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7.07.2009

screw business casual.

In an earlier post I mentioned that you need to find out what you want to do in the big bad real world based on your passions. Going further than that, for lack of a better phrase, you need to embrace YOU. Rainbows and butterflies mentality aside, this corny thought is truer than I ever realized. When you're marketing yourself in your cover letter and resume, make your personality ooze from the words on the page...or show your 12-inch voice nature.

Either way, you don't want to pretend you're something else just to fit into a company for the interview process because you want a job so badly, the market sucks, and you're so desperate. News flash: once you've fake-charmed your way into that cubicle you like to call quaint but is really just made for a midget (sorry, little person), your real self will have to pretend to be your on-paper-just-to-get-a-job-self. Gross.

In season two of FRIENDS, Monica is out of work (she's a chef) and stoops so low as to apply for/test out a job making "mocolate," a completely synthetic chocolate substitute, the official dessert of Thanksgiving. Joey also asks if she would cook naked because if she would cook naked, maybe she would dance naked. The second example is a little more far fetched, but the moral of the story is that no self-respecting chef would actually thrive in an environment that promoted the anti-food category. For me, naked anything is a no-go also...but hey, if you're into that... whatever. BOTTOM LINE: No one should sacrifice what they value when looking for a job no matter how desperate they are. Again, gross.

Here's my self-indulgent personal example for you. I love creativity, I'm not a huge fan of business casual, and I don't see myself co-mingling for 55 year old men in a stuffy corporate office on a daily basis. I'm a very blunt person. I don't believe in not speaking up just because I'm at the bottom of the totem poll. I looked for jobs that would accept all of this about me. I was lucky enough to find a craigslist post for a company that fit the environment and personality types that I was looking for. I decided to go all out in my cover letter because honestly, what did I have to lose? I'm now proud to say that I'm the newest member of the Gawker Media team as a marketing assistant. And you're not.

Major perks - suits and stockings are not mandatory to avoid awkward glares for inappropriate work attire and Facebook stalking for a few minutes to give your brain a break won't get you fired. Creative thinking, collaboration, and never-been-done-before ideas are valued and are integral to success. Everyone is genuinely happy to be at work each day because they we enjoy the work and each other's company.

My slightly easier to execute tip is to make yourself shine in your cover letter by making the company sound like it can be that much better (than it already is, of course) with your skills working to benefit it. Avoid me-me-me-I-I-I in every single sentence. If you have to use it, pair it with a "to improve you/your" type of phrase. And as the Newhouse career center always says, "show don't tell."

My self-portrait in cover letter form:

Dear Gawkers,

You had me at “intrepid soul.” Attackers of Gawker’s media, gossip and pop culture coverage deem it unscrupulous, but I like to call it delectable deets of celebrity dish (apologies for such extreme alliteration and Gossip Girl vernacular). As a creative advertising major, recently graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, I thrive on twisting words into clever combinations for the art of promotional persuasion. My education, internship, and sorority experiences have given me opportunities to convert my snarky mental and verbal commentary into lyrical copywriting, drawing a striking resemblance to the appealing attitude embodied by Gawker Media.

At Newhouse my passion for all things media was supported and proved useful in writing print advertising copy for a variety of commercial products and in a paper where I referred to VH1’s The Fabulous Life show without receiving a failing grade. With the NBC Agency, I wrote print advertising copy that matched the exciting pop culture content it was promoting. As PR Director for the Syracuse University Panhellenic Council, which governs the feisty group of gossiping sorority girls that resembles a microcosm of famous personalities covered by Gawker, I observed and helped control the Kim Kardashians and Lindsay Lohans of Syracuse Greek life.

I follow media, gossip and pop culture happenings on many news websites, but the style of writing Gawker uses to market that information has most profoundly affected my own writing style on those topics. Being a part of the Gawker Media machine to pump out the aforementioned news to the evolving digital media universe on the “full-steam-ahead advertising sales ship” would be quite the experience. I look forward to hearing from you about whether I can hop on that ship.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Intrepidly,
Samantha Ortega

Check out the Gawker Media sites and experience the often saucy tone that inspired my cover letter voice.
Gawker
Jezebel
Gizmodo
Lifehacker
Deadspin
Jalopnik
Kotaku
io9