The Other Side of Life 24/7: The Cynical Girl: Rejection Letters to Applicants

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Cynical Girl: Rejection Letters to Applicants

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 03:45 AM PDT

Maybe you saw this rejection letter manifesto from a hiring manager named Shae Gunther.

I missed it due to my stupid travel schedule. You can follow the author on Twitter if you want to know his side of the story.

His manifesto had nuggets like the ones below in blue.

Do read the ad and do exactly what it asks.

Do be a bad ass.

Don’t tell me how great this job would be for you.

Don’t tell me that you are skeptical of me.

(Too late, asshole.)

If you read through the letter in its entirety, it seems petty and mean-spirited. Some career advisors say there is plenty of good advice for job seekers in the letter. Yeah, there’s plenty of good advice if you want to be one of the millions of Americans who has to put up with a boss who thinks he knows something about talent, recruiting and running a business.

Don’t ask me questions answered in the ad.

(Maybe your ad sucks and isn’t as clear as you think it is.)

Anyway, I think there is really one good piece of advice to be had from this experience.

You never have to work for a bag of dicks like this guy if you are confident, you have skills and you’re out of debt.

You can say no to just about anything — this idiot, Capital One, the Chinese — if you can produce good work and you don’t owe anything to anyone.

Do capitalize and do use punctuation.

Don’t ask me questions.

Don’t send me your poetry.

(I’m sure this happens all the time. Not just once — and you’re making a big deal out of it.)

I love it when grown men condescend to the rest of us.

Now listen, I’m not an awesome entrepreneur like Shae. I’m simple folk. I just think that if you can produce and create sustainable businesses that mean something to the world — and if you have the honor and privilege of employing other people — you shouldn’t talk to people as if they are functional idiots.

Don’t tell me how great this job would be for you.

(Don’t worry. I won’t.)

And if you’re such an awesome business owner, maybe you should apply those skills to bigger issues. You rejected 900 job applicants? Are you sure your ad was written properly? Or maybe something is wrong with America, the hiring process and our educational system. Go spend time on solving that problem, dumbass.