We reached out to a number of friends at law schools and at firms and companies to see what things applicants did that made them grouchy (pro tip — it isn’t in your best interest to make them grouchy!) This is what we got, not surprisingly a good deal related to emails.
- When they launch into a sales presentation about themselves the moment we meet
-* CEO of Company*
- Sending emails without subjects or a ”.” as the subject
- Dean of Admissions
- Give a time to speak in the upcoming future on the phone without providing a time zone
- Hiring partner but this also drives Spivey insane
- *Sending the same exact email to numerous people, not CC’d, but as individual emails *
– Multiple admissions officers
- *Sending an email to someone and if they don’t hear back sending the EXACT SAME email a few hours ( or days) later with no new message. Essentially forwarding their own email to the same recipient *
- Dean of Career Services
- Sending an email to a person’s individual email address with a generic salutation or no salutation (e.g., emailing me personally and saying “To whom it may concern” instead of ”Dear Sally”
- Director of Admissions
7. *In email, anything less than a formal and professional tone is a no. For example, addressing an admissions dean by his or her first name instead of “Dean ____” or a hiring partner by “Jim” instead of “Mr. Smith.” Similarly, failing to include an appropriate signoff (Regards, Sincerely, whatever) and just putting a name at the end — or worse, no name at all (more often found when one emails from a phone, I’ve noticed). *
- Former Admissions Officer & Hiring Partner
- *Finding me on Facebook and sending me a friend request *
- Dean of Admissions
- Telling me how we evaluate our applicants
- Director of Admissions
- *Emailing an attachment related to a call/meeting, including your resume, just before the start of the call/meeting *
- Director of Career Services
- * Entitlement. Any hint of it can sour a relationship instantaneously. *
* – *Multiple Admissions Officers and Hiring Partners
*12. Sending an email that isn’t clear if they require a response or if they actually asked a question. No “ask” *
- Dean of Law School
- *Not reading your emails and asking a question that has already been answered in a previous email e.g., I had an admitted student send me a really rude email stating “you never sent me the password for the admitted student website” but the email that they were replying to actually contained the password for the admitted student website *
- Admissions Officer
14.* Applicants who are less than pleasant to the folks who answer the phone. I used to answer the phone from time to time so I could stay in the loop because I supervised the front office staff and it was amazing how rude people are when they don’t think the person matters on the other end. Everyone matters*
- Director of Admissions
- Starting a phone call by launching into your issue without a basic greeting and introduction e.g., I answer the phone and someone gruffly says “I haven’t gotten my reimbursement for ASW” instead of “Hi, this is Sandy Smith, I’m an admitted student.”
- Admissions Officer
- Being more than a second late for our first get together, formal or informal
- Managing Partner
- *Applicants who submit recommendation letters from individuals who obviously barely know the applicant. These letters usually come from CEOs, members of US Congress, and high profile alums who know the parents, but not the applicant. They add very little to the overall application. Rule of thumb, unless you worked for the Senator, you should not get a letter from him/her. *
- Dean of Admissions
- Failure to show me that the applicant has actually accomplished something in the real world
- Former President of two major companies
- Approaching scholarship negotiation as if they have previously done billion dollar deals and we at the law school are junior high students rather than former practicing l**awyers
- Dean of Admissions
20. Not responding to our multiple attempts at asking them their matriculation plans to multiple contact information that they provided. In other words, blowing us off and not having the simple courtesy to withdraw or tell us their future plans after they have been admitted.
- Dean of Admissions
Bonus Addition from Hiring Partner
Upon receiving a cold call/e-mail from someone about a job inquiry, I usually offer to take them for coffee or lunch, to help network (my firm typically only hires laterals that we know well). 90% of the time, I never get a response back to my offer, once I’ve told them we do not have open positions.
Its a huge pet peeve and really unprofessional IMHO.