August 9, 2012

Letter imperfect: The necessity of clear communication

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Conducting a job search today requires not only great communication skills but the ability to impress prospective employers with your knowledge and experience. Unfortunately, these two qualities don't always appear at the same time in some resumes and cover letters.

Case in point: Not long ago a friend of mine in the editorial world found himself in a brief email misunderstanding. He was working with a writer for a freelance article and wanted to make sure that the interview with the subject had been scheduled. After a few days of having no contact, my friend sent a follow-up email. Wanting to be brief and to the point, he wrote in the subject line, "F/U re: Interview..."

The email did get a quick response, but not one that he expected. "You are really out of line here," read the terse reply. "I don't appreciate being addressed that way. I've always tried to be professional in my dealings with you and I would appreciate the same consideration from you."

Apparently, the writer had a very different interpretation of the acronym than my friend did. While "F/U" or "F.U." often means "follow up," especially in the world of medical terminology, it has also become a kind of web shorthand for a common vulgar insult (just try saying the letters out loud). Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, apologies were exchanged from both sides and the mix-up was quickly ironed out.

But what if this had happened not between longtime colleagues but between a job seeker and hiring manager? If a job applicant had included a word or acronym that seemed perfectly apropos, yet accidentally managed to offend an employer, will that applicant ever get a chance to explain himself or herself? Not likely. If many resumes are tossed simply due to a typo, just imagine how fast they'd get discarded if they perceived insults behind them.

Thus, it is imperative to leave nothing to chance in your initial contact with a prospective company. Here are three hazardous areas that job seekers should avoid the next time they want to F/U with a resume or a cover letter.

Vague titles — No two snowflakes are exactly alike; the same could be said about specific jobs. Yet the pursuit of brevity at the expense of accuracy has led to a rise in certain job titles that cover too wide a variety of job duties. If you use "assistant IT manager" or "vice president of marketing," don't assume that these common terms will suffice as a description of your experience. Always include a full accounting of the roles you played in each position and convey how your contributions helped the company succeed. Results are always more important than the descriptors on a business card.

Jargon — It's nice to be able to rattle off a dozen hyper-specific industry buzzwords in your previous job descriptions. But it's equally important to remember that there are certain common activities that are described differently from region to region, and often from company to company. One of my favorites in my own line of work is the word "pagination," the process of arranging content into page form and dividing editorial and advertising into discreet sections. I've heard this same process described variously as an "ad tracker," "ad map," "ad imposition," "layout," "run sheet" or "flatplan." Though the meaning is essentially the same for all of these terms, I've worked at many places that were baffled by the idea of using any other term but their own.

Also, there's a good chance that all of you correspondence may have to go through an initial screening by HR before it gets to a hiring manager. Chances are they won't know a "whosit" from a "whatsit," so it's probably better to keep the terminology simple and universal, and leave the jargon for the interview.

Acronyms — There are good reasons why acronyms exist, but saving an inch or two of space on a resume shouldn't be one of them, especially in electronic resumes, which no longer have to be confined to a single page. Acronyms should be used only when their longer, multi-word terms are used repeatedly and threaten to tire the reader if spelled out each time. Instead of trying to dazzle hiring managers with pithy or clever abbreviations, emphasize the actual accomplishments you made at your previous positions and the increasing levels of responsibility you were given.

These are lessons that people should have learned before high school, but apparently the message is no longer sinking in as easily among the millennial generation. Many recruiters still report seeing supposedly professional correspondence that is riddled with texting abbreviations (LOL, OMG, IMHO, etc.). The meaning often comes through, but these shortcuts send a message that you don't care enough to communicate in complete sentences. In other words, when in doubt, spell it out.

Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.

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communication, conflict, email, etiquette, millennials, resumes