Here is an exchange I had over e-mail. The names have been removed to protect the… innocent? (emphasis mine)
Hello ******,
I’d like to respectfully ask you not to post jobs to my ****** google group that are unrelated to ******.
Also, If you didn’t know, using ALL CAPS is the internet equivalent of SCREAMING or YELLING. Using this in all of your hundreds of job postings is very bad nettiquite, and I believe will do your operation more harm than good in the long run. I’d strongly encourage you to stop using all caps in your job postings.
Regards,
-Henry Koren
******
Hi, Henry,
Thanks for the contact.
We are working with companies, governmental departments and agencies that are pushing their enterprises out to mobile platforms, and we are hiring to build up a technical base of employees that can include that with our work. Someone from the ****** space that has complex enterprise software under their belt, and who has the technical chops to do the mobile stuff is the right kind of person for our institutional forays. We’ve got some cool stuff going on, and even bigger in the works…very cool, and they would be attractive and desirable by your group’s members.
Regarding “caps,” many of the people we seek to hire, including myself, are older and have weaker eyes. Lower case letters in titles and headers are passed over many times simply because they are “fuzzy.” Caps eliminate that obstacle for us.
It’s been my experience that caps in titles and headers are acceptable, and “shouting” is usually associated with the body of an email, poster, flyer, etc. That is the guideline I’ve followed for (too) many years, being an old war-horse in tech.
If you would still like me to refrain from posting for our openings in our US HQ in Broomfield, please let me know.
I would respectfully ask that you reconsider the group’s “caps” policy, and make it more useful for us babyboomers. (We’ll all be gone soon enough) ;=).
I look forward to your reply. Thank you for your time.
Regards,
******
******,
I appreciate your reply. A few points…
Your sympathy for the vision impaired elderly is touching, and while all caps may eliminate the ‘obstacle’ of your posts being less conspicuous than everybody else’s posts, it puts up the greater obstacle of no longer
being welcomed to post on our group.
I’d argue that if your job candidates do not have the knowledge to adjust the font of their e-mail client to something readable, perhaps you are setting the bar too low. I exchange e-mails with plenty of people in their 70’s who don’t have the need to scream at me.
I suggest you revisit your policy of having your cap locks key turned on whenever you write a subject line, or maybe get one of those google “chrome book” notepads that does not have a caps lock key.
You’re welcome to post ****** related jobs if you are able to do so in a respectful manner, i.e: no all caps. Our group is very low volume, so I hope you understand how we have a problem with you filling it up with a high volume of ALL CAPS material.
I hope this makes sense,
-Henry Koren
Henry,
I apologize if my message was misinterpreted. No “screaming” was intended, and I wasn’t looking for an “elderly” or “touching” response, or even an “argument,” simply a “business” response.
Nevertheless, your message is clear. I will no longer post any all caps material.
I apologize for being such a bother.
Sincerely,
******