Yeah, I know! This is a bit off topic but this morning I sat down to my desk and began the regular task of delving into my email accounts. To wear out an overused cliche coined by the fictitious Forrest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” Same with emails.

I’ve been around the block a time or two and spent many years of my life in positions that allow me to interview would-be employees and even to the degree of having a vote on selecting board members to corporations and organizations. Over this period of time, I have also had the dubious distinction of reading and reviewing resumes, cover letters, as well as conducting interviews with applicants. Let’s say it has all been an unbelievable learning experience.

Now that my son and I own and operate our own business, we often receive emails from people who want to find a career with Skinny Moose Media. I was reminded once again this morning that quite an array of people send us emails inquiring about job opportunities.

I thought I would take a moment and offer a few tips from someone who has spent a fair amount of time on both ends of the spectrum – seeking and hiring.

The Internet, if nothing else, has done one thing. It has aided in creating in a person a trait that would never be exemplified in a face to face encounter. Even aside from the false bravado some take on of believing they are completely incognito, for some reason people do and say things I’m sure they wouldn’t in a face to face confrontation.

For example. If I went into the office of Willy, Stealus and Blind and said, “Dude! I’m like lookin for a job”, would anyone take you serious?

One of the most obvious problems that might face a person inquiring about a writing position somewhere within Skinny Moose Media, is the blatant inability to write…..period. There’s no excuse anymore for misspelled words. We have machines that do this for us. (Note: I allow the same percentage of error in misspelled words as exist within spell check.)

Spell check of course does not help us when it comes time to put the correctly spelled words in the right order. Emailing us with a sentence like: “Dudes, Im like to right and would correar to be in righting. I no im just right for your company. Call me!”

Maybe if we were a skateboarding company that would work.

But seriously! I know I can be a bit of a perfectionist sometimes but as I age and mellow, I better understand that we are only human and can make mistakes – we all can. So please, do yourself a favor and the next time you send me an email inquiring about job opportunities, take an extra minute to edit your email and/or get someone else to proof it for you. We are informal enough that we don’t mind an introductory email making an initial inquiry. If you want any chance at all in this ever tightening job market, put some thought and effort into what you write and how you write it.

Tom Remington

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