need help with my cover letter and resume

[Persio]

Hello to everyone.

I would need someone to correct my cover letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,
My name is Persio X and I am willing to apply for a job in your company the following winter. I am a student from Argentina and I am going to the United States on a Work & Travel program sponsored by X. I will arrive at Vail on November 29th 2008 and I will be able to work up to March 13th 2009 according to the J1 VISA I will have.
As I have studied English for over fifteen years and French for six years, I would be very interested to work in a position where I can be directly in touch with the public and practice these languages, such as a translator. [I don't like how this sounds]
Otherwise, I would also be keen on working in a position related to food and beverages, such as a waiter or a bartender.
My resume is copied below.

Thank you for considering my application.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.

But I have a problem. I was told to copy my resume below the letter, not to attach it as a file. So... how do I "articulate" the letter with the resume? After the "I look forward to hearing from you soon." should I sign, and then just begin with Address:, Personal Information:, etc etc? It does not look very nice:

Thank you for considering my application.
I look forward to hearing from you soon,

Persio X

Address
[street nº,
city, country
phone
email

Personal Information
Nationality: ...
Birth date: ...
...

Objective
...

Education:
[etc]

[Anglika]

Welcome to the forum.

Dear Sir or Madam, [You appear to have been in contact already - if so, you must have a name. Use it.>> Dear Mr // Ms XXXXXX]
My name is Persio X and I am willing would like to apply for a job in your company over the following winter. I am a student from Argentina and I am going to the United States on a Work & Travel program sponsored by X. I will arrive at Vail on November 29th 2008 and I will be able to work up to March 13th 2009 according to the J1 VISA I will have.
As I have studied English for over fifteen years and French for six years, I would be very interested to work in a position where I can be directly in touch with the public and practice these languages, such as a translator. [I don't like how this sounds]
Otherwise, I would also be keen on working in a position related to food and beverages, such as a waiter or a bartender.
My resume is copied given below.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Since you do not indicate what kind of company this letter is intended for, it is difficult to judge whether saying first that you want to make use of languages and then to say you want to work as a waiter or bartender makes sense.

If the company is [for example] a hotel chain, then I would rephrase that bit as:

I am most interested in using my languages (English and French) as well as working in a position related to food and beverage service, particularly as a waiter or bartender.

As you give it, adding your resume in the way you indicate is fine.

[Persio]

Thanks a lot for your reply!

[You appear to have been in contact already - if so, you must have a name. Use it.>> Dear Mr // Ms XXXXXX]

Mh, no, I haven't. What should I write instead? I don't have any contact information.

Since you do not indicate what kind of company this letter is intended for, it is difficult to judge whether saying first that you want to make use of languages and then to say you want to work as a waiter or bartender makes sense.

If the company is [for example] a hotel chain, then I would rephrase that bit as:

Yes, it is a hotel chain. One of those big Colorado resorts. I know it is a bit weird to say that I have studied that much and then to offer myself as a waiter. I would prefer to work as some kind of translator, but I think it will be almost impossible to find a position like that. To be a waiter is the primary option I have if I want to be in contact with people.

I am most interested in using my languages (English and French) as well as working in a position related to food and beverage service, particularly as a waiter or bartender.

The problem in (in?) saying it like this is that I do not empasize how much I studied English and French. And since in my resume I only wrote

Languages
· Spanish (first language, native)
· English (second language, advanced)
· French (third language, advanced)

I think it would be good to give it more improtance somewhere... What do you think?

Thanks again Anglika.

[Anglika]

Ah - right. Well, you could do a little online research and see if you can track down the name of the person who is in charge of staff recruitment in the company. Using a name is always more effective than an open letter.

I see your point about the languages, though I am not sure that saying you have studied English for 15 years is necessarily a selling point. Would you be prepared to work on the reception desk, where you might be more likely to use languages?

You could perhaps consider saying:

As you will see from my resume, I have studied both English and French for several years and would like to build on that by using them, as well as my native language, if at all possible. I also would very much like to be dealing with the public. Therefore I am happy to work on the reception desk, or in a position related to food and beverage service, such as waiter or bartender.

[Persio]

Finally, I arrived to this:

As you will see from my resume -which is given below-, I have studied both English and French for several years and I would like to build on that by practising them, as well as my native language (Spanish), if at all possible. Therefore, I would be pleased to work in a position where I can deal with the public, such as a receptionist, a bartender or a waiter.

What do you think?

(Sorry for the delay..)

[Anglika]

That looks good.