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I’m quoted in the lead of a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about the use of shorthand and emoticons among job seekers when sending thank you notes after an interview. After interviewing several qualified candidates for a summer internship, I knocked one out of the running for using “hiya” and “thanxs” – not to mention excessive exclamation points and a smiley – in her email after our meeting.
I get why a generation that’s grown up on texting, which is inherently shorthand, would carry that into their professional conversation too. Instead of allowing the boundaries to continue to blur, should someone try to stop them in the workplace? You’d hope the same people who write that way wouldn’t wear beach attire to an interview.
But after reading the WSJ piece, I wondered if those of us in our 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond are simply out of touch. Are we clinging to the horse and buggy while everyone else speeds off in their cool cars?
Someone’s got to give, no? Perhaps the workplace protocols will loosen and we’ll all accept the shorthand and the accompanying smiley faces. Even now employers are likely to abandon formality when there’s a particularly strong candidate they’re eyeing even when that person says “thanks for ur time.”
Or will the rules remain rigid—with younger generations improving grammar and punctuation in professional communication because they grow tired of missing out on opportunities?
Tory Johnson is the CEO of Women For Hire, which produces high-caliber recruiting events and online career services to connect professional women with leading employers nationwide.
