Kelly Blazek runs a local Job’s Board in Cleveland and was likely a big fish in a small pond. As she wrote to one applicant,
“I suggest you join the other Job Bank in town. Oh — guess what. There isn’t one,” Blazek wrote, according to an e-mail he provided the station. “Done with this conversation, and you.” reported CNN
And everyone should heed the outcome of Blazek’s responses to job board applicants. What she failed to realize is that other fish in other ponds can see what she is doing.
Once named ‘Communicator of the Year’ in Cleveland, she now finds herself apologizing and deleting her entire online presence to survive the wave of criticism. WordPress blog gone, Twitter account gone, and anything else with her name attached to it.
We now live in a world where we can be nationally, even globally, judged and vilified based on a couple minutes of online activity. Blazek spent several years building up a 7,500 member job’s board and threw it all away with one email reply.
There are no small ponds online. Everyone sees everything. And people can reach Cleveland just as easy as reaching for the coffee cup on their desk.