelling at new technologies as needed.

Sincerely yours,
Your Name

After your application is received, another candidate sends his in, and it looks like this:

Dear Manager,

The opportunity presented in this listing is very interesting, and I believe that my strong technical experience and education will make me a very competitive candidate for this position. The key strengths that I possess for success in this position include:

• I have successfully designed, developed, and supported live use applications
• I strive for continued excellence
• I provide exceptional contributions to customer service for all customers

With a BS degree in Computer Programming, I have a full understanding of the full life-cycle of a software development project. I also have experience in learning and excelling at new technologies as needed.

Sincerely yours,
Another Candidate
If we imagine that both of you actually send identical text the chance is that neither will get the job. But this isn't what we'll be pointing out here. What we'd like to emphasize on is structuring your text properly.

If you look at both hypothetical emails above, you'll notice the difference in formatting. Although they both contain the same text, the second paragraph is certainly more appealing to its reader. It also has a larger chance of creating the right impression.

Why does structure matter?

By default it is human nature to try and avoid error. What every recruiter is looking for is a candidate who can get the job done. And whether we're talking about planting trees or managing a team of 5000 people, no one will believe you are trustworthy if you can't structure a simple email. Just as no one would believe a doctor who can't measure blood pressure.

How to structure a paragraph properly?

While structuring a paragraph is a hard task for novice writer, the more you practice it the better you will become. Here's the best description for structuring a paragraph that we have seen: Image credit: Enkoson