Monday, May 17, 2010

Reach Out and Annoy Someone

Sam and I went to McDonald's for lunch today (he had a Happy Meal, I had the Ennui Meal) and while Sam was busy upending his beverage on the floor, I leafed idly through the ketchup-stained 24 Hours commuter rag the last patron left behind.

In an advice column to job-seekers called HRinmotion (you can tell they're in motion because they don't have time to put spacing in their name), readers are counseled to refrain from following up an unsolicited resume with an unsolicited call:
Employers receive hundreds of resumes daily or weekly, so to expect them to take a call and know about your resume is virtually impossible.
I think they mean the taking of the call and the knowing about your resume are virtually impossible. To expect that, however, is within the realm of possibility, even if it is misguided. But let's continue...
I understand the job-market is dry and job-seekers can get anxious. But let's be reasonable: You are making a solicitation call. Similar to a telemarketer, most employers do not have the time to take a call or respond to a message in their day-to-day schedule.
That opening clause in the last sentence is not just misplaced, it seems to have wandered in from a neighboring county. Or at least from the preceding sentence. It is you, after all, the feckless and delusional job-seeker, and not the poor beleaguered employer with the day-to-day schedule, who is being compared to a telemarketer.