Asst. Director of Communications - Ivy League

Moderators, if this story isn't fit for the board, move or delete it at your discretion.

I applied for this position back in April and earlier today, got a rejection letter, the whole "talented and deep applicant pool, we've moved forward and hired a candidate" song and dance.

Normally, I don't mind getting these; as much as it sucks to not get called for an interview, it's nice to have closure that I don't need to continuously call the places to see where they are in the hiring process...but the Executive Director included each person's email address (about 80 people in all) in the "to" field on this one. She probably meant to BCC everyone, but for whatever reason didn't. I pointed out how unprofessional this was to her in a response, and heard from others who did the same.

I'm venting more than anything, but wanted to share a story with those who were willing to read.

 

Maybe not the best way to do it, but your reply was more unprofessional than her mass e-mail.

 

One of those reply-all responses to the rejection was from you, blahblah? Or did you send your complaint directly to the Ivy League executive director?

I got four public critiques.

And yes, playthrough, I recognized at least one of the other rejected applicants' e-mail addresses.

 

Maybe you aren't just Ivy League material?

 

Oh, and did she respond?

 

I handled the response in a professional and level-headed tone, so as to not burn any bridges. I pointed out my assumption that it was not intentional, and I understand that mistakes happen, but wouldn't you want to be especially careful in this kind of scenario?

Playthrough, I didn't recognize any of the other names on the list.

I did some research and there's no one above her except for presumably a board of directors/chancellors, and I don't really feel a need to bring it to their attention, especially now that I've had a night to sleep on it.

I'm also not anticipating a response from her, since it would just call more attention to the faux pas, so it's just an interesting story as the hunt for work continues.

 

The same person who sent the original e-mail has sent a follow-up apologizing for the error -- and blaming it on "technical problems." She also signed it herself "for" the executive director, another change from yesterday.

 

You think the executive director sends her own e-mails? Nope. It was a clerk, assistant, typist or intern.

 

I applied for a job at a university in February and I was sure I was a knock down candidate and had the contacts. When I got the rejection email ... 400 applicants!!!!!

 

I'm not trying to be insensitive - but why does it matter unless your boss is also on the list and didn't know you were applying?