Dear Sir or Madam:

I came across your recruiting website on Duke's career service and saw that you were seeking to hire quality marketing candidates. My work experience has given me the technical knowledge, communication fluency, and interpersonal skills I need to excel in this area upon completion of my degree from Duke. (With regard to my interest in marketing, the attached writing samples should prove enlightening.)

I plan to reside in the Durham area until my graduation in May 2004. Please contact me by email or phone so we can further discuss my background in relation to your needs.

Yours,

Richard Berg
100 Glengary Ct #102
Durham, NC 27707 USA
+1 (919) 225-5883
jobs@richardberg.net


1. If you were organizing a dinner party and could invite three people: a person from the past, a person from the present, and a person from the future, who would you invite and why?

Past: P.T. Barnum
Present: Nathan Myhrvold
Future: The 2072 President of the United States of EurAsia

Myhrvold would arrive early to start preparing a true chef-inspired meal, dragging along a few other ex-Microsoft executives to keep him company. Once we were seated I'd be sure to ask him whether his change of pace and climate has been really as, err, appetizing as it sounds, since I know firsthand the challenges and ultimate goals faced by a person balancing his passions.

P.T. would certainly be chiming into the business discussions at the MS end of the table, no doubt fascinated that they were making billions on sales of the intangible. In the process I'd hope to pick his brain: not only how & why marketing itself is all that and a bag of elephant peanuts, but its relationship to (and these days de facto sponsorship of) the performing arts.

President Mike Krzyzewski Jr., the former Polish governor, would be understandably tight-lipped in such an apolitical crowd. However, as Nathan and P.T. explore the interplay of the arts as hobbies, professions, and marketing tools, a question arises: to what extent has the world homogenized its copyright protections? Eastern EurAsia having being one of the last bastions of liberal copyright laws, Mike steps in to criticize the two's underlying assumptions, noting the stifling effect the combination of 200-year derivative rights and digital comparison engines have brought. As they then discuss the requisite balance between commercialism and expression, one side anecdote recalls his father's angry resignation at Coca-Cola's 2013 purchase of the NCAA that began the practice of paying students; even P.T. agrees that marketing needs limits.

2. Please answer EITHER a or b.
a- Why are you interested in starting a career in marketing communications?
b- Upon starting your career in Ogilvy, would you prefer to begin in Ogilvy and Mather Account Management or the OgilvyOne Associate rotational program? Why?

(a) I hope my silly story illustrates a few ways in which marketing is a critical tool with broad applications and immense responsibility. Disciplines I'm passionate about, such as music, can be both empowered and limited by its influence; this most evident reflection indicates that there are no doubt similar relationships across every field of human endeavor. Dedicated marketers make all the difference, and I'd like to be one of them.


Back to CoverLetters