Here's my irked response to a impersonal company advertisement. Ah, the joys of a job search. Scroll down to the bottom if you want to read the email string from the very beginning. For the record, the only responses to this point I'd gotten out of the company were identically scripted as follows:
"Thank you for your interest in applying with Creative Circle. You have a
very strong work history. Unfortunately, at this time, we have no positions
available that are a good fit for your background. We will keep your
information on file. Should we find a project that is a good fit for you, we
will be in touch. Best of luck in your search!"
Getting this response once is fine. Getting the exact same response to a different job app at the company is not so fine. Anyway, to the irked response:
Dear [name removed],
Thank you for your personal response to my inquiry. While I understand the load of receiving hundreds of emails per day, I feel it is bad form to talk of wasted time and threaten someone with the label of "serial applicant" when I have only applied for three positions in the past week and five positions in the past six months, and the only responses I have received are indentically scripted emails to two applications. As I said, a personal response such as yours is preferable to the carbon copy email responses I have received as it demonstrates some actual attention to my application. In addition, I'm quite certain that your office does have a tremendous workload of sifting through responses, inquiries, and hirings that do not always allow for individualized responses. Nevertheless, if my resume is "on file" as the carbon copy email responses from your company suggest, then there should be greater time taken to filter your job alerts to cater towards potential applicants that are "on file." To be fair, my body of work does not contain the advertising background mentioned within the ideal candidate, but your job alert said that "Your conceptual skills (good headlines and ideas) are valued above all else," and I was hoping my concepts and ideas might be applicable to this position. In the future, I will take more care in looking for a better match to job opportunities at your company, but it would help if I felt that responses to my inquiries about your company will go beyond identical emails generated by a mail server instead of someone who could help me figure out whether my skills are a potential match. Don't waste my time and I won't waste yours. Thank you again for taking the time to respond to my email and for reading this one.
Sincerely,
Colin Milroy
On Mon, February 27, 2006 5:15 pm, [name removed] said:
> Colin,
>
> Please make sure to apply only to the listings that are a fit for you.
> This
> posting is asking for someone who has come from mainline advertising. It
> will not benefit you to submit to every listing we have. We continuously
> have to sift through hundreds of emails a day. We feel that it is time
> wasted when we open an email from a candidate who doesn't fit the
> description we have carefully crafted. When we see your information on
> such
> a regular basis, we flag you as a serial applicant. In order to avoid this
> category, please make sure to read the postings thoroughly. We want to be
> a
> successful resource for you!
>
> Sincerely,
>
> [name removed]
> Creative Circle
> 233 North Michigan
> Suite 1960
> Chicago, IL 60601
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Colin Grant Milroy [mailto:cmilro1@uic.edu]
> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 4:40 PM
> To: [email removed]
> Subject: Re: Junior to Mid Level Copywriter (Fulltime)
>
>
> To Whom It May Concern:
>
> Thank you for sending me a notice of your Junior to Mid Level Copywriter
> opening. Please see my attached resume for consideration toward
> copywriting positions at your company. I'm anxious to learn more about
> your company, its mission, and your use of creative business concepts.
>
> A little about me and my job experience: I earned my Master’s degree in
> English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and my Bachelor’s
> degree from Baylor University in Theatre with a History minor. I
> currently teach English as adjunct faculty at DePaul University and also
> at the International Academy of Design and Technology. This past year, I
> also taught Composition as an adjunct at St. Augustine College.
> Previously, I worked at DePaul University in academic advisement, degree
> auditing, and administration at the Registrar’s office. I have an
> extensive background in the arts and performance production as well as
> composing creative, academic, and technical writing. I work very well as
> a team player in all environments and my diverse work background readies
> me for many contexts: professional, academic, corporate, and creative.
>
> I sincerely hope that we can combine our creative energies. Please
> contact me via this email or call my cell phone at (773)519-3162. I look
> forward to hearing from you!
>
> Sincerely,
> Colin Milroy
>
> On Mon, February 27, 2006 11:11 am, Creative Circle said:
>> Hello Creative Circle Copywriters. We are currently seeking a MID-LEVEL
>> copywriter for a unique opportunity. Here are the details.
>>
>> Position:Copywriter
>> Location: Chicago
>> Duration: Full-time
>> Salary: DOE
>>
>> Job Description:
>>
>> We are looking for a strong conceptual copywriter at the Junior to
>> Mid-level
>> point in your career. The ideal candidate will be interested in making
>> the
>> switch from a traditional advertising background to the interactive
>> space.
>> Your conceptual skills (good headlines and ideas) are valued above all
>> else.
>> .
>>
>> Skills/ Software Requirements:
>>
>>
>> If you feel you are qualified for this position please send your
>> materials
>> to chicago1@us-circle.com with a copy of this posting.
>>
>> To view additional job opportunities through Creative Circle please go
>> to
>> our website at www.us-circle.com.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Guess I Won't Be Working There
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5 comments:
Colin
As someone who's worked in marketing and copywriting, I've gotta say, I can't blame Creative Circle for rejecting your resume. Your cover letter goes on about your academic experience, which in no way relates to copywriting and advertising.
You need to get some base copywriting experience under your belt. Maybe take on some volunteer projects to build up a resume. Otherwise you wont be taken seriously by people in the ad industry.
I agree with you, anym. My resume doesn't reflect strength in marketing or copywriting. I have some experience in copywriting and little experience in marketing, so I'm not a fit for the job. The issue I took was their lack of response to my inquiries and then labeling me as someone who wasting their time when they didn't bother to respond to my inquiries with anything more than an auto-generated email. Compound that with their emails telling me that if there is a job that matches my skill set, they'll email it to me, which is what they've been doing. They haven't been filtering on their end and they blame me for trying to get something more than a faceless response. So yes, I could have done better analysis on my end, but they should take a little more care on their end. And lest I be accused of being unaware of the workload of receiving large amount of mail, paper, responses, etc., I supervised the entire distribution of DePaul University's transcript and verification requests for almost two years (average over 200 requests per day), so I know about heavy corporate workload. I had to make time for a lot of personalized responses. I basically dislike their de-personalized approach which is sometimes a necessary casualty of the corporate world.
Finally, I want to thank you for your comment and I certainly don't want you to think I'm ranting on you. You're right that I wasn't a fit for that job, and since you've worked in marketing and copywriting, I appreciate your taking the time to offer some advice. Hope you stop back in to the blog and offer more comments.
no worries. I know...I do hate the impersonal corporate repsonses. Altough nowadays I find youre lucky if you even get a form letter rejecting you. Usually I get nothing!
If you need more advice about getting into copywriting, feel free to ask.
AZ
I am not sure how creative circle functions, but they seem to do a very poor job corresponding with new applicants. I had the same experiences you had, however, with less correspondance. I attempted to initiate contact over the telephone only to get more or less the same bull you did. I guess they draw on their established pool to fill their jobs.
Ugh. Unemployment is a far too frequent visitor. I sympathize with you all in the same plight. May we all have other substances to distract us from the plight and gainful employment rapidly (or both, ideally, even after the plight has lessened).
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