This 'Refreshing' Document Review Job Ad Is Actually Just Annoying And Unprofessional

Does this company want document review attorneys or “camp counselors?”

We get a lot of tips from attorneys lamenting bad job postings. Frankly, most of them don’t interest us that much. Yes, we’ve covered the SAUSA positions that don’t pay anything. We’ve covered all kinds of crazy Craigslist jobs, to the point where many of them don’t surprise us anymore.

But, I have to say, when a tipster writes in to tell us about an electronic discovery advertisement that is so hilariously bad she can’t tell if the organization wants “a lawyer or a camp counselor,” our interest is piqued…

Our bemused tipster writes:

Got this hilariously unprofessional job ad in my email today. My office mates and I can’t tell if they want a lawyer or a camp counsellor.

The job notice, sent by an organization that will remain anonymous (for what it’s worth, we had never heard of it before this email), did not disappoint. We have reprinted the whole thing on the following page, but here are some highlights. OMG e-discovery LULZ.

We have begun an electronic discovery project with our data collection/data processing provider in Prague for one of our corporate clients. We are at the data collection/data processing phase. The entire scope of the project is not yet known.

However, there may be a document review component. We are NOT saying ‘there will be”. Just to be clear. But just in case we told our client we’d check the database. So .. yes … this is a fishing expedition 🙂

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Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ms. Lippy. There is a lot to internalize here. Let’s start from the basics. Why are you putting smiley face emoticons in a job advertisement? No one is smiling when they’re applying for jobs. They are crying over their instant oatmeal and cheap coffee as they write yet another cover letter that will surely be rejected (if they are lucky).

Also, why is the company admitting that it is running a fishing expedition? That doesnt seem like a great thing to broadcast.

Based on the progress of the data collection/data review we guess a mid-August start. BUT … BUT … BUT …

Okay, just stop there. Just… stop. Please?

We know. What a refreshing, honest post.

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Ugh. I am all for eliminating useless formalities, even in business communications. But there is still a line that shouldn’t be crossed without good reason. Unfortunately for the senders of this email, I’m pretty sure emoticons, multiple WORDS in all CAPS, and useless ellipses are not refreshing, they’re annoying. Attorneys don’t have time to deal with this sh*t. Get to the point.

I don’t usually get heated about trivial stuff like this, but even when I was a recent journalism school graduate, I had to sift through pages and pages of career listings trying to find work. Self-conscious, “refreshing” ads like this always made me angry. The style is simply not as cute as HR departments think it is.

Click through to see a screen shot of the whole advertisement…

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