And I thought we’d already taken care of this…

The past week has seen me looking at HP applicants’ emails/cover letters/resumes/writing samples as well as cruising ads on Craigslist. And I really don’t get some people. Still. Pet peeves, in no particular order:

1. If you aren’t offering compensation, don’t advertise that ‘YOU’RE HIRING!’ I associate ‘hiring’ with getting paid.

2. I like my privacy, but I hate getting HP cover letters addressed to ‘Dear Sir or Madam’. Gag. So, I put my name in. It’s Brittany. Right at the bottom of the ad, where it also tells you what I want to see. So, you know, don’t put Sir or Madam when you have my name, okey doke?

3. Don’t attach cover letters. I don’t want to open another page or download something just to read a cover letter. Body of email is fine. Great, actually. Perfection. Attached cover letter is crap.

4. Writing in the first person is fine. I do it all the time. But when I say ‘I’, I like to capitalize it when I know people who might, you know, might be ‘hiring’ me to write are going to be reading and evaluating what I send them to try to convince them to ‘hire’ me to write.

5. If I ask for a writing sample, send me one. Don’t say, ‘send me a topic and I’ll write 250-500 words’. Just send me a sample, dammit.

(this is fun, btw.)

6. In your writing sample, don’t talk about a GF ‘doing’ her BF’s BFF, k? The site’s read by preteens and mamas.

7. If  I give you options, tell me what you want to write. Don’t make me guess. Don’t make me give you something you don’t want to write. Just tell me.

8. It’s not a ‘job’ if I’m not getting paid. It’s an internship or volunteer work. It’s not a job.

9. Give your email a title, please, like ‘hangPROUD internship’.

10. It’s hangPROUD. Not Hangproud. Not HangProud. Not hangproud. Not HANGproud. hangPROUD. If I can do it, you can do it. And thanks to everyone who does it. I appreciate it.

11. Don’t be a ‘prominent candidate’. That’s not a good way to sell yourself. Be the candidate. There can be lots of prominent candidates. Actually, there’s six or seven. You’re one of them, despite your bizarre desire to be merely prominent.

Eleven is a nice awkward number to leave it at, right?

❤ B.