Tina Chan was having an easier time revising the staid and formal cover letter she had taken two hours to write the day before.
Sitting in her Sheung Wan flat, the 26-year-old Canadian-Chinese was applying for a job outside the technology field she had been reporting on for the past two years in Hong Kong.
This time, it took her less than an hour to type out a livelier letter, the one that was supposed to make the crucial, indelible impression on her potential employer, and secure her a new job.
'We aspired to greatness,' she typed, referring to a start-up cyberculture magazine she worked on as a reporter and editor before it folded.
'Even if we did not always succeed, the best part of the job was knowing that you had tried your best to create the most gripping, witty and pithy piece of reporting and writing that would have knocked the bow-ties off [Financial Secretary] Donald Tsang, had he bothered to read us.' She paused, then started a new paragraph.
'This is the kind of enthusiasm and roaring good humour that I can bring to your section. And if given the chance, I will knock the bow-ties off Donald.' The cover letter is the sales pitch on which the future of every job-hunter hinges. If they try to be modest and truthful, they could sell themselves short. But taking too confident a tone could also rub the right person the wrong way.
'It had my personality on it, multiplied by 10. I'm usually not that bold or brash. Luckily, I did get some freelance work out of it,' says Ms Chan.
