2011年2月12日星期六

Blog 3.Application Letter Critique

Job Description:

Emp Ref No: SGP01687 SGP01687
JobsDB Ref: JSG400003000336222

Bank of America Corporation and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. have officially joined forces, creating a leading banking and wealth management franchise and premier corporate and investment banking and capital markets businesses.
Our corporate cultures share a strong emphasis on making clients our first priority. Our global company, with a deep and diverse array of businesses, is uniquely positioned to offer a much broader choice of leading solutions, products and services to companies, individuals, institutions and governments around the world.

Derivatives Client Services Officer
Post Date: 10 Feb 11


Job Description
In close communication with the GWM Marketers and Products team, GMI Trade Support desks, technology, corporate actions & documentations teams, the primary responsibility of the DCS team is to act as an intermediary between the GWM private clients and the GMI Trading and support desks for all OTC FX Equity and structured products.
Responsibilities
Reporting to Manager of APR Collateral Monitoring Team & Derivatives Client Services Team, the successful candidate will be responsible for the following:
  • To perform Trade Monitoring, Exceptions management & Affirmations and all related queries for all trades on a daily basis such that any trade discrepancies and/or system related issues are rectified urgently and all issues resolved before EOD.
  • Life Cycle events management for all OTC and structured trades and analysis of root causes of trade failures for monthly reporting and escalation.
  • Manage the process of third party structured products from product creation, data enhancement to distribution and settlement. This involve liaison with the external counterparty (issuers), front office traders, clearing banks as well as internal corporate action teams.
  • Administers the execution of ISDA confirmations for OTC FX and Equity trades post reconciliation with trade capture system and termsheet, while ensuring 30Day Fed targets are met along with producing weekly aging reports on outstanding confirmations.
  • End of Day MIS reporting on volumes and issues.
Requirements
The candidate needs to be process-minded, as they will be expected to participate in designing, analyzing and improving processes during the day-to-day activities in order to mitigate risk and improve efficiency.
The ideal candidate should be self-driven and proactive, suitably aggressive in order to chase up on open ended issues with both management and front office traders. 
The following attributes are necessary:
Strong verbal communication skills as there is a frequent need to engage with the business on various issues as well as use influencing skills to manage expectations of various parties.
The following attributes are preferred:
  • Knowledge of ISDA documentation.
  • Knowledge of some OTC FX and Equity products.
Qualification:
  • University degree with a minimum of 2 years’ relevant experience.
  • Proficiency in Excel.






Cover Letter:


Zhang Yanjing,
4-G, Blk 22,
35 Prince George’s Park,
Hp:97583365
jingjing88510@hotmail.com
Date: 11th Feb 2011.
Bank of America, Merrill Lynch
Millenia Tower #28-00,
1 Temasek Avenue (S)039192
.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Application for Derivatives Client Services Officer
I am currently a final year student of National University of Singapore(NUS), pursuing a Bachelor’s honor degree of statistics (specialized in Finance). I am responding to your advertisement on the JobsDB (Ref: JSG400003000336222) and applying for the position of a Derivatives Client Services Officer for Bank of American, Merrill Lynch. 

I am currently a Statistics major specializing in finance with a strong interest in the banking industry. I took modules related to finance that will help me in banking industry such like economics, accounting and financial mathematics etc. I am good in statistic programs like SAS,SPSS and R which are very useful for risk analysis. I have also learned Java and C++ programming skills during my undergraduate study.

Through much leadership during my university life, I have gain strong leadership skills while possessing a great team spirit. As president of BINGO China-Affair Sub-Committee, I successful organize international conference with Shenzhen University. Our conference raise fund for selected 50 students in NUS, sending them to Shenzhen in China had a 4-days trip. You could look into my resume if you are interest in my other activities.

I also have four years of internship experience. My most recent internship at Bank of China, Hunan Branch has allowed me to further develop and strengthen my technical skills. I have also worked part time in NUS Science Faculty Dean’s office which has honed my skills on using Microsoft Office, especially Microsoft Excel and Word. My internship in CareerAlbum. Inc as a quality assurance engineer which entails me to support and market website platform has also strengthen my ability to work well both independently and in a team. I believe that I can make a significant and valuable contribution to Bank of American, Merrill Lynch through the position as a Derivatives Client Services Officer. 

I am looking forward to speaking with you. Thank you for your time and consideration. 

Yours faithfully

ZHANG YANJING

Enclosures:
1. Resume
2. Certificate of internship



--Thank you for reading my application letter, please help me to improve it. 
(^.^)// Have a nice day!

3 条评论:

  1. Hi Kitty!

    Have read your application letter and here are afew language and expressions suggestions I have for you (those in CAPS are the corrections I have done for you):

    (1)...pursuing a Bachelor’s HONOURS degree of statistics WITH SPECIALIZATION IN FINANCE.

    (2)...strong interest in the FINANCE industry...

    (3) ...help me in THE banking industry such like...

    (4)Through TAKING UP LEADERSHIP POSITIONS during my university YEARS, I have MANAGED TO ACQUIRE strong leadership skills SUCH AS (name afew...). I ALSO REALIZE I ENJOY WORKING WITH AND LEARNING FROM PEOLPE OF DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS IN TEAMS.

    (5)As THE president of BINGO China-Affair Sub-Committee, I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ORGANIZED (AN OR AFEW?) international conference with Shenzhen University.

    (6) Our conference HAS RAISED fund for A selected GROUP OF FIFTY NUS UNDEGRADUATES, sending them to Shenzhen in China FOR a 4-days trip.

    (7)(DO NOT ORDER THE INTERVIEWER WHAT TO DO... SO OMIT THE "You could look into my resume if you are interest in my other activities." LINE)

    (8) My most recent internship at Bank of China, Hunan Branch has allowed me to further develop and strengthen my SOFT skills SUCH AS... (do not mention technical skills here as you will talking about technical skills later)

    (9) ...part time in NUS Science Faculty Dean’s office which has HELPE TO FURTHER HONE my TECHNICAL skills SUCH AS Microsoft Office, ...

    (10) ...quality assurance engineer, which entails me to support and market THE website platform, has also ...

    That is all. Do consider my above suggstions. I believe some of the corrections I have made will make your application slightly more lengthy but I believe the extra details will definitely help to market yourself better to the interviewer =)

    Yeap, that is all and I will see you in class tomorrow!

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  2. Hi Kitty!

    Very impressive resume, and as Zu Rong has pointed out some of the language errors, I feel with those edited the letter should be fine.

    I would like to add on about the content of the letter, as besides what I've -done-, maybe you could add which skills you -acquired- that may be important for this position; skills that may highlight being proactive and even suitably aggressive.

    Hope you find my comment helpful =)

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  3. After reading your application letter, I want to point out a few things that can further enhance your application letter.
    First of all, I think that the following sentence in the third paragraph is unnecessary. "You could look into my resume if you are interest in my other activities."The reason is that the person-in-charge will surely look at your resume after viewing your application letter. However, it's is utmost important for you to highlight the key activities that show your personalities and qualities.

    Secondly, I think that your internship experiences are your strong points in your application letter. One of the job criteria as stated in the job adverstisement is "to mitigate risk and improve efficiency". I suggest that you can talk about your experience in these areas. I am sure four years of internship various working environments do show something in you:)
    That's all from me. See you in class tomorrow.

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