Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research - 585 - job application letter language study

Sep 10, 2026

A job application letter functions as an applicant’s first screening tool that presents skills, abilities, and experience to recruiters. The study investigates patterns and language use in letters written by Indonesian students majoring in Economics and Business. Data are drawn from sixty letters authored in Indonesian and English by fourth-semester students, complemented by interviews with human resources heads in Jakarta companies. Descriptive qualitative and quantitative analysis applies the AIDA approach and calculates model-variant percentages. Results show several AIDA variants but overall language remains less persuasive.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Purpose and significance

Prior related research

Method

Participants

Data collection

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 585 Proceedings of the 1st UMGESHIC International Seminar on Health, Social Science and Humanities (UMGESHIC-ISHSSH 2020) How Indonesian Students Write Job Application Letter Sri Hapsari Wijayanti Faculty of Economics and Business, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia Corresponding author email: [sri.hapsari@atmajaya.ac.id](sri.hapsari@atmajaya.ac.id) Abstract. A job application letter is a document containing an applicant's skills, abilities, and experiences regarding a job opening to an employer. Writing this letter is a major determining factor for applicants to secure a job because it is the first screening process before they undergo the recruitment phase. Therefore, this study aims to determine the pattern of job application letters written by Indonesian students and the language used. Data were obtained from sixty letters written in Indonesian and English by fourth-semester students that studied at the Faculty of Economics and Business in one of the private universities in Jakarta. Furthermore, data collection was obtained by interviewing heads of human resources divisions in several companies in Jakarta. The obtained data were descriptive qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by observing the letter's contents using the AIDA approach and calculating the percentage of model variants that appeared in the data. The results showed that students' job application letter has several variants of the AIDA model, and the languages used are still less persuasive. Keywords: Indonesian, Student, Write, Job Application 1. INTRODUCTION Job application letters are an important component in applying for jobs online and offline because it provides an outline of the applicant’s qualifications [1] . It is also one of the most significant means of successfully attracting the recruiters' attention. The job application letter is an introduction to the attached resume as a recruiter's 'bridge', which is a personal document that describes the applicant's skills and work history [2] . Each job application letter is unique because it is specifically written and tailored to the needs of the company [3] . A job application letter is effective when the applicant can professionally demonstrate his ability to assist the company in achieving tremendous success [3] . It contains a description of the applicant's qualities to persuade the reader, express wishes, briefly validate the information presented and express politeness. These refer to one goal of the job application letter genre, which is “to get a certain response from the reader” [3] . A job application letter can be classified as a promotion genre in a business setting because it enables applicants to describe the information contained in the resume and relate it to the qualifications expected by the recruiter [4] . Therefore, they possess the same persuasive and informative characteristics as business letters, thereby maximizing readers' benefits [5]. According to Londo, a business letter has four parts, which are formulated in AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) [6]. The AIDA formula emphasizes the reader's interest [7] and provides adequate information on the applicant [6]. Job application letters have been observed from a cross-cultural context [8],[5],[9], [2]; language learning [10]; politeness [7], and organizational structures [4],[11],[2],[12] . These previous studies implied that writing job application letters need to betaken seriously and can be studied despite the differences and similarities in the socio-cultural conditions. Both fresh graduates and experienced job applicants have limited English vocabulary, thereby making it difficult for them to convey adequate information in their job application letters [10] . Furthermore, data obtained through observation showed that applicants and students lacked the right skills in writing job application letters that reveal their

FAQs

What is the purpose of a job application letter in recruitment?

It presents an applicant’s skills, abilities, and experience as an introduction before recruiters begin the recruitment phase, serving as an initial screening tool.

How does the study analyze job application letters?

It uses the AIDA approach to observe letter contents and applies descriptive qualitative and quantitative analysis, including calculating percentages of model variants.

What did the study find about the students’ letter language?

The letters show several AIDA-model variants, but the language used is still less persuasive.

Sep 10, 2026

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