Blast marketing that can backfire

The marketplace as it is, the search for new employment should never cease. While the activity waxes and wanes, ones resume should always be sharp. One example is LinkedIn, which many consider one of the premier networking sites and thus employment sites.

So, as we post our resumes on-line we do open ourselves to unwanted e-mail. It is unavoidable. Just as e-commerce websites sell our e-mail address to third parties, unless we explicitly request (assuming they even ask that we care) many of the resume or job posting sites do the same.

The other day I received this e-mail:

Friday, July 10, 2015
From: Jeff Marcakis
To: me
Hello Wayne,

PDS Techis seeking a High Value Associate in the Farmingdale, NY area. This is a 12 month contract assignment. The pay rate ranges from $13.05-$18.15hr, depending upon experience.

Duties include:

Auditing high value claim shippers, locating high value packages in the center or hub and ensuring proper handling. May also contact destination hubs or centers to notify them of the status of high value packages. Additional duties may include performing loss prevention activities related to center or operation physical security.

Hours: 4:30am to 9:30am, Monday – Friday

To be considered for this assignment, please forward an updated resume to:

jmarcakis@xxxx.com

Letter Value: AE73D3-31C93E7

So where did Jack and his company go wrong?

  • Lets start by clearly telling me that I’m not important enough to get a letter that isn’t a form letter (even though I know it is, perception is reality).
  • Then, did Jack ever bother to read any part of my resume? Where does it say that I’m a warehouseman/customer service representative on my resume?
  • Then the pay range he mentions, that clearly meshes with my resume not.
  • Lastly he wants a copy of my resume again, why? He didn’t bother to read it the first time!

I must admit the only thing he got right was that I do live in the vicinity of Farmingdale, NY. One out of five aspects isn’t bad, if he played baseball. But not in business!

Now I tried to reach out to the president at PDS Tech, but they didn’t care, which is evidenced by their HR manager calling back; and they really should have cared and have the president or an operational VP call back. I missed the HR Manager and reached out again. They never bothered to get back to me.

They should care that I, and probably many other potential hiring/decision making managers will now remember a) this companies name, b) how unprofessional they are and in my case that they wouldn’t take constructive criticism from a potential (customer/employee/temporary worker).

Why would I ever bother doing business with this company? Why would you after reading this want to either?

Companies spend 3-10% of their budget on advertising and marketing which includes brand development and recognition. All it takes is one misguided individual and then a lack of response from management to take those dollars spent and flush them.

What do you think?