I am interested in a position vs I am interested in the position

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kwfine

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Hi all,

Say a business company BizABC wants to hire three temporary
Office Assistants, and I saw this job's advertisement somewhere.

Because the number of job vacancies is more than one,
I am not sure which of the following sentences is grammatically correct.

1. I am interested in a position of temporary Office Assistant available ...
2. I am interested in the position of temporary Office Assistant available...

Could you help please?

Thank you.
 

Hitch

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Sentence number 2 is the correct one because it identifies the position you are interested in. The use of the article "the" refers to specific things from a group or class while the use of article "a" means any and does not identify a thing out of a group or class. So, in your 2 sentences you can state:
1. I am interested in a position commensurate to my qualifications. (if you don't know of any position available in the firm that fits your qualifications.)
2. I am interested in the position of Office Assistant. (because you identified the particular position you are interested in.)
 

Ann1977

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I don't think it makes much difference.

You can certainly use "a" to mean "any one of a number of items all the same" -- such as "Ask a teacher" or "Give me a hamburger."

So in that sense, you can say in this case
"I'm applying for a position as . . . "
because it means "any one of a number of similar items."

The problem with using "the" is that it implies that there is only one such position, and perhaps you would look clueless if you didn't know this.

But really, I hardly think it makes any difference.

Still, if this were my application, I would avoid the entire problem and write:

"I am interested in applying for one of the temporary Office Assistant positions advertised in the Morning Ledger."
 

kwfine

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Thanks Hitch and Ann1977 for all your prompt help.
 
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