Anti-matter language, contrived to conceal
My major step in job hunting yesterday was the cover letters workshop. I always thought of cover letters as one of the least important parts of the job acquisition process, basically just high-lighting the relevant parts of your resume. I admit I got a bit cranky and moved into "critical iconoclast" mode, asking why all the emphasis on empty language. I object when people use language like "problem-solver" or "results-oriented" or "dedicated" or any other vague, positive adjective, just like looking at a personal ad and seeing things like "fun loving" or "sense of humor". What I mean is, of course people say they are those things, even if they aren't. If you'd never say the opposite, it isn't true language, true communication. It's bull, basically, like greeting cards or most political speeches.
I have a practical as well as aesthetic objections to this. I imagine some harried guy at a desk going through a series of cover letters and seeing the same phrases hundreds or thousands of times. "Problem-solver", "Hard-working", etc. At a certain point, they become background noise and are ignored.
Nonetheless, the counsellor insisted that you have to use positive, upbeat language like this in a cover letter, and just copy-pasting isn't enough.
In somewhat lighter news, I finished transcribing the interview with the local photographer, and I can bang out the story by Friday easily.
I also got a response from a magazine that wanted my story on Maria Monk and the general nun-exploitation genre of pornography. It's not a well paying gig, but it is exposure and status to be in a national magazine. Deadline is mid-December.
Again, getting writing work is something I can do, but not really fast enough to help. I do want to be more assertive and get definite answers from certain editors.
I have a practical as well as aesthetic objections to this. I imagine some harried guy at a desk going through a series of cover letters and seeing the same phrases hundreds or thousands of times. "Problem-solver", "Hard-working", etc. At a certain point, they become background noise and are ignored.
Nonetheless, the counsellor insisted that you have to use positive, upbeat language like this in a cover letter, and just copy-pasting isn't enough.
In somewhat lighter news, I finished transcribing the interview with the local photographer, and I can bang out the story by Friday easily.
I also got a response from a magazine that wanted my story on Maria Monk and the general nun-exploitation genre of pornography. It's not a well paying gig, but it is exposure and status to be in a national magazine. Deadline is mid-December.
Again, getting writing work is something I can do, but not really fast enough to help. I do want to be more assertive and get definite answers from certain editors.