"Oh, brother ..."
An amusing bit of unintentional levity came our way when a freelancer forwarded us an email sent to prospective interns by a Michigan legislator from Detroit, the honorable John Olumba, a politician who was a former school administrator. Now, we know that anybody can accidentally hit that SEND button while working on a draft. But the sheer amount and variety of errors in this email staggers the mind. Behold the perils of illiteracy:
Inhibit professionalism, posses strong writing skills, are outgoing, maintain a handle on time management, are flexible, persistently motivated, bears a keen eye for details, are open to learning, owns experience working interdependently as well as independently and understands that this opportunity will be what the student allows it to be.
The lack of agreement between subject and verb, the poor word choices and ill-suited metaphor show a writer who should never, ever, under any circumstances, compose a document in a live email. (That line about "a keen eye for details" probably should be avoided entirely as well.) No word on whether interns will be asked to proofread outgoing correspondence.
Here's one way to inhibit professionalism.
The cowboy poet? He couldn't have done it without his posse's strong writing skills.
- Ah, of course! That's how you get a handle on time management!
See this experience? I own this!
"We understand that this internship opportunity will be what it is, as long as we let it. Now breathe in ..."
