Feedback from an Employer: Things to Consider Before Applying for a Gig
February 22, 2008 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing, Writing Tips
Ever wonder what the people who place ads are thinking once the reponses start rolling in? What makes one person reject an application and accept another? James, from the TippyLeaf Tea blog job offered to give some feedback. As you can imagine, I jumped at the chance to let the person who is doing the hiring to offer his thoughts. One thing that stood out for me is where James tells us if you answered five minutes after I posted his job, you probably didn’t take the time to give his website a good look. It’s really important to know your client. They can tell if you haven’t done your research. Thanks James! – Deb
You posted my ad for a tea blogger yesterday. Having enjoyed your blog for a while now, and benefited from advertising a job on there, I wanted to give something back and thought it might be useful to have the comments of an employer on the way that people apply. It might help some applicants. Many of these things are subjective and people may disagree, but I hope this is helpful.
Things that candidates do that I like
1. In general, I am grateful for the effort people make in applying. You are bound to have several writing jobs on the go, perhaps on a range of topics, and you no doubt apply to many jobs, so I appreciate you taking the time to write a personal email, trying to show that you love my subject area, trying to be funny, and so on.
2. Do give me a link to the stuff you already write, or send me an attachment. Perhaps not everyone thinks this is the best option, but for a writing job, ultimately I will want to see your writing, and I don’t want to have to email you asking for it.
3. It does help if you already write a blog or articles. Of the 500 applications I had in the first day, almost all claim they love blogging, so I need to create another filter, and that is bound to be do you actually have a blog or not. True, a great writer may not have a blog already or have written anything online, but I have enough people to choose from and am sufficiently pressed for time that I will take that gamble.
4. Do write in the style I asked for. I said I wanted an informal, personal style. So that is another way to make your email stand out a bit more – even the ones I reject (e.g. informal to the point of spelling mistakes), I appreciate the customisation. Just remember that you will be the voice of brand, so don’t sound too crazy.
5. It may be difficult to do, but the emails that connected to the wider context of my needs have stuck in my mind – for example, people who had connections to cricket, or who have visited northern India, or who punned (supposedly an English thing to do), etc. When I recruit bloggers to write about web 2.0, I will notice people who can do stock analysis, or who can code.
Things that candidates do that I don’t like
1. Do spellcheck. Seriously, it’s a writing job! If you have spelling mistakes, 90% of the time, I will delete your email right there.
2. Whether you replied within 5 minutes or 24 hours is not going to make a world of difference in whether I give you the job. But if you apply within 5 minutes, I will assume you haven’t really looked at the blog, haven’t really decided if you are right to do it, personalised your email, etc. I do understand that you apply for a lot of things, and a 90%-template email is fine, but add a line or something that shows you read my ad.
3. Don’t ask me for more details without even sending me your CV. This may seem harsh, but it has also been problematic in many previous instances where I have recruited full time writers. I realise that the job ad may not answer all your questions, but I get hundreds of applications, I am not going to write new detailed emails to the 50 people who ask. Especially since the information requested is usually not essential. If you send me a two line email asking for a ten line email back, that isn’t going to happen.
4. Don’t tell me that you’d never thought of blogging before, never realised people got paid to blog, etc.
5. Don’t send attachments that I cannot open i.e. not Word or PDF. Yes, I could figure out how to, but I won’t.
6. Don’t tell me that my blog is rubbish, even if I hinted at it in the job ad. Or, don’t just tell me that, if you want to say it is rubbish, tell me what you would do to improve it.
Why I reject the rejections
Remember that I need to choose 1 out of 500, and that at most 200 may be “bad”, and 20 may be equally good for what I need, and rejection is an inexact science. I accept that I may reject the best candidate, but I have to make a tradeoff between thoroughness and time.
1. Spelling mistakes.
2. One-liners asking me for more information.
3. Your attachments are in some format I cannot open.
4. Subject expertise. This is more relevant in another job I have where I recruit technical writers. With tea it is not so important, but I do look for attitudes to the subject that may show a fundamental divergence which will become an issue. In this case, say your favourite tea is mint tea (which is not actually tea) or you drink earl grey with milk (which I know many people do, but…), I will probably reject you, especially if your application did not particularly stand out. This is perhaps very subjective, and can be unfair (because it penalises people who took the risk to tell me what their stance is, rather than those who write more neutral emails), but again given the large number of applications that I have to whittle down, this is as good a criteria as any.
5. Your current style isn’t what I need. Much as your heart may yell that you can adopt a different style, I need to find ways of narrowing down the list, and this is one. If you adapt your style, I will get the style that I defined. If it already is your style, you will be able to take it to the next level.
James
Very interesting!
Personally, I did not apply for the gig but I’m sure that many bloggers who did, will find it quite informative.
WOW! 500 applicants on the first day. I know many gigs receive a huge response but applying on day one must be better than applying on day three.
Thanks for posting
I thought this was interesting on several levels. First, I, like Shell, was surprised by the number of responses — I knew there would be a lot, but 500?
Second, it goes to show what I have always believed: There is no single “right” way to craft a cover letter. Everybody is different, and what is cute and funny to one may be rude and offensive to another.
Of course, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has written what I believe to be a good letter, made a few modifications and sent it only to find that I left a wrong name or company in the text. Yeah, that’s a throwout!
Awwwww, c’mon! What’s wrong with Earl Grey w/ milk?
Very helpful letter.
A sincere thank-you to James for taking the time and energy to write back and let us in on his methodology for choosing what he feels is the best candidate for a writing position.
Thanks to Deb also for putting that information here so we can make use of it.
As we all know, just as trying to put our best foot forward is not an exact science, hiring what appears to be the best fit for a position is a crap-shoot, too. Actually, this real life reminder makes non-acceptance for a position a little easier to take–saving my self-esteem for yet another day.
I also posted an ad here when I was editing for a client (whose no longer publishing that newsletter, unfortunately) and got a great response. (Deb, you offer a valuable resource!) But personally, as an editor I don’t love attachments. I would much rather go to see a writer’s web site to read his/her clips. When I’m pitching, I never ever ever include attachments (unless specifically asked) and instead send them to my writing site. This is because I know some editors feel the way I do about attachments and also because some spam filters will either block emails with attachments or strip the attachments.
Otherwise I agree with what he’s said here.
I agree – a rare glimpse into the mind of a client looking for a match. I’m sure we’ve all done a few of the “what he doesn’t like” items occasionally. I’ll copy and paste this somewhere so I can refer to it often.
Spell check – I’ve seen writers advertising their profiles with something like “Freelance writter looking for work.” OK, *who* is going to hire you??
Thanks Deb!
I think that tip #1 makes a huge difference. I started personalizing e-mails about a year ago. I have a standard template, but I like to include elements of the job ad in my e-mails. It might be a coincidence, put my personalized cover letters generate more responses.
I guess there are a lot of us that won’t be applying for a tea blog job anytime in the near future but that should make James’ job a lot easier. This was a great post. I know it’s made me think about how I can improve my job response emails. Thanks!
Thank you, James and Deb, both for giving feedback and for putting it where we can see it and learn from it.
And now, I have a question: how would you recommend including a CV or a resume if not as an attachment? In the body of an email, in a link to a website, or some other way?
What delightful, honest feedback. Thanks to James for sharing and Deb for posting!
It’s laudable that with nearly 500 applications to sift through, James still took the time to provide detailed feedback to us. Though I was not one of his many applicants, I appreciate the time and effort he put in to let us (read as: pounding the pavement freelancers) know what caught his attention both in a positive and negative sense.
I also think it speaks volumes about the far-reach that this blog itself has, don’t you?
That was a valuable, valuable post, Deb, and thank you to both you for putting it up and to James for having taken the time to write all that out. That was a well thought-out expose and I appreciate reading it. I’ll probably read it a few more times as well.
One mistake that I did make when replying to the job ad was assuming that tippy@… meant that the person’s name was Tippy. I really don’t like beginning emails with just a Hi, or putting a “to whom this may concern.”
I’m glad to see I did well on the rest. And yes, the list of ingredients in my chocolate chai tea does list tea
My mom is British and only drinks Earl Grey with cream. She and her parents never drank it any other way.
I had one comment to add – James mentions how you should add a link to writing samples. I do this regularly. My cover letter has a link to my writing in the beginning to make sure it is noticed. 50-percent of all people I send it to immediately respond with “please send links to your writing samples.” I swear some of them don’t even read emails when they receive them!
Perhaps James has given us insight into reading tea leaves
Now, we can see how future more easily when applying for jobs! 
It looks like my email fit in with most of his tips, though I have one problem with the assumption that if a blogger replied in 5 minutes of the ad going up, they didn’t take a look at the site.
I read fast and so do others. Some people just are able to do that, it isn’t unheard of. Occasionally people will come by at nearly the same time the ad was posted, without knowing it was not there before. Maybe they don’t check the site each day, but every other day.
It is very hard to know just what you need to do to customize your cover letter for each editor. Something that makes one laugh and hire you right then is likely to make another delete your email.
I have links to samples right in my signature and list links to relevant samples in the email body. Like Ann, I also get responses asking for samples!
Perhaps a writer should write up a post on what editors should do in their replies to writers? Then again, every writer is different (like editors) and will appreciate one style over another.
James,
Thank you for the insight. I applied,though it is doubtful I’ll be hearing back from you. I likewise agree with dawn — a link to one’s writing samples should suffice. We can all cobble together an impressive CV, but our writing speaks volumes and should tell you whether or not we have the “write stuff”! I refrain from submitting a CV until such time as I am able to ascertain the legitimacy of whomever is hiring. Often it’s a ploy to populate databases for work at home schemes. It’s happened all to often to me as of late, so I’m measured as to what I out “out there”.
Thank you Deb, for your wonderful resource.
I’ve been a long time reader of your blog and I have to say thanks so much for posting this.
I think it is great feedback that is much needed with all the people wanting to be a blogger these days!
Thanks!
Jamee
Interesting post – from a client’s view. Although I agree with Julie about the assumption that “If a blogger replied in 5 minutes of the ad going up, they didn’t take a look at the site.” Mainly because if you’ve been writing / blogging for years you know or don’t know if you can pull off a job by topic. I do know that there are writers who will apply for anything, but that’s not indicative of all writers. Hence why you include clips, to show you do and can blog.
If you’ve got plenty of work under your belt, and happy clients to show for it you likely know if you can write about a blog topic or article topic sufficiently with or without researching the site for a long while. Plus if all you do is read and write blogs for work, checking out a blog becomes a fairly fast process. You scan for massive errors that would make it hard to blog, check the blogroll, post frequency and comments.
If you aren’t sure about a topic, you’d check out the site or company in a more in-depth manner. I think most pros know what they can handle.
I may be a total idiot, but I was confused by something he said: on one hand he said it was okay to send attachments, but then said “don’t send attachments in a format I can’t open, such as Word or a PDF.” If you’re not sending it in Word, what other formats are you supposed to use? Do people really send things in ASCII or RTF form? I usually try to avoid sending attachments because I’m worried that will get me filtered to someone’s junk mail or spam folder. If a person writes an ad and gives no instructions about how to send writing samples, I have actually not sent anything and asked the person how, if they want them, I should send samples. Now I guess I know why I haven’t heard back from some of those people…
I’ve been a part-time writer for over 2 years and up until a couple of weeks ago all of my work has come from a specific company (they don’t have anything for me at this time thus I’m constantly searching the web), so in a sense I’m new to the freelance game but not really. That being said, it really set me back hearing that 500 other people replied to this post. Plus it popped up on other sites today that do not post all day like this site does (just one of the reasons why I love it!!) so the client has probably been hit by 2,000 by now. I mean I’ve got enough confidence in myself to know I’m good, but better than 499-2000 others?
Like others who read this site, my cover letter is a well toned work of art that I’m constantly tweaking and perfecting. Yes there is some room for adding a customer specific line or two, but it’s main purpose is to confide in the reader that I’m the best man for the job. Regardless of the topic I can find an ad requesting a writer and zip out my “best foot forward” in under 5 minutes. My point is if the client is about to be bombarded with 500+ responses there is no way they can say they are giving the last 5 the same attention at the first 5 which to me means I’ve got to be ready at all times to make sure I’m one of the first ones responding or my chances drop dramatically.
Bill:
I don’t know. I kinda think that once someone knows what the response will be, that would kind of make it exciting, like “Wow, I have all to choose from, that means I don’t need to settle for a mediocre writer.” Do you know what I mean?
I think if there were only 5 responses, it might be easier to choose, but you might wonder if maybe you weren’t getting the best.
I completely agree Robin and I don’t want to come across as someone who doesn’t have faith that what I write isn’t just as good if not better than anybody else’s. I’m just saying that in order for me to make my presence known I have to be in the front half of the line rather than the last one to show up. I don’t expect a client to pick the first one or twenty people that come calling, but there’s no way you are looking at number 395 the same way as you looked at number 26.
Bill – the only suggestion I can make is to do your best. If you see something straight away then apply. I was offered an interview (it wasn’t writing at the time) but was told since I was the first one to apply, they gave me first priority. I know this isn’t the case with everyone but sometimes it pays to be extra diligent.
When you send in an email always make sure the subject line is appealing and is well suited to the job title.
I have to point out something else that bothered me about this post, not on Deb end of it, though.
Writers are to spend extra time crafting the best letter they can, research a site that is already admittedly mediocre, but the employer had time to scan many applications, then write this?
Tounge in cheek here, but, I’m impressed more with that than the 5 minute people.
I’m stunned that in this day and age, someone who has a business or a website feels that they can’t be bothered to “figure out” how to open attachments in Word or .PDF, which requires merely double clicking on the attachment. Whoa. But I’m glad I read this feedback because I’ve been sending my resume and clips in either Word or .PDF and will stop doing that (I’ll either send via text or upload my info to a website).
Thanks for posting this!
I wanted to answer some of the points raised.
1. I understand that many employers don’t want, or can’t take, attachments. For me, attachments or a link are both fine. Any content will do. And I misstated the formats bit – I do want docs and pdfs, those are the ones I can read. Some attachments come without file extensions, or in other formats that I cannot open.
2. About the “5 minutes” … over the past few years, I have processed maybe 5-10,000 applications for myself and for clients. You don’t process them as they arrive, you just cannot, given that in some minutes you get 5-10 applications. In this case for example, I will take a couple of days “off” to do it. And you have other tasks to do anyway. So actually, by the time that you do read them (a day or two later), the order in which they arrived is not so important. Yes it is important not to apply too late, but it is more important to apply relevantly, because by the time I get to read your application, its relevance will matter much more than when it arrived. If in your haste to reply quickly (thinking that this will make a good impression), you sacrifice some relevance, by the time I get to you, that will not work in your favour.
[On a personal note, I couldn’t make a good enough assessment in five minutes. I know I can write about tea for example, but am I really right for tea blog X … I need to read a few posts to know that, to understand their voice, all of that. Before I was ever an employer, I used to think look, I am smart, I can write really well, and it’s tea, don’t pretend it’s so difficult, give me the job … now I have become more sensitive to the vendor-side nuances that means if Shakespeare wanted the job, I really would have to say no…]
3. Receiving applications is not a game where I raise random hurdles and laugh crazily as you fall at them. It takes a lot of my time and, as I said, it takes up your time too. So it’s not a case of having pernickety little rules for their own sake. Just because you made a mistake doesn’t guarantee rejection – one can tell which mistakes are careless (I quote: “ur blog seems great, because I love tea”) and which ones can happen to anybody including myself, especially the type that Word doesn’t catch (“I am very interest in your blog”).
4. I agree that what can seem humorous to some people, may seem stupid to others. Personally, the humour isn’t going to swing it to me (nobody was very funny
), but what does swing it is that you read my requirements and made an effort to match them. I may still not take you on, but it’s another point in your favour.
5. There is no right way to drink Earl Grey. If you like it with Tabasco sauce, go ahead, as long as you like it. My point is that one reason for rejection (that you cannot do much about perhaps) is I want a philosophy of A, you believe B, and that is all there is to it. Your belief is just as good, often better, than mine so I am not judging you, I am just saying we don’t match so well.
6. I had not expected to receive so many applications. In the past I have recruited for $100,000 jobs through Monster, WSJ etc and I would get 100-200 total. Yes it is a bit of a hassle, but I am actually pretty privileged to have the choice. It never escapes me that these are not just numbers and commodities but real people willing to devote time to my interests.
I have been on the applicant and the employer end of this process, and the applicant is probably much harder. Certainly you are more exposed emotionally as an applicant.
Obviously I am one employer … another may think completely differently.
And for those who suggested I should be writing less here and reading those applications, you are right
I think we’ve been misreading James’ comment about attachments. What he is saying is that he doesn’t want attachments that aren’t either Word or PDF.
Oh, well, now I feel like an idiot for misreading that line about attachments in Word or PDF form. Good thing I didn’t apply for this one!!
Bravo to James – You continue to give us a peek at what’s on the other side of the job advertisement. Your candid nature is appreciated, makes me understand the process on a whole different level. This is “insider” stuff!! Thank you, James.
My thanks as well, James. It’s a rare client who takes the time to be so helpful to show many writers the other side of the coin.
I’m glad you mentioned the number of applications you received for day one, as well. That does go to show that competition for web content writing is very stiff and takes sharp applications to stand out. I’m sure you’ll have over 1k of applications by the time this is over, so… my sympathies, is all I can say
But it does prove that when people like Deb here at FWG and myself tell others that there is high competition for jobs, we aren’t kidding!
I thought this information was very helpful. I have yet to apply for a job and did not apply for this one, because I don’t drink enough tea. I like mint “tea”. I find it overwhelming even to know where to begin. I am so glad I found your blog to get some ideas of how to get into the market.
This is an invaluable post. I too have worked on both sides; I both hire & apply for freelance gigs. Everything he mentions here is dead on. I’d also add, although it might seem like a no-brainer, that you should be polite. It is surprising how many freelancers seem to take the anti-9-to-5 stance too far and actually get rude/ pushy when applying for jobs. Business etiquette still applies although we are communicating via email over a freelance position.
Probably not so much that they are freelancers, more that they are just rude pushy people!
Speaking of the “spelling” thing that James mentioned earlier today, anyone notice the Suite 101 ad that’s been floating around here (I think it’s at the top now) advertising for “Freelance Wrirting Jobs”?
Things that make you go Hmmm….
Good point, Erika.
Also, I think this rule (obviously) applies to ALL job applicants. But I do feel like a lot of people trying to get into the freelance world tend to let this one slip because the environment can be deceptively casual.
I probably came off as foaming at the mouth in my earlier comments, but the ad was deceptively casual, so I am sure many of the applicants were going for that type of voice.
Most of the time, people tailor their ads to what they perceive the employer is saying in the ad, so I took a defensive stance for those who did that. I do find it hard to correlate the ad with the tips given in this post.
Maybe that’s just me. But, if I were posting such an ad, I would be sure to clarify what I was looking for in the ad, not later on when I was a little overwhelmed with improper responses. By improper, I do not mean with atrocious spelling, not at all. That is not acceptable for any application, ever. I admit, I’ve sent out applications with something spelled wrong before, because of a typo. It happens, I don’t stress over it, because if the employer likes my style, he or she might forgive once incident. It’s happened before.
Hi Julie,
Just to be clear, I wasn’t referring to any posts here at all, much less yours. I was talking about applications I’ve received in the past from writers when I advertised for help. I’ve gotten people who called me names for my terms (which they were perfectly free to decline) and even people who said “I won’t send a sample because you’ll steal it.” I mean, it’s fine if you choose not to send samples, but there are nice, polite ways to inform a potential client of that!
Your use of the words ‘deceptively casual’ echoed mine, so I just wanted to make sure to clarify. My post probably wasn’t very clear!
Re: Suite 101 error
Spelling errors make a HUGE different. I was in my husband’s company’s website yesterday trying to find out exactly what EXAR stands for. He’s worked there for 28 years and said he didn’t think it actually is an acronym but welcomed me to go find out.
They manufacturer wiring that goes into your cars, computers, televisions, military equipment, etc. So I’m on the military page and it says, “Our high temperature EXAR wires withstand the hottest temperatures in the dessert or the coldest temperatures on the planet.”
This cracked me up. I can just see someone running a strand of wiring through their molten lava cake to test that theory out. So for a multi-million dollar industry to have that on their website goes to show that spellcheck doesn’t always help out! It’s best to have someone else read over your writing.
I usually turn articles over to my 8th grader and let him go to town. He loves getting to “grade” mom and it helps having the second pair of eyes.
James didn’t have to come here and give us his reasons for digging (or not digging) a particular candidate, but he did. I’m hoping to get more feedback from people who place ads here, but if they’re faced with hostility it’s not going to happen. Rebut all you want, but please, keep your anger and tone in check.
As you were…
I appreciate the fact that an employer took the time to provide a list of what he is looking for when considering an applicant. We’re all very busy, he didn’t need to do this, but the fact that he did is great.
Smackdown time?
You know, your point is taken. You deleted my comment which was made contructively, but allow a client to post something derogatory about the people who come here and did value this blog.
My tone was not rude. It was explaining why I was angry.
Don’t worry about it, I won’t be back to contribute anything else that might be ‘bad’.
Relax, people. James didn’t post anything derogatory or condescending or hurtful or attacking or whatever. He was stating his views.
Accepting feedback and criticism graciously and with positive attitude is part of our job as writers. Lashing out against a man who took a good deal of time to write in and at Deb who has to moderate comments as part of her job to maintain a healthy environment doesn’t help anyone.
There are ways to say that you’re unhappy or don’t agree with something without conveying a tone perceived as defensive or attacking. That too, as wordsmiths, is part of our job.
I see nothing wrong with what James wrote – and I think it’s a valuable perception. Is it the Voice of God? No, of course not. But it’s fine and good info, I think. No need to get angry.
Get angry with clients who offer $1 for 500 words and treat writers like dirt instead. They deserve it far more.
One of my posts is missing too. It was only in answer to someone else who was asking politely what is the best way to send in an application because they were new at writing. Can’t we give helpful advice now?
@Julie – I’m sorry you’re upset. My only rule is to “be nice.” I didn’t feel James was out of line.
@Shell – I only deleted one comment. Of course you can give helpful advice. I will check the spam filter and see if your comment is in there. Also, the first comment by anyone is held in moderation or if there are links or certain “naughty words” in posts they are held in moderation.
Look, before you all start coming after me with torches and pitchforks, I’m not a dictator. I encourage freedom of discussion and despise censorship. I do take issue when comments are attacking or confrontational.
Those of you who know me know I don’t run around with my finger on the delete button acting the role of comment Nazi. For me to delete a comment it has to be hurtful, vulgar (this wasn’t) or rude. I did delete a comment I felt crossed a line.
You’re all welcome to speak freely but you have to remember that while it’s your community, it’s my blog. It’s my reputation, my traffic and my income that’s at stake. I’m the one who receives the emails telling me I provide a great service but my commentators are too hostile and keeping people away.
You guys can disagree until the cows come home, just please, be nice.
Thanks for getting back, Deb!
I couldn’t see my post and the one posted by the new writer. He had his email address in the message, so perhaps something happened there and it was misinterpreted as a link or something. I was just responding to his question. Never mind, hopefully he read it.
I must agree, it is good to get employer feedback. I was thinking about this yesterday, that whilst we had the Cover Letter Clinic it helped a lot of people. However, to have potential employers give feedback is like gold dust to the majority. It really is. Okay, we may not always agree with what is being said but a least we get an insight into what people are look for and accepting on certain gigs.
You know, many people would often like to chase up a potential employer and ask why their application was not accepted, but they don’t often get a reply. This way, we are all receiving feedback, which must be a positive thing!
Let there be more, I say… it gives us all food for thought. And, what with so many mouths to feed, how can we refuse?
This stuff is important. I’m glad it was posted. As I said, I work on both sides of the coin, and those of us who think James is being picky… he’s not. You’d be shocked and a little horrified at the stuff that’s sent in for applications. A little professionalism is needed. Plenty of writers have it. All James is doing is trying to show those who might not realize how they’re coming across how they can do better in applications. It’s constructive criticism and he never said all writers mess this stuff up. As for it being an overly long list, it wasn’t. Think about what’s required/ what goes into a job decision for a regular employment contract. All people like James has to go on to make his decision is someone’s email. Therefore, that email is super important and people should treat it that way.
James, thanks so much for the feedback. This was great to see – right in the “if only every job poster did this” Pretty much all boils down to the same thing though – courtesy and common sense.
The file format note was a surprise. I wouldn’t have expected that you were getting resumes, clips, etc. in non-standard formats. Weird.
It’s funny – at first I thought job-posting James was the James from Men with Pens. There might be millions of blogs, but it’s still a small world.
@ Anthony – That it is. I run into people I “know” all over the place. On a side note, you have no idea how strange it feels to be James the blogger commenting on a post from James who owns a blog. It’s a little surreal.
@ James and Anthony: It is a very small world online. I’ve run into people I know in various places too and I am continually amazed at that fact. That’s something we should all keep in mind when we interact with each other. You may apply for a job and not get it because they were looking for a different “voice” but if you present yourself well, you might get contacted later on for something that will be a better fit for you. (Yes, it happened to me.) Don’t burn bridges, guys; you never know who may be in a position to hire you someday.
@ James: Re James the blogger commenting on a post from James who owns a blog who wants to hire a blogger (who may or may not hire one named James) – have I lost you yet? – I am now hearing “Twilight Zone” music in my head….Doo Doo Doo Doo…
@ Jodee – I actually tend to build so many bridges that Harry asks me to stop. They all lead to things called “GREAT IDEAS!” and mostly mean that I hold the plans while Harry hammers the nails. But they’re all there… firm and holding on… I think…
Wouldn’t that be too funny if James hired James? I’d have to blink each time I wrote an email addressed to myself. (Hey, I’m game!)