I took the high road today.  It was tough but I did it.  I received an unsolicited resume from someone yesterday and I read his opening paragraph (of 7 with bullets, mind you).  I then opened his resume and forwarded it to someone who might have a position for the individual.  Did I go back and read the rest of his extremely long email?  No – I got an UNSOLICITED resume and I have work to do.  In fact, I had three customers with emergencies just after I received his email.  So he was not a priority. On a whim, I sent him a question.  Turns out, he answered the question in paragraph 5 which he was quick to point out in his response. Seriously?  You send me a hugely long email and a resume and then scold me when I don’t read every word?  When I was looking for work I would have been grateful to get a response! I would have answered the same question 18 times if necessary.
My thought was to send him a note and let him know that as I had read his email on a phone, that much detail was too much to manage on such a small screen and the fact that I care enough to respond should have been a happy event. Not an opportunity to point out where I had made a mistake. Â I also mused on what this said about his management style when he was so quick to correct a total stranger from whom he wanted help. Â But as I went to hit send, I wondered, what would this accomplish? Â Best case he would take my words to heart, not be so quick to judge and take care of people more in the future. Â But is that really likely? Â I decided that it wasn’t. Â So now I have a bad feeling about this individual and he’ll never know. Â I did not share the experience with the person who got his resume from me so it will probably never amount to anything, but if I’m ever called on to deal with him, it won’t be something I want to do.
So the point here is, think about your email responses before you make them. Â If you send someone an email, be sure that on whatever device they have they can get the salient points. Â Be sure it isn’t going to take too much time to get to those points and that the points are what they need right away. Â At some level leaving some questions to later means the person will start a dialogue with you to get the answers and isn’t that what you want any way?
Also, if someone misses something or makes a mistake, don’t automatically forward your original message with the information highlighted unless you want the other person to feel bad. Â Instead, think of a couple scenarios where they would have missed it to help yourself feel good and answer it again. Â Maybe add a little more detail or phrase it differently. Â I laughed at Disney when the trainer told us the most common question people ask on Main St. is what time is the 3:30 parade? Â While the question itself sounds stupid, we all know of a ton of situations where something is scheduled for a specific time and doesn’t happen then. Â Also, if you aren’t where the parade begins, you aren’t really asking when it begins, you are asking when it will go by the space you are standing in. Â The trainer went further to say the staff are all trained to answer the intent of the question with when the parade will go by the spot where they are and then also to refer people to great places to be able to see, or where there are seats, or other helpful hints. Â No one feels stupid – in fact, it is part of a better experience.
So today I didn’t send the two paragraph response putting this person in his place for being obnoxious. Â But it also made me think more about the emails I did send this morning and how they might be taken. Â Just re-reading an email before hitting send can make all the difference.
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