How not to apply for a job online

by Heidi Edelmuller

Two weeks ago some of the QuirkStars posted about about how viral marketing and the blogosphere caused a potential PR problem for Threshers in the UK.

The lesson learned is that companies should be wary of how fast and potentially dangerous a combination of these eMarketing factors can be.  But its not only companies that should watch out, because bad PR is bad PR even if you are just a guy looking for a job.

As the story goes, a few weeks ago a chap called Amir Saffar sent an email job application to a Dubai design company called north55 . After a minor misunderstanding Amir got a little inappropriately nasty, which resulted in some rather amusing correspondence between him and north55 . Needless to say he was not offered the job.

But it didn't end there. Because North55 decided to pass the email transcript along along to several of their contacts in the industry. And anything worth reading, quickly ends up in the blogosphere where it spreads like wildfire. I picked up the story via Splattermail on Flip blog.

Strangely enough Amir isn't the first person to make this blunder. Earlier this year a young law graduate called Dianna Abdala made a similar mistake that has become so notorious its now an entry on wikipedia.

Maybe we should send Amir a free ticket to the Web PR+ conference as I think he could use some help managing his reputation online?

Of course, north55 is also getting a lot of attention. In fact, its such a perfect viral marketing idea, it almost smacks of flogging. It seems unlikely though as north55 don't seem to be  using their  "free" PR  at all. Maybe they too could use a Web PR+ ticket?

2006/12/22 | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

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