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Embarassing email mistake--what to do

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:33 pm
by Anonymous User
While sending one of my mass-mail resumes to a law firm, I somehow hit send while copy and pasting part of my form cover letter. With the exception of the font, it didn't include anything I wouldn't have sent anyways, but I did make one very embarassing mistake (on my form letter I had some highlighted text in brackets that said "NAME DROP HERE").

I immediately sent another email, explaining my technical incompetence and trying to make light of the mistake, and then wrote a very personalized letter and included my resume.

Is this faux pas going to cost me? Also, is there any chance that the email will "make the rounds" and cost me at other firms? Or will they acknowledge that mistakes happen and move on?

Re: Embarassing email mistake--what to do

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:38 pm
by Anonymous User
Pro tip: the email address you're sending to should always be the very last thing you enter. That way, this cannot possibly happen.

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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:38 pm
by Myself
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:39 pm
by Myself
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Re: Embarassing email mistake--what to do

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:39 pm
by thesealocust
It happens. It's life. Maybe it's a ding, maybe they laugh and don't care. Nothing you can do.

Don't worry about it.

Re: Embarassing email mistake--what to do

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 7:57 pm
by law321
Anonymous User wrote:While sending one of my mass-mail resumes to a law firm, I somehow hit send while copy and pasting part of my form cover letter. With the exception of the font, it didn't include anything I wouldn't have sent anyways, but I did make one very embarassing mistake (on my form letter I had some highlighted text in brackets that said "NAME DROP HERE").

I immediately sent another email, explaining my technical incompetence and trying to make light of the mistake, and then wrote a very personalized letter and included my resume.

Is this faux pas going to cost me? Also, is there any chance that the email will "make the rounds" and cost me at other firms? Or will they acknowledge that mistakes happen and move on?


The chance the bolded/underlined regarding "making the rounds" happens is exceptionally small, so don't waste another moment of your life thinking about it.

Will this lead to a ding? Could go either way. You did the right thing by following-up. Had I been on the receiving end of those emails, I would brush the first one under the rug and think nothing of it.

Re: Embarassing email mistake--what to do

Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 8:03 pm
by Anonymous User
law321 wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:While sending one of my mass-mail resumes to a law firm, I somehow hit send while copy and pasting part of my form cover letter. With the exception of the font, it didn't include anything I wouldn't have sent anyways, but I did make one very embarassing mistake (on my form letter I had some highlighted text in brackets that said "NAME DROP HERE").

I immediately sent another email, explaining my technical incompetence and trying to make light of the mistake, and then wrote a very personalized letter and included my resume.

Is this faux pas going to cost me? Also, is there any chance that the email will "make the rounds" and cost me at other firms? Or will they acknowledge that mistakes happen and move on?


The chance the bolded/underlined regarding "making the rounds" happens is exceptionally small, so don't waste another moment of your life thinking about it.

Will this lead to a ding? Could go either way. You did the right thing by following-up. Had I been on the receiving end of those emails, I would brush the first one under the rug and think nothing of it.
I think "NAME DROP HERE" is insufficiently funny for it to "make the rounds" or get on ATL. If you'd written "Bulls**t here," on the other hand...

You'll probably get dinged, but then again, ding is the overwhelmingly probable response for mass mail anyway. If OCI is like a sniper rifle, precise and finely tuned, mass mail is the shotgun that sprays lead everywhere in the hopes that something finds its mark. Good luck!