Made in Japan, Outsourced Globally

E-mail communication can be misunderstood so easily. Within a second. Overseas. With people you've never met face to face. (Often times) even with your close ones.

There once was a time when people paid attention to "nettiquetts," and kept a smiley-face code manual by their side so they were conveying the right emotions through the :'s and ;'s and )'s. Today, the rules vary drastically and the users come in 31 different flavors (or more).

The truth is, in the past year, I have been conditioned to a certain type of e-mail/online writing. I write, scrutinize for meaning, and then reread it 5-6 times before hitting that "send" button or posting on the web. If there is a single mistake in grammar or even one space too many between sentences, I have to go back and fix it (and often times, the process is irreversable. So the first chance is the only chance you get). You can make a binary out of just about anything, and this is a binary about the types who can give a rat's ass about punctuation and crossing their "t"s, versus the nit-picky nervous types who freak out when people confuse "their" and "there." I admit that I adhere closer to the latter, but that's because it's 99% of my job.

I had a particularly unpleasant incident this morning when I wrote an e-mail to a candidate for the Emerson traineeship, explaining that I wasn't really a mean old bitch telling him that he may not be right for the job. I honestly feel very bad for hurting his feelings, and there definitely was a misunderstanding. The issue revolved around the fact that I didn't think his English writing matched the job - I personally feel that when applying for an English writing position, the employer reserves the right to judge your writing from the time of first contact.

I'm not an uptight person on a social level (all right, maybe sometimes...), but when it comes to the job... it's a whole different story.

I have done candidate screening for various AIESEC traineeships in the States, and now, for the company I am currently employed at. It's hard for me not to get a little irked when people write e-mails as if they were being gunned down by an assassin and had to use the 4.5 seconds to e-mail that last message home. Is it too much to ask for a spellcheck these days? And AIESEC or not, isn't there a minimum level of professionalism required when you apply for a job? Especially for a writing and communications position?

I might sound narrow-minded if I say this, but being in AIESEC does not mean you have an automatic pass to "Go and collect $200." I view AIESEC as a living network of some of the incredible people, companies, and organizations in the world - and if we really want to keep it that way, there's a certain degree of integritiy that has to go with it.

I think we all learn from our mistakes. In this morning's incident, I claim the blame for the blunt attitude (although rereading the e-mails, I was not completely irrational). Sometimes, certain things we don't want to hear need to be heard if progress is to be made. I don't know if the candidate is still mad or disgusted at me, but I came out a little wiser that I can become a nasty person via e-mail. Perhaps I will loosen up a little...

I will continue to be a whip when it comes to finding the right candidate for the job - it's only fair for the company and the candidate, who has to make the trip all the way to a different country. Sigh... It's just sad that I will be perceived as the mean old person, based on the e-mail conversations. Sometimes you get it. Sometimes you don't.

Oh well. I have my other demons to fight right now.