A few silly questions

[flibbertigibbert]

I'm currently trying to get some work experience to help me get a paid job, so I've been writing to local charities to ask about opportunities.

I'm never sure how formal I should be in the emails. For a proper paid job application I would always sign off with 'Yours sincerely', but it feels a bit too formal when I'm just enquiring about volunteering. Is it ok to write 'Kind Regards' instead?

And when I am sending off paid application forms and have attached my CV and covering letter I'm never too sure what to write in the email. Is it enough to say:

'Please find attached my CV and covering letter for the position of 'xxxxx?' I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely'

Or should I write a bit more?

Sorry if they're silly questions but I get a bit worried by this sort of thing.

If you are applying for an advertised position you need to use the letter to highlight aspects of your cv or experience which are relevant to the job and person spec. For volunteering you could have a look through your local Volunteer Bureau website (try googling or local council website) or even arrange to go and meet the coordinators there who will try to match you up, rather than just writing on spec.

For advertised positions I've been sending 2 Word documents - my CV and a covering letter. Then for the email itself I've just written the short bit that I wrote in the OP.

Is this right or should I scrap the covering letter as a separate Word document and just put it in the email with only my CV as the attachment?

Sorry, does that make sense? I'm very tired

I was always taught that if you're adressing the letter to the person by their name e.g. Dear Mr Smith, then use "Yours sincerely", otherwise use "Yours faithfully"

Not sure what the etiquette is for an e-mail but don't think you'll go far wrong if you apply the same rule.