Erik G. Jensen

7630 Wood Hollow Drive, Apt. 319, Austin, TX 78731 · · Cell: 610-864-5148

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Mr. Aaric Eisenstein

Vice President of Publishing

Strategic Forecasting

504 Lavaca Street 1100
Austin, TX 78701-2858

Dear Mr. Eisenstein:

Please accept this letter, my attached resume and writing samples as my application for the Marketing Writer position advertised on Craigslist.org for Strategic Forecasting. The position offers an excellent opportunity to assist in successfully marketing Stratfor’s unique product, as well as to utilize my exceptionally strong background in writing for the benefit of the company. I thank you for the chance to apply.

In addition to my academic degrees in English and philosophy from Cornell College, I have over three years of experience of writing for my college’s newspaper (mainly in news) and the additional experience of teaching writing to a first-year class. Furthermore, in my informal projects, I was routinely involved in writing assignments, including expanding my fraternity’s history, authoring Cornell’s Greek system’s history and partnering with others to assist them in articulating their specific goals. Accordingly, I can vary my writing to approach specific or broader audiences and have an incredible intuition when it comes to communicating with others.

My experiences with geopolitics range from the academic to the personal. My home library contains names in the field including Samuel Huntington, Bernard Lewis, Bill Bishop and, of course, Mr. Friedman. I have seen Huntington’s “cultural fault lines” in my own experience, having worked with international students while at the University of South Carolina. Thus, I entirely understand the necessity of understanding geopolitical divisions, acknowledging their importance and using that information in approaching a conflict. Ultimately, I understand your clients’ needs, because I have previously had those same needs, and I can create strong, persuasive copy to sell Stratfor’s services, despite their intangibility.

I have tried to include as many faucets of my writing as possible for your consideration in the writing samples. The first is an article I wrote in Fall 2006 about the visit of a congressman to Cornell, while the second was written for a geology class and focuses on the Kyoto Protocol. The third is a commentary piece for the newspaper focusing on a production written by students at Cornell.

I believe you will find me to a passionate, productive member of your team, and I eagerly look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to contact me at your convenience, and I wish you the best in your search. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely Yours,

Erik G. Jensen