I posted an ad recently, one in a long line of many over the years. Thankfully we’re growing fast! But, each time I post an ad, I have to try hard to make it super nice. But sometimes I want to get straight to the point, but no! I might hurt someone’s feelings. Why is everyone so P.C. anyway nowadays? What happened to tell it like it is? Will I have to tiptoe around your feelings when you miss a deadline, mispronounce something or forget how to spell. Lordy, I hope not!

There are always 5 people who don’t/can’t follow directions. I’m pretty specific, please no calls. The reason — if I didn’t say this, I’d get like 5 a day, wanting to chat or just understand the job or how I started the business or, do you offer vacation days, sick days or paid days off (this is the definition of Independent Contractor, “work at home, in your own studio”). Should I say, “1099 employee”? Some would still ask, I’m sure of it. The problem? People don’t read anymore. They see the first line, scroll to the email and have at it. I got 2 calls last week. I asked one, did you see the part where it said no calls? “Uhm, errr, it doesn’t say that.” Oh, but yes it does! The other plain old lied, pretended he was a radio station interested in service. I’m a journalist, so I asked him about 10 questions while I was in line at the market, then I figured him out. Why do people lie?

I also always say, no links please. The reason? I get viruses from your site! It’s not personal. I just don’t want to lug the ol’ desktop to the shop again! But alas, this time, I got links!

I also used to say, no deejays or wannabe journos, but that hurt too many people (hey I was a deejay too!), sorry, but I need some experience. Still, the deejays send their demos, when the ad is really specific and says News and Traffic anchors with at least 2 years of major market experience. What is there not to get here?

But the best of all, was this last ad, this week, where an anchor forwarded her resume and demo from another application to someone else to me. So, I ask you, should I feel wounded or not important enough because she didn’t take the time to address me? No, it’s not that at all, it’s sloppy and unprofessional. So I replied, asking her if she forwarded me her application to a radio group. “Oh yes”, she admitted, “it’s so tricky on a phone, I thought I was applying to newsservice.com”. There is so much wrong here, where to begin? Follows directions? No. Technically savvy? Definitely not. Admits she made a mistake? No, not that bright. Good at multitasking? Guessing not, unless of course, she was emailing, forwarding that email, chewing gum and driving all at the same time.

I hope I don’t sound angry, I’m actually smiling at the moment! But I have to ask, where have all the good folks gone?