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Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

finance.yahoo.com

41–50 of 93 posts

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#41
post #3

>I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets at least a call from every bank out there I think that's funny. My brother works in finance, and I work in engineering. We both interview candidates and we were discussing our approaches recently. What struck us is how different our approaches are. A few key differences: * In general, his approach is based more on intuition, whereas mine is very objective. We both spend a lot…

> I filter far less aggressively, somewhere around the top 50-100 school mark. Would an otherwise good candidate be excluded solely for going to some no-name school?

School is a filter you apply before you take the effort to figure out whether someone is a "good candidate." The uphill battle for people from no-name schools is to give hiring managers an alternative reason to put in that effort.

That seems to be exactly what this kid did. He knew he wouldn't get past the hiring filter, so he went out of his way to make a contact in real life and then follow up with an eye-catching e-mail.

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#42

Wait a second... this guy sent a letter to a firm looking for employment and had it along with his personal details paraded around - what looks to be - the industry? How is that not a serious violation of privacy? I'm pretty sure this would violate even the most basic privacy statement. I highly doubt they asked the submitter if they would enjoy being emailed to the industry. In Canada or the EU you'd be violating Go…

serioulsy, what are you talking about ? This kid needed a job (pretty bad i would think) and he wrote a "smart" cover letter with his name/email address. HOw is that information being passed around other members of the company a violation ? I don't know about other countries but in the US, I would think it is normal. I mean u need a job. Do you really think your email address is that critical to hide from other senio…

Being unemployed doesn't mean you have no rights. It's just basic politeness to respect that.

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#43
post #27
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no privacy statement involved. It's an email. Emails get forwarded. It's polite to ask first.

Forwarding emails is a copyright violation.

So is replying to emails with the original message intact :(

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#45

Wait a second... this guy sent a letter to a firm looking for employment and had it along with his personal details paraded around - what looks to be - the industry? How is that not a serious violation of privacy? I'm pretty sure this would violate even the most basic privacy statement. I highly doubt they asked the submitter if they would enjoy being emailed to the industry. In Canada or the EU you'd be violating Go…

Yeah, if I were looking for an internship, I'd hate to have my cover letter and resume circulated on personal emails where it's sure to be read closely.

[deleted]

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#46

Wait a second... this guy sent a letter to a firm looking for employment and had it along with his personal details paraded around - what looks to be - the industry? How is that not a serious violation of privacy? I'm pretty sure this would violate even the most basic privacy statement. I highly doubt they asked the submitter if they would enjoy being emailed to the industry. In Canada or the EU you'd be violating Go…

Yeah, if I were looking for an internship, I'd hate to have my cover letter and resume circulated on personal emails where it's sure to be read closely.

Yeah, if I were looking for an internship, I'd hate to have my cover letter and resume circulated on personal emails where it's sure to be read closely.

Exactly, in this specific case it is a net positive! That's plenty of reason to ignore the implications of the underlying behavior.

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#47
post #40
post #8

I am not surprised that a cover letter full of humility and honest self-appraisal has shocked Wall Street HR teams to the point of becoming a featured article on Yahoo.

Yeah, I'm confused as to why this was so shocking to the point where it was circulated and warranted a blog post. I've written equally as innocent "just looking to be around talented folks even if it means.." cover letters to companies I respected. In fact, that's what a lot of the design agencies I've worked for got the most of.

maybe it really, really is that rare to these guys

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#48
post #19

Wait a second... this guy sent a letter to a firm looking for employment and had it along with his personal details paraded around - what looks to be - the industry? How is that not a serious violation of privacy? I'm pretty sure this would violate even the most basic privacy statement. I highly doubt they asked the submitter if they would enjoy being emailed to the industry. In Canada or the EU you'd be violating Go…

It even says at the bottom "This email is confidential..."

I suspect that footer got added by the first person who forwarded the email, not by the original sender. Random people sending cover letters don't tend to add crazy confidentiality footers to email; business email systems do that.

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#49
post #3

>I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets at least a call from every bank out there I think that's funny. My brother works in finance, and I work in engineering. We both interview candidates and we were discussing our approaches recently. What struck us is how different our approaches are. A few key differences: * In general, his approach is based more on intuition, whereas mine is very objective. We both spend a lot…

I'd argue your brothers approach is just as valid as yours for either industry. You both hire for "cultural fit", just your ideas of what "culture" is differs.

Re: Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

#50

Wait a second... this guy sent a letter to a firm looking for employment and had it along with his personal details paraded around - what looks to be - the industry? How is that not a serious violation of privacy? I'm pretty sure this would violate even the most basic privacy statement. I highly doubt they asked the submitter if they would enjoy being emailed to the industry. In Canada or the EU you'd be violating Go…

serioulsy, what are you talking about ? This kid needed a job (pretty bad i would think) and he wrote a "smart" cover letter with his name/email address. HOw is that information being passed around other members of the company a violation ? I don't know about other countries but in the US, I would think it is normal. I mean u need a job. Do you really think your email address is that critical to hide from other senio…

The issue is the author openly admitted to them sending these letters out for laughs when they are from people trying to blow themselves out of proportion.
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