Tuesday, May 29, 2007

A few words of advice to those applying for an entry-level position

Recently, I posted a job description for the position of Life-Long Learning Associate at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York.

Of course, I respond to every application individually. Nevertheless, here are a few unsolicited words of advice to anyone who might be applying for a job for the first time:

  • If you have the word "beach," "kitten," or "toy" in your email address - you might want to consider opening a new gmail account for business correspondence.

  • Don't apply for every position that is being advertised at the congregation with exactly the same cover letter.

  • If I ask you about what you know about the congregation, don't cut and paste from it's website in your response.

  • Probably not best to address me as "Dear Sir/Madam" or "Hello ," - I mean, my name's on the friggin' job description.

  • If your email is three sentences long, every sentence shouldn't end in an exclamation point! Really! Honest!"

We are still collecting resumes for this position. If you need me to tell you to look under "job descriptions" (to the right), this is not the job for you.

4 comments:

Andrew Pass said...

Saul, I know you probably don't think so since you are trying to fill the position. But I think this is hilarious!! Really!! Cool!! You know what I mean, man!!

Seriously, I guess you are back from Israel. I hope it was a great experience. Maybe we'll get the chance to speak soon.

Anonymous said...

I just want to say that I came across this article while looking for sample Jewish Educator Job Descriptions for a congregation in my region and really resent your reference to "Kitty"- my name- as one to be dismissed. My mother did not think so and neither do I.
Kitty Wolf, URJ regional Educator

Saul Kaiserman (thinkfred) said...

Apologies, Kitty. I have updated the post to now read "kitten."

Unknown said...

Do you know what the word "friggin'" means? I was a bit shocked to read this in your post - it's a dirty word with the same meaning of another word beginning with F.