One of the most awful things that most people endure is the quest for employment. Sure, some people are lucky and their connections come through with perfect timing, but for the rest of us, getting employment requires serious legwork. The better the job you want, the tougher and more stressful your search will become. Recently this has been on my mind a lot. Not only do I need money to pay for school, rent, and the various other pleasantries that go along with living, I also need to consider what I am going to do once I'm finally finished with the never ending slog that has become my academic career.
Today I came across an interesting article that discussed a recent employers attempt to help hapless job seekers strengthen their chances, and was surprised by the general tone of it. The jist of the story was, after reading 900 applications to a writing job for his website, Shea Gunther took it upon himself to offer some advice. Admittedly, it was a lot of advice; but he did read a lot of applications. Gunther drafted and BCCed a 3,000 word email with 42 points summarizing the Do's and Don'ts of applications.
The details of his advice aren't important for our purposes but links to the article, Gunther's response, and the original email can be found below. The thing that caught my attention, however, was the backlash... And really, who doesn't love a good backlash? People were irate. The internet rang out with calls of "Dick!" and "Douchebag!" and various other insults of increasing vulgarity. But why? Don't people want constructive criticism? Don't they want feedback from the people who decide whether or not they get called?
The sad truth is that people, as a general rule, don't like bad news. As open minded and inquisitive as they appear to be, the will go on the defensive if you actually start tearing them down. It's that pesky fight-or-flight response that evolution has endowed us with. The problem lies in the fact that we often choose to respond to a situation before we give it the thought it warrants.
I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I have been quick to react and slow to think in more situations than I care to consider, but whenever it happens I get embarrassed and try to learn a lesson from it. The trouble with a public forum like the internet is that when people realize they've made a mistake, they are far more likely to dig in their heels and defend it. The result is digging themselves a hole from which dignified escape becomes impossible.
Gunther broke with tradition in going beyond the expected "Thank you for your application but the position as been filled" and, at least partially, that was his undoing. When you surprise people and hit them with bad news at the same time, (to quote South Park) you're gonna have a bad time. As observers, though, we can learn from this situation. We can decide not to be offended when someone offers us legitimate advice. We can be grateful for someone taking the time to go beyond what is expected, even if they aren't telling us what we want to hear. It's something that's much easier said than done, but it is an important lesson for job hunting and life in general.
Cheers,
Steve
Links, yo:
The first thing I read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/work-blog/2012/mar/29/job-rejection-letter-to-end-all-others?newsfeed=true
The response: http://www.salon.com/2012/03/30/sorry_gawker_my_42_point_plan_helped_job_seekers/singleton/
The offending email: http://www.scribd.com/sheagunther/d/87226611-42-Job-Application-Dos-and-Don-ts
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