AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggh!!!!

OK, if I get one more email from a “prospective employee” that has as little thought as this I am going to go postal:

I am writing to you regarding a possible position within your company as a product designer. Please would you review my CV/portfolio attached. I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

“Sure, what the heck, let’s start you off at $60K per year with benefits. You can begin this coming Monday. Look forward to seeing you. Thanks.”

Well in that case,

“What’s up dood, can I get a job? I like yer werks!!! OK, thanks in due course!!! Peace!!!”

“Yo hit me up, I Robert, I want job, I design things, give Robert job”

ok I can come up with several reasons why you are frustrated.

  1. you got too many emails from them because of the crises
  2. you got too many applicants who where so vague
  3. too impersonal

sorry for asking, but can you explain why the e-mail makes you post like this?

yeah I wonder too actually, maybe it’s obvious for someone who owns a company but…

1, 2, 3, and 4. and 5.

The joke I was making is that IP would accept this offer and give this guy a job after hearing those three WOWing sentences. No, it’s not that easy.

It’s like literally walking into a Microsoft, walking right by the secretary, into the design department, finding the Design Director and saying “I think that desk is cool with me, I’ll start on Wednesday”. Ridiculous.

The person emailed him out of the blue, they did not inform him who they were, what position they are seeking, and most importantly, what value they can add to his business.

Why should anyone want to give you a Product Designer’s salary (at least $50k) when all you can do is type three boring sentences? They are literally saying the three sentences are worth $50k+.

This is very basic elementary Cover Letter stuff guys.

And straight up rude.

Honestly, I don’t know why this is so upsetting.

I rather like it. It’s straight to the point, not wasting anybody’s time.
what is it you want? How much he loved your stuff in this show or read about you in that magazine?

my CV/portfolio attached

everything that would in any way be interesting or important should be answered in the CV and portfolio, just a click away. Then, if the employer thinks that he has use for the applicant, they can start an interview.

it’s not 3 sentences, it’s a CV and a portfolio that should do the talking!

bepster, I think the point is that whenever you are approaching a hiring professional cold, you should at least make the effort to express why YOU specifically will add value to THEIR company. You want to demonstrate that you’re done preliminary research on their company to see where you could fit in. The email as it is smells to much like a mass email, and people usually don’t appreciate that. If you’re expecting them to take 10 minutes out of their busy day to review your work, then expect to have put at least 30 minutes into a meaningful cover letter.

Had the email read please see my Cover letter and portfolio attached, then sure it I think it would have been fine, this way the viewer doesn’t have to wade through 3 paragraphs of text… but at the very least you’ve got to attach one.

bepster,

You make a good point.

HOWEVER,

This email he sent to IP is a literal 100% first time communication, first time they have ever exchanged words and/or “digitally meeting each other”.


It’s the same thing as boldly walking up to someone you don’t know at an ID conference and saying “Hi, here is my CV and Resume”.



Cover letter attached or not, an introduction is necessary. Even a brief one. Who you are, what your expectations are, and why you think they’re deserved. A cover letter can be for the details.

Do I just want to start downloading 2MB files from someone whom I never have met, and who didn’t even take five whole minutes to type me?

And yes, this has mass email written all over it. Garbage.

exactly, I don’t want a novel, just be a little bit more personal. And to the point, if the CV and portfolio rock my socks, the introductory email doesn’t mean much. But if I don’t get past the email…

Yes- it takes effort to review a portfolio and send feedback. The least the sender can do is put some effort into personalizing the email to the recipient. That way you feel like reciprocating the effort. I would not feel bad about ignoring an email like the one above.

The sender needs to give me a reason why I should open his resume/portfolio. Simply saying, I’d like a job check out my resume just doesn’t cut it for me.

I recognize that email…(I think)

I received it yesterday also. (IP and I both work in Vancouver so that isn’t that surprising)

I actually opened up the CV as I had assumed that the person was local.
Wrong…
They are based out of Europe.
-Just to make starting on Monday that much tougher.

I’ve gotten similar and worse emails. I’m glad to see that some of the people that don’t understand what is not the most effective type of communication are speaking up in here.

This type of communication makes me want to directly delete the email. So you are starting off at a negative, and unless your work is friggin balzerko, it will then get deleted. I don’t know if that is right or wrong, but it is consistent with most hiring managers I know… so just don’t do it.

A perfect one is till simple, but leaves you on a positive “I want to look at this” vibe.

Such as:

"Jon,

I came across One Oaks website and I thought my work might be a good fit. If you are currently hiring, or want to add some prospective candidates to your files, I’d love to chat about One Oak to see if I would be a potential fit for any future opportunities.

My resume and portfolio are attached.

Regards and thank you for reviewing my work.

Michael"

Or something like that. 5% more effort can result in a 100% better result for you.

And that could still be a “form letter”, but it is inviting and positive. You come off like you are at least sincere about the prospect, almost sort of a hat in hand kind of courtesy.

Might be really funny is if anyone gets that exact email in a few weeks…

yeah… don’t send that email to me by the way!

I advertised for a puppet prototyper about three months ago. I was developing some of those comedy plush slippers for a client. I got someone, they’re working on it. It’s going well.

I’m still getting emails, even now. I wish they would read the ad. I don’t want a Rhino 3D cad expert, I want a puppet maker. Only I wanted them three months ago. Aaargh!

Is it silly season? I think so.

Those Puppetmaster movies from the 80’s scared the hell outta me as a kid, you’re better off man…seriously.

I just delete those or if I am not feeling so kind that day, I tell them sorry we are not hiring and I apologize for getting back to him so late because his was the 20th such email i got during the week. :wink: