Recently, the news reported a noteworthy example of a job seeker burning a bridge with one of her target employers. In this example, a woman sent a very angry email response to a professional baseball team after receiving an invitation to participate in a “sales training” event at a cost to her of $495.00. You see, this team had rejected or ignored all of her job applications for sales jobs – up to 30 times, she estimated.
In very clear and colorful language, customized for a testosterone-rich environment, this job seeker blasted the team for trying to sell her the program after all those rejections. According to an article in a sports blog, someone in the team’s organization shared her response with colleagues who also forwarded it. Recipients included many other professional sports teams – the Yankees, the Mets, the Red Sox, and more, including some teams in the NHL and the NFL as well as others in MLB. Then, it “went viral” in the media – with, unfortunately, the job seeker’s name attached to it.
While job seekers everywhere have cheered her attitude and her response, many employers have not. This is the unintended consequence: this job seeker’s career working in the professional sports industry might be over or, at least, postponed.
Following research into this situation, communicating with both the job seeker involved and the job search training organization (but unable to connect with anyone in the MLB organization), I still find this whole situation very troubling on a number of different levels.
Some lessons to be learned:
1. It is seldom cool for employers to harvest revenue from unemployed job seekers.
Regardless of any altruistic motivation on the part of the employer, this just looks like the employer is trying to take advantage of job seekers. Possibly this baseball team viewed this event as a public service? I looked at the 2-day training agenda, and the training does look useful. I also spoke with one of the owners of the training organization who claims that people who take the training do well landing sales jobs with professional sports teams.
According to Forbes, this team seemed to be doing well financially (2011 operating income of $37.2M), so the training program appears to be an attempt to generate an insignificant amount of incremental revenue from unsuccessful job seekers while helping them build skills and connections for their job search.
Perhaps, sincerely believing in the quality of the training, the team could have offered scholarships for unemployed job seekers or for applicants with the highest (or lowest) batting average in an event at the ballpark or whatever “fun” or useful method they determined was appropriate.
Looking at the financials for this team, it does looks like they could have easily afforded a few thousand dollars for the training, turning it into a public relations victory worth much more than the cost. Instead, the team experienced a potential public relations disaster.
2. The impulse to burn bridges is usually wrong.
When we burn a bridge, we typically assume that we understand the other party’s motivation for doing whatever has annoyed us. Unless we are mind-readers, this is not usually true. For those circumstances when we do correctly understand the other party’s motivation, a long-term price is usually paid for the bridge burning. Perhaps worth it; often, not.
In this situation, the job seeker has been unemployed for 10 months and is currently living on a friend’s couch while continuing to job search. Millions of other Americans have been unemployed for as long – or longer – definitely not fun! This situation does not help anyone to cultivate an attitude of patience and tolerance, particularly after months of employer indifference and rejection. To her, this looked like an “opportunity” to pay for the privilege of attending a job fair, rather than receiving useful training. Firing off this message was probably very satisfying for the job seeker, at the time.
In an article about this incident in a sports blog, the following quote appears:
“This should be a tutorial on how NOT to network,” warned one NFL employee. “She has clearly ruined chances with most professional sports teams at this point.”
Obviously, this kind of action is a very risky move for a job seeker, regardless of whether or not the recipient shares the message with the office, the industry, or the whole Internet. Perhaps writing a similar message can be very satisfying, but we should all think long and hard before hitting the “send” button on this kind of message. Some messages are better left as “drafts” and/or deleted.
As the wise old saying goes, it is much better to build bridges than to burn them.
3. Networking is often a much better job search strategy than relentlessly applying for jobs.
The reality is that applying for jobs is easy, but, statistically, it is not the most effective strategy for landing a job. Networking, as we’ve all heard at least 1,000,000 times, is much more productive. Networking is not as fast, nor does it feel as productive, but it is successful much more often according to many studies. This is a bridge-building activity!
So, if you are a job seeker spending hours every day applying for jobs without success, try going out and interacting with people – your family and friends, former co-workers and former bosses, former teachers and former professors, friends from high school and college (and grad school, if appropriate). Find out what’s happening, way beyond the job postings on the Internet. Develop a list of target employers and focus your networking efforts on those employers, using social networks like LinkedIn and other personal networking. People hire people they know and like.
That’s what I think. What do you think?
Dear Susan,
Thank you so much for giving an insight on ‘how not to network ‘, backed up with a latest example.
I truly believe that no matter how much the difference existed between you and your past employer, you must never try to talk bad or criticize your former colleagues/employers.
In my case, I have tried my best to be polite and honest whenever the subject/discussion was brought up.
One more thing to add to your last point is to offer something that you can in the form of interning/volunteering at nonprofits or educational institutions and alike, if possible. I have personally found this to be an excellent way of keeping abreast with the latest in my area of interest and for networking of course.
Best,
Pallavi
Pallavi,
Thanks so much for providing us with your perspective; you make some excellent points. Sounds as though you’d be a valuable addition to the team…
All the Best,
Chandlee
Dear Pallavi,
Thank you for the kind words! Such a good point that criticizing a former employer is bad idea in a job interview. Even if the comments are completely true and accurate, at least from your perspective, it raises a question in the mind of the interviewer about how easy – or how difficult – you are to work with. So, not raising the issue is the best approach.
Volunteering is an excellent way to keep busy, network, and stay current – filling in the time gap on a resume plus benefits.
Great points. Thank you for contributing them!
Good luck with your job search!
Susan
There needs to be a website or blog for frustrated job seekers. A safe place to vent, scream, curse. People are hungry and angry and sometimes real life and being in the moment takes it’s toll. Maybe I’ll create it if one isn’t already out there
Nikki,
This is a safe place to share frustrations, though we do not condone the use of profanity or yelling. The job search can be a frustrating process, our goal is to make it better…
Our point here is that it is never a good idea to burn bridges.
Good luck and all the best,
Chandlee
Chandlee,
This is site is wonderful! Please do not think that I am discrediting or minimalizing what you guys do here because its definitely needed. Its a valuable resource.
My point is that when your facing foreclosure unless you can prove employment to the bank in 30 days, you don’t want or need to hear “the hiring manager is busy give them a few days.” You want to scream and cuss and cry…all of that! Then you want somebody to say “hey I know how you feel. I’ve been there. have you tried A, B or C?” A site to vent and possibly get leads on how to handle Unemployment Benefits, food stamps, shelter, care insurance, child care, even help finding some decent clothes for an interview. Work Coach Cafe is great career advice but it would be great if I could come here and say “I lost my home/car/dog etc because the hiring manager was an insensitive bastard!” Maybe if a site like this was available where people could get some info on resources all while venting frustration and pain then maybe people like Ms. Meyer wouldn’t have sent that email off. Oh and it would be really neat if you could have a list of companies and hiring managers that do not follow up with job seekers in a fair manner. Hey I’ve said it before, job seekers better stand up and speak out or we’ll be fighting over jobs like dogs on a bone while the 1% laugh at us. Sometimes you have to burn a bridge in order to build it back up. Besides last I read Taylor Grey Meyer was in high demand. Even a Padre’s employee said he liked her spark.
Hi Nikki,
Wow, that’s a tough situation. On the job side, you may want to try One Stop Career Center for help and suggested resources — it’s a site run by the Federal Government in all 50 states. Employment agencies and Craig’s List are other places you can look for temporary work. You could also reach out to your local representative or Congressman’s office. They are paid to look out for people in their district; it is possible that they would know companies who are hiring for more than one position.
I also often recommend the United Way — as they often provide a comprehensive listing of community service agencies that are designed to help…Many communities often provide a single number people can call to get for help and referrals to different agencies and programs that help people facing foreclosure or other financial trouble: for example, the number in North Carolina is 2-1-1.
Good luck and keep us posted,
Chandlee
Oh Chandler I have researched these agencies, in fact I could show you some correspondences with Louisiana Works that would make you shake your head. They are completely incompetent. I was just making a suggesting of other helpful resources to those unemployed. I have been fortunate enough to have people that help identuuify things I knew nothing about before losing my job.
Nikki,
You may still want to take a stab at talking to someone from the United Way, as they typically are very connected with organizations that are producing results.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Best,
Chandlee