Following Instructions Counts!

I recently had to find some help with a writing project I was working on. I decided to go to Craigslist and post a “help wanted” ad for a writer. In the posting I asked for people to send me an email telling me why they were perfect for the job, their resume, and two or three samples of their writing. I also made it very clear emails with attachments would not be opened.

What I expected to receive was several emails from people who put the things I asked for in an email and without attachments. What I received was entirely something else.

I had almost 70 responses before taking the posting down. Some people sent me the same thing twice. Not including the duplicates, I had 64 responses in two days time. I was excited to have so many prospects. My excitement soon went out the window…

Here is a breakdown of the responses:

• 46 sent an attachment. I opened the emails but not the attachments. Inside the emails I found 35 resumes attached and 17 samples. (I could tell by the file name).
• 1 email was addressed “Dear Sirs.” Aside from the fact that I am a female, I was stunned that someone would still write “Dear Sirs” when applying for a job in 2007. Even worse, the email was from a female….
• 12 of the emails had spelling mistakes.
• 1 person said she loved my magazine and she can not wait to read next months issue. While I loved her enthusiasm, I do not publish a magazine and I never mentioned a magazine in the ad.
• 1 person said “I do not know how you feel about attachments, so I included them.” (If she had read the posting, she could have answered the question herself).
• 1 person sent attachments and then talked for several paragraphs about his “pegan” religion. He hoped this was not a problem since it involved witch-craft. If only he could spell “pagan.” Religion is not the problem. A writer who can not spell is a problem.
• Even though I had made it clear what the payment would be, one person still gave me her hourly rates and told me she will only work for this amount.
• One guy listed everything he ever wrote since 1981. He also told me his marital status, height, weight, hobbies, and living situation. A little too much information for me! In the time it would have taken me to read his entire email, I could have completed the project myself.
  

In the end I had two people out of the 64 who followed my simple (or what I thought was simple) application instructions. While I am sure many of these people could write well and would have done a good job on the project, I had to delete any emails which were not what I asked for.

The point of my hiring someone else to help me was so I had time to work on other projects. I really did not have much time for the work I was looking to hire someone for. If people did not follow the instructions I had put in the job posting, how confident could I be they could work independently on the project? I just could not count on them and had to pass on their services. It wasted a lot of my time and theirs!

The moral of the story…read carefully before applying for a job. It pays to take the extra few minutes and give the potential employer what he or she wants. Sending a “one email applies to all” will only land you in the “junk” folder!

Happy Writing!