When I was an intern in the newsroom of the Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y., the city editor made a show of depositing into the circular file every job application that was sent to "Binghampton."
The lesson was not lost on me.
Now, as managing editor, I receive dozens of unsolicited job applications a year, and dozens more in response to specific postings. I've been trained not to dump applications but to save them for a couple of years.
Well, the two years are up for the "Dear Ms. Picus" letter from a job applicant who had written directly to The Saratogian's human resources manager. The problem? Her last name is Pickus, with a K.
If you can't proofread a cover letter for a job in a newsroom, what hope is there for you as a reporter writing on deadline? (A sloppy application letter is a bad sign for any job, actually.)
The Picus letter is now in that big circular file in the sky, with all the would-be reporters in Binghampton.