Dear job seekers

[jethrien]

"Dear Friend" is not an appropriate way to begin a cover letter.

Creepy...

Comments

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Maybe the job applicant was this guy?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Gah! No!

[lyriendel.livejournal.com]

I had a job seeker start an email with "Dear Mr. Hsiao," with an attached cover letter still addressed "Dear Mr. Nehme," whoever that is, and an attached resume that didn't even mention he was an MIT student in the 'Education' part, much less any relevant classes or skills, and that told me all about how he was 'one of top 3 math students' in 9th grade and '1 of top 6 English students' in 10th grade. Oh, and he loves to play the saxophone and "Works nonprofit as a Eucharistic Minister and Usher every Sunday mass at St. Joseph's Church Long Beach, CA." From MIT. Yeaaah. That's both way more and also way less information than I wanted to know. :)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Maybe they're Amish?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

No, better - really flaky sounding actor.

[dushai.livejournal.com]

Perhaps he thought you were a Quaker. (But not the Quaker, who is a dork.)

[wavilyem.livejournal.com]

Dear Friend,

I agree!

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

Which subculture was it where it was appropriate to call casual people "friend?"

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Haven't a clue. I feel like I've heard it used in kind of a creepy way in some sci fi/fantasy books.

[nanonicole.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... Soviet communists called each other "comrade." Close enough?

[cubby-t-bear.livejournal.com]

That only adds to the creepy factor :)

I wonder, though. I've experimented with different endings to letters, from time to time. The word friend has made its appearance in a few of them, though not comrade.

[nanonicole.livejournal.com]

I would love to address someone as "Comrade." Perhaps I'll try it out... :-)

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

An ending to a letter is a little less weird, somehow. I think because a letter ending ("Your friend") applies to the writer, whereas the opening ("Dear Friend") applies to the reader. It's less presumptuous for you to declare that you are my friend than for you to declare that I am your friend.

But hopefully, you were doing this in a letter to someone you actually know. If you're actually friends, it's not creepy at all. But if you address a business letter to someone who you know nothing about, including title or even gender, declaring that they're your friend...creepy.