It came in a small, white envelope.
No return address. No logos. Just a stamp cancellation from Palatine, IL.
Palatine? I couldn’t figure out who had sent this correspondence to me, so I may as well open it. My curiosity was killing me.
As soon as I saw the graphics on the front of the card, I knew the sender. It was Jason Seiden, author of the career books How to Self-Destruct and the new Super Staying Power.
It was a thank-you card for ordering How to Self-Destruct. Here he was thanking me when, in actuality, he had given the books away. I didn’t pay a thing for them (except for the extremely negligible amount to ship them to my house). How cool is that?
And it was handwritten.
Now, my guess is that Jason may only vaguely (if that) remember the correspondence that we had when I implored him to include me in his giveaway, especially since he is a published author, an influential person, and a hob-nobber with other influential people like Laurie Ruettimann. (And I’m, well, not any of that.)
But you know what? He made me feel pretty darned special. Thanks for brightening my day, Jason!
Two things to come from this:
1) A reminder to never, never, NEVER forget to send thank-you notes to every interviewer; to references; and to people who do practice interviews with you, help you with your application materials, and otherwise support you in your job-seeking endeavors. Say “thank you” and the love will come back to you.
2) I have six more copies of How to Self-Destruct to give away. I’m going to make this super-easy, ‘kay? Just leave a comment here or send a tweet my way telling me who you last thanked. Was it a family member? A friend? Your mail carrier? Your kid’s teacher? The furnace dude? Whoever it is, I wanna know! Showing gratitude is important stuff…
My Twitter handle is @TheJobQuest.
Nothing fancy-schmancy about this giveaway — just a straightforward one entry per person. You can both comment here and tweet about it, but that won’t earn you extra entries. Either/or is fine. Let’s try to get the entries wrapped up by 9:00 pm Pacific time on December 18, shall we?
P.S. – Hey, Jason? Thanks for the books! They are much appreciated.
And thank you to everyone who reads my blog and enters. I’m having a blast reading your perspectives and getting to know you!
Thank you courtesy of deniedart
I always send a little something extra with client orders as a thank you… at the end of the year, it’s little photo calendars with their favorite image from our session.
I’m leaving a 24-pack of Miller longnecks for the garbagemen tomorrow. The postman gets a $20 (legal limit) and a loaf of chocolate-choc chip zucchini bread. Don’t know if he wants that, but who doesn’t like cash? I sent a check to our retiring paper lady a couple of weeks ago. She was awesome – would get the paper to us even before they plowed sometimes. I made cookies for the awesome librarians at the city library. They will let me pick up some of the movies I have on hold and leave some of them there. I’m not sure if they’re allowed to do that. I’ve never asked. Don’t ask, don’t tell.
And of course always a written thank you for an overnight at someone’s house and for a gift.
BTW, don’t enter me in the drawing. I am not big on owning books. I just like to talk
I recently took up writing the “I’m out of work” blog, The Job Stalker, on the Chicago Tribune’s Chicago Now blogging site. This past Saturday, I was invited to be a guest on the “Chicago Now” show on WGN-AM, one of 8 Chicago Now bloggers being swung through the ground-floor studio at the Tribune Tower during the 4 hours of the show.
That afternoon I sent the host, Bill Leff, a “Thank You” card, telling him how much I’d enjoyed being on the program, and commending him on his ability to keep things fresh, focused, and flowing, given the “revolving door” of quite diverse bloggers that he has to interview in quick succession.
@TheJobStalker
@Michelle: Great point about saying “thank you” even after you are in the work world. I’m sure your clients really appreciate it!
@CF: Wow, I bet the people who provide these services and who are your friends really feel special! That is very thoughtful
@Brendan: That’s exactly what I’m talking about! I’m sure the host appreciated the nice note. Your blog sounds interesting — I’ll have to read about your escapades…