I have a weakness for poorly-written cover letters and have enjoyed Cover Letters From Hell from Killian & Co. Their latest newsletter has a new twist – candidate responses to rejection letters. Ah, new territory to expand my enjoyment. This is the one that had me rolling: Dear Madam, Here in the body and mind of [Name], we express ourselves thoroughly and as accurately as possible. We highly regard integrity and honesty and as such, only pursue those actions that are aligned with those qualities. Thus, we have found some inconsistencies in your response and we feel compelled to respond… You say that you only ‘are able to’ pursue professional,… Read More
Continue ReadingTake The Blame – Diffuse The Situation
The Sprint decision to part ways with its overly demanding customers is making news all around the web and rightly so. I truly enjoyed the story – you can read it here if you missed it. The best line from the letter Sprint sent out to these customers (my emphasis): “While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time had led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs,” the letters said. The customers were told their service agreements were being terminated, they wouldn’t owe anything… Read More
Continue ReadingCannon Fodder In Sales Ads
A common mistake in sales ad writing is the belief that you have to cover every single responsibility in the position. This is not true and leads to long-winded ads that can actually be a deterrent to candidates. Case in point from an ad I read this morning: 15. Other duties as assigned. That’s right – bullet #15 looks like they ran out of gas so the finished the overly long list with a catch-all waste of a line. People understand there are many aspects to a job beyond what is written in the job description. If they don’t, they should work for the government. Don’t use the line listed… Read More
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