A young woman stopped by last week to ask me about a work study position that I have very rarely filled, for two reasons. One is that I so seldom get students interested in doing what I want to have them do (boilerplate press releases where you plug in the student’s name, the scholarship s/he won, etc.). The second is that I am a one-person office, and every minute I spend training/supervising/hand-holding a work study student is a minute I’m not spending on getting my own work done.
Now there’s a third reason: I moved into a smaller office and literally do not have space for another person. However, with the right student, I’d be willing to let them work on press releases off site and keep track of their hours.
So here’s the dilemma. I asked the student to provide me with a writing sample, and this morning she brought me a press release she’d written about the children’s health insurance bill. And it is rife with errors, ranging from words omitted from sentences to punctuation, capitalization, and grammar problems. (No misspelled words, though; I’ll give her that!) I also have a concern that pieces and parts of what she gave me may have been lifted from other sources.
I don’t have time to teach her how to write. I know I would not be comfortable sending out releases she has written without proofing them thoroughly. I don’t have time for that either.
I could simply tell her I’ve decided not to fill the position. I could be brutally honest and tell her there were too many problems with her writing sample for me to be comfortable hiring her. Or I could give her another chance – giving her raw material that I provide and asking her to write a release about it.
I hire workstudy students too. I usually let the rejects down easy, mainly because my office is counseling services and I want them to feel okay about using our services in the future. This summer I didn’t hire one because she worked for another office on campus last year and the supervisor told me she was a gossip. In our office that is a dealbreaker because of confidentiality. I was tempted to say something but didn’t because I knew only time and life experience can change that trait. I think it’s a similar situation for you. Constructive criticism isn’t going to make your applicant a good writer of press releases. If you had time to mentor her, great. But you’ve said you don’t. So I suggest you pass.
I think **sandra_nz ** hit the finger on the nail. And yes, be brutally honest with her. She’s a college student, for crying out loud. I teach English comp to college freshmen and sophomores, and I am utterly intolerant of sloppiness and plagarism. I can correct and forgive honest mistakes, but sloppy or plagarized work usually earns a student of mine a zero and stern lecture on first offense. Second offense gets them dropped from the class. I love my kids, every one of them, but they are COLLEGE students. You need to be uncompromising in your standards.
I think you should be honest with her, but not be brutal about it. A woman I used to work with did exactly that with an applicant for the internship we had on our team. One girl who applied (also a college journalism student) supplied writing samples and took our writing test, and made many errors. This after she talked at length in her cover letter and interview about her “attention to detail.”
My colleague said something like this: “I’m afraid we won’t be hiring you. You’re a very nice person and I really enjoyed meeting and talking with you. I know that you’ll be applying for work elsewhere, and so I want to give you some some friendly advice on what it takes to be in a professional environment.” She went on to explain in general the errors that we’d seen, with two specific examples, and contrasted that with the girl’s claim of attention to detail.
She really handled it beautifully. She was calm and caring throughout, and let the girl know what she needed to do to meet professional standards.
Do not hire her. She will be much, much, MUCH more trouble than she’s worth. Not every intern’s a quick learner or a natural genius, but if this girl couldn’t get it together for this, it’s safe to say she’s not a perfectionist.
Tell her by e-mail or phone that you’re sorry, you enjoyed meeting her and she seems nice, ambitious, whatever, but the quality of her writing sample was not up to par. Suggest she show it to a friend, English teacher or college counselor. Or hell, run it through the spelling/grammar check. If you want to go the extra mile, pull out a specific sentence rife with errors (if you do this by e-mail. It might be a bit obnoxious on the phone).
It’s not being ‘brutally’ honest, it’s being honest. That’s what the writing sample was for.
I know that I would hate to be told that you weren’t filling the position if the real reason was that my writing sample wasn’t up to snuff. At least that way I’d be more careful in the future about what I was submitting for applications.
Excellent advice, one and all. (I think about half the time I post here asking for advice it’s because I really KNOW the right answer but need validation!)
The irony of this is that we are an open-admission institution, and I would bet dollars to doughnuts that if she took the sample to the head of our writing lab, that faculty member would be in my office saying, “Don’t you realize this is about 10 times better than the writing I usually see? You’re rejecting her because of THIS?” :rolleyes:
:smack: I think “brutal” was a poor choice of words, and just about any college freshman would recognize that, so why I didn’t is beyond me. What I meant was, don’t sugar-coat it. Our text-messaging, internet-addicted little darlings are losing the ability to effectively communicate in writing, and we need to refuse to let them do that. Be firm, be professional, and be uncompromising.
Sounds like you already know what you want to do, but I’ll retiterate don’t hire her. A work-study student is supposed to make your life easier, and this girl will do exactly the opposite. Just tell her that you require a very strong writer and that, right now, her work isn’t up to snuff.
Works for me, Sunrazor. The OP used “brutally” in her post, so, to be all pedantic, I thought I’d point out that honesty doesn’t have to be brutal. Stated gently but straightforwardly (is that a word?), feedback could help the applicant realize the error(s) of her ways.
You know, the words omitted and capitalization errors make me think she wasn’t putting forth her best effort. I mean, if she had poor writing skills but lots of heart, then I think she would have at least caught missing words errors? My point is that she might not be that upset about not getting the job, I know I applied to plenty of on-campus jobs while I was in college, and I was totally excited about all of them. I would tell her that you can’t offer her the position, but if she’s seriously interested in jobs in writing you’re happy to offer suggestions and feedback on her writing sample (that is, if you actually are happy to offer feedback).
I say you really ought to let her know that her abilities are lacking. Why? Because the sooner she realizes this, the better off she is. You are doing her a favor. I got out of college, without ever having excelled in anything and realized, “Hey…I can’t get a good job!” Now I’m back in college studying something I’m far more suited to, all the while knowing that it takes extra effort…
Anyway, I wish I’d known a lot of things then that I know now. Not being particularly good at what I had planned on doing is one of them
I generally agree with the sentiments here, but if you are an open-enrollment institution it seems to me that there has to be an understanding that there might be a need to support students so that they learn the skills needed to do the job well. It sounds like you don’t have the space, time, or budget to do these things, so maybe you should look for a wage worker. But it sounds like you’re basically looking to give a kid with the skills a chance to make some cash, so maybe that doesn’t apply either.
I will point out that as a recent grad student at an Ivy League school, and a professor at a selective state flagship, I see bad writing and poor grammar all the time…
