I must admit I am catching up on this thread, so I apologize if I am
redundant.
But from just skimming through some of these answers I have to say that when I am looking for work it is issues like this that really keep me up at nights. I respect Jim's position and opinion, he seems to see initiative in those who call or in other ways contact an institution for the his correct name. The problem is many hiring agencies/committees/people would rather remain personally anonymous, especially in this era of 100+ applications for every museum position. They might react quite negatively to a phone call of this nature, or to be "outed" in a letter. And THERE IS NO WAY FOR THE APPLICANT TO KNOW WHICH ANY SPECIFIC JOB OPENING PREFERS if they do not specify in the announcement itself, and very few do. And you have no idea if you have stepped on some hiring officer's pet peeve, if you hear at all, until after you have already done it.
Being out of work sucks. You are the least
empowered person in the profession and whenever someone wants to kick you (metaphorically speaking of course) you have to take it. Everyone who hires regularly has opinions about how applicants should behave and not behave, and no one agrees with each other and we expect job applicants to just figure it out on their own. And so many people have such petty expectations. (I had one colleague who HATED Time New Roman because she thought it was boring and discounted resumes who used it. As Job Bluth might say C'MON!)
People looking for work apply for a dozen jobs a week or more. Have some mercy. Be clear in your job announcements about who to send packets to, whether you invite inquiries by phone, email, or both, how you prefer applications (email, snail mail, or electronic application), in what format, rough timelines with deadlines, and whatever else you DON'T want to get calls about. Treat job applicants like the fellow
professionals they are. (while I have your attention, would it kill you to post a salary range? Nothing specific, just a little info that lets potential applicants know whether they can afford to take the job. That way, you'll have less resume's to comb through as well)
And when going through all those applications, have some flexibility. Bear in mind that there is a unique procedure for applying for almost every single job opening currently being advertised and expecting every single applicant to intuit your personal preferences without you telling them is a little much to ask. So what if one person opens their cover letter with "To Whom It May Concern" and another wrote "Dear Hiring Committee" or found out your name. Is that really how you want to hire a curator or educator? I have hired a lot of people in my time and I don't recall even reading their salutations. It's irrelevant.
Of course, if you
told applicants to whom to address an application and they did not do it the right way, that is a whole different ball of wax.
Matthew White
On Aug 12, 2013, at 4:11 PM, Jim Lyons <38lyons38@
GMAIL.COM> wrote:
I stick with my earlier suggestion to find out the name of the person. I'm retired now, but when I was hiring people (not in the museum field), I would not have been impressed by a letter addressed to "Dear Whoever You Are".
On the other hand, suppose I happened to be the person who answered the phone when you called to find out my name? I suppose there might be a chance I would be momentarily annoyed at being interrupted by your call, but by the time your application arrived that annoyance would be long forgotten and I would be very favorably impressed by your salutation, "Dear Mr. Lyons".
-Jim