7 ms·

“Millennial savages me on Glassdoor for giving constructive feedback”

47 points by forrestbrazeal 10y ago

Clownshoesms 10y ago
Among the other benefits the Internet has provided, we can now watch in real-time the blow-by-blow of weighty matters such as an English language critique gone wrong (coming from a site as utterly devoid of respect, purpose and integrity as LinkedIn).
tchaffee 10y ago
Guy tries to show how much more mature he is by stereotyping an entire generation? Sounds to me like both parties involved are a little low on the EQ spectrum.
- danderino 10y ago
  I think I agree with the glassdoor review actually. An unsolicited and unnecessarily harsh critique with language like "My English and history professors at Cornell would have ripped this to shreds (as I just did)" is not appropriate as an application response.
  - tchaffee 10y ago
    Fair point. At first read I thought she was being a bit sensitive, but maybe I was reading too much into her response which could also be read just as a reasonable warning to future applicants.
Zanni 10y ago
It's like a squabble between children. Applicant with an over-inflated ego submits a sub-par writing sample. Owner with an over-inflated ego rejects it with a gratuitous insult on top of some helpful criticism. Applicant throws a fit. Owner throws it right back. Oh, wait. Did I say "helpful criticism?" The first comment strikes out the word "subsequently," calling it "entirely unnecessary and redundant" before exhorting "Don't use unnecessary words." Well, speaking of unnecessary words, how about "entirely" and "redundant" in your own comment? The rest are in a similar vein, coupling actual criticism with needless (and antagonistic) commentary. Instead of calling out a sentence as merely "too long," he has to then label it "an absolute monstrosity." Nice dodge, millennial job seeker. This is not someone you want to work for.
- danderino 10y ago
  Is there any evidence to believe the applicant had an "over-inflated ego"? I don't think there is anything in the review to suggest that and the only piece of evidence we have is the author's claim that the applicant "sent an application and bragged about their tremendous writing ability" My guess is he/she did not so much "brag", but included the usual snippet everyone does when trying to highlight their skills/sell themselves.
- errantblaze 10y ago
  >The first comment strikes out the word "subsequently," calling it "entirely unnecessary and redundant" before exhorting "Don't use unnecessary words." Well, speaking of unnecessary words, how about "entirely" and "redundant" in your own comment? Not that I disagree with your overall point, but are you implying that feedback/commentary should be held to same standard as what it is critiquing?
  - tchaffee 10y ago
    I think it should be. Lead by example.
    - errantblaze 10y ago
      It seems to me that having to polish all feedback to a publishable level of quality would (greatly?) reduce the amount of feedback someone could give. I've appreciated informal feedback that I've received in the past and if that was the bar that needed to met I would have likely never received anything back.
      - ams6110 10y ago
        Agree. I was surprised by the length of some of the comments. Most of the editorial notes and critique I've seen are very terse.
      - Zanni 10y ago
        I'd agree that, in general, you shouldn't necessarily aim for the same level of polish in feedback that you would in a piece for publication. Here, though, I think the excessive length of his comment undermines the credibility of his feedback and contributes to the sense that he's piling on the criticism.
mythrwy 10y ago
It sounds like Pollard was trying to emulate his writing professors (forgetting he is supposed to be a businessman now). I've met people like that. Trying to teach "life lessons" (in which they don't succeed) instead of sticking to the prime objective. And Pollard's writing professors sound like blowhards who don't have much else going on in life but pompous critiques. Pretty much like a number of university soft science professors. Throw an immature bratty job seeker in the mix and wait for the fireworks!
- Hydraulix989 10y ago
  As a Cornell alum, I can confirm the accuracy of your assessment. The nice thing about math and engineering is that it's objective; you either solved it correctly, or you didn't. My liberal arts requirements and freshman writing seminars, not so much.
- ams6110 10y ago
  My high school English teacher regularly "ripped to shreds" papers like that in the early 1980s. It was very difficult to write to his satisfaction. But he was a great teacher.
- tracker1 10y ago
  Then again... the applicant could have taken the criticism, adjust, and resubmit, thanking them for the prior critique. I see a LOT of very simple mistakes in articles today, published in print or online. It constantly makes me question as to what happened to actual editors and those that proof content.
  - sosborn 10y ago
    Editors cost money.
beardicus 10y ago
Lost me at "millennial". How can people jump on the millennial-hating train and not see it as the "kids these days" "get off my lawn" horseshit that it really is? The author could use a good editor.
- tracker1 10y ago
  It's a matter of numbers that take generalities to extremes. Thirty years ago, some of the things I read about in all seriousness with serious tone would have been laughed at as having no basis for debate or serious consideration. Yes, people should generally feel relatively safe at school. But the idea that we should regress back to segregated living and social quarters because some people can't handle being in a situation with someone that disagrees with them, or perhaps has a better argument? As a libertarian and a deist, I'm on the outs with almost anyone who tends towards most extremes (even people in my own party, "taxation is theft" mantra for example). There were pacifists in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc... They've always been there. But today as long as it's your guy being the agressor it seems to be okay, but as soon as it's the other guy, it's all bad. It's like all reason and accountability went out the window at some point. Yes, some of what gets reported is sensational examples far from the norm... but it's at a rate that astounds me. There are a lot of people who have had a very sheltered existence and assume that what's fair is always what's right and that their sheltered view is what is real. It usually isn't.
  - ouid 10y ago
    I honestly can't tell if you're taking a position on the use of the word millennial here.
    - braveo 10y ago
      He's explaining why he, and others like him, have difficulty respecting the people for whom the word 'millenial' applies. I think it's important to keep in mind that the term 'millenial' refers to actual people.
      - 10y ago
nols 10y ago
If he graduated college in 2004 then he would be in his mid-thirties and considered by most definitions to be a millennial himself or very close. I shouldn't be surprised that a business owner would publicly trash someone to make themselves feel superior after seeing it happen so often, but how could he not see how embarrassing this would be? No wonder he needs a communications specialist.
gotothedoctor 10y ago
I suppose I can understand why a guy named Jonathan Pollard is so sensitive about proving his innocence & credibility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard
- smitherfield 10y ago
  That's quite the non-sequitur.
hownottowrite 10y ago
The timestamps on his edits indicate this all happened nearly a year ago. The timestamps also indicate he invested about three minutes in editing the writing sample (assuming that's all of it). So I looked up the Glassdoor review, and sure enough it was posted on the same day... I love stories so I wondered what else this fellow was up to around that time. Turns out he was writing non-stop and cranking out video content. I have to wonder if this recent post isn't something he planned to write back then but ran out time. In any case, for a guy working 9,000 hour weeks he sure had a lot of time to write great big articles about his life.
pcurve 10y ago
"I graduated from Cornell in 2004." That pretty much puts him in the the same millennial bucket. lol In all seriousness, the applicant's writing was fine, and his correction was superficial at best. Does he not realize how bad this article makes him look?
- ams6110 10y ago
  The writing was pretty bad, actually. But his isn't a lot better.
zzgo 10y ago
My big takeaway is that Jonathan Pollard has a bigger megaphone than a new college graduate making a negative Glassdoor review. Second to that is that the word magnanimous is probably not in Pollard's vocabulary.
fullDuplexxx 10y ago
I have never seen anything on Glassdoor or LinkedIn worth caring about, ever. I spend almost all of my time avoiding both places and giving zero fucks about the people that get sucked into those whirlpools of desperate flailing for attention.
lancefisher 10y ago
Pro Tip: Don't give feedback to people that don't want it.
wieghant 10y ago
Ughh, more pretentious mockery of millennials. So sick of being looked down on. You know what's more immature than being a 23 year old with inflated ego? Having the experience, yet proceeding to ridicule knowing full well that's not the approach.

Among the other benefits the Internet has provided, we can now watch in real-time the blow-by-blow of weighty matters such as an English language critique gone wrong (coming from a site as utterly devoid of respect, purpose and integrity as LinkedIn).

tchaffee 10y ago

Guy tries to show how much more mature he is by stereotyping an entire generation? Sounds to me like both parties involved are a little low on the EQ spectrum.

danderino 10y ago
I think I agree with the glassdoor review actually. An unsolicited and unnecessarily harsh critique with language like "My English and history professors at Cornell would have ripped this to shreds (as I just did)" is not appropriate as an application response.
- tchaffee 10y ago
  Fair point. At first read I thought she was being a bit sensitive, but maybe I was reading too much into her response which could also be read just as a reasonable warning to future applicants.

Zanni 10y ago

It's like a squabble between children. Applicant with an over-inflated ego submits a sub-par writing sample. Owner with an over-inflated ego rejects it with a gratuitous insult on top of some helpful criticism. Applicant throws a fit. Owner throws it right back. Oh, wait. Did I say "helpful criticism?" The first comment strikes out the word "subsequently," calling it "entirely unnecessary and redundant" before exhorting "Don't use unnecessary words." Well, speaking of unnecessary words, how about "entirely" and "redundant" in your own comment? The rest are in a similar vein, coupling actual criticism with needless (and antagonistic) commentary. Instead of calling out a sentence as merely "too long," he has to then label it "an absolute monstrosity." Nice dodge, millennial job seeker. This is not someone you want to work for.

danderino 10y ago
Is there any evidence to believe the applicant had an "over-inflated ego"? I don't think there is anything in the review to suggest that and the only piece of evidence we have is the author's claim that the applicant "sent an application and bragged about their tremendous writing ability" My guess is he/she did not so much "brag", but included the usual snippet everyone does when trying to highlight their skills/sell themselves.
errantblaze 10y ago
>The first comment strikes out the word "subsequently," calling it "entirely unnecessary and redundant" before exhorting "Don't use unnecessary words." Well, speaking of unnecessary words, how about "entirely" and "redundant" in your own comment? Not that I disagree with your overall point, but are you implying that feedback/commentary should be held to same standard as what it is critiquing?
- tchaffee 10y ago
  I think it should be. Lead by example.
  - errantblaze 10y ago
    It seems to me that having to polish all feedback to a publishable level of quality would (greatly?) reduce the amount of feedback someone could give. I've appreciated informal feedback that I've received in the past and if that was the bar that needed to met I would have likely never received anything back.
    - ams6110 10y ago
      Agree. I was surprised by the length of some of the comments. Most of the editorial notes and critique I've seen are very terse.
    - Zanni 10y ago
      I'd agree that, in general, you shouldn't necessarily aim for the same level of polish in feedback that you would in a piece for publication. Here, though, I think the excessive length of his comment undermines the credibility of his feedback and contributes to the sense that he's piling on the criticism.

mythrwy 10y ago

It sounds like Pollard was trying to emulate his writing professors (forgetting he is supposed to be a businessman now). I've met people like that. Trying to teach "life lessons" (in which they don't succeed) instead of sticking to the prime objective. And Pollard's writing professors sound like blowhards who don't have much else going on in life but pompous critiques. Pretty much like a number of university soft science professors. Throw an immature bratty job seeker in the mix and wait for the fireworks!

Hydraulix989 10y ago
As a Cornell alum, I can confirm the accuracy of your assessment. The nice thing about math and engineering is that it's objective; you either solved it correctly, or you didn't. My liberal arts requirements and freshman writing seminars, not so much.
ams6110 10y ago
My high school English teacher regularly "ripped to shreds" papers like that in the early 1980s. It was very difficult to write to his satisfaction. But he was a great teacher.
tracker1 10y ago
Then again... the applicant could have taken the criticism, adjust, and resubmit, thanking them for the prior critique. I see a LOT of very simple mistakes in articles today, published in print or online. It constantly makes me question as to what happened to actual editors and those that proof content.
- sosborn 10y ago
  Editors cost money.

beardicus 10y ago

Lost me at "millennial". How can people jump on the millennial-hating train and not see it as the "kids these days" "get off my lawn" horseshit that it really is? The author could use a good editor.

tracker1 10y ago
It's a matter of numbers that take generalities to extremes. Thirty years ago, some of the things I read about in all seriousness with serious tone would have been laughed at as having no basis for debate or serious consideration. Yes, people should generally feel relatively safe at school. But the idea that we should regress back to segregated living and social quarters because some people can't handle being in a situation with someone that disagrees with them, or perhaps has a better argument? As a libertarian and a deist, I'm on the outs with almost anyone who tends towards most extremes (even people in my own party, "taxation is theft" mantra for example). There were pacifists in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc... They've always been there. But today as long as it's your guy being the agressor it seems to be okay, but as soon as it's the other guy, it's all bad. It's like all reason and accountability went out the window at some point. Yes, some of what gets reported is sensational examples far from the norm... but it's at a rate that astounds me. There are a lot of people who have had a very sheltered existence and assume that what's fair is always what's right and that their sheltered view is what is real. It usually isn't.
- ouid 10y ago
  I honestly can't tell if you're taking a position on the use of the word millennial here.
  - braveo 10y ago
    He's explaining why he, and others like him, have difficulty respecting the people for whom the word 'millenial' applies. I think it's important to keep in mind that the term 'millenial' refers to actual people.
    - 10y ago

nols 10y ago

If he graduated college in 2004 then he would be in his mid-thirties and considered by most definitions to be a millennial himself or very close. I shouldn't be surprised that a business owner would publicly trash someone to make themselves feel superior after seeing it happen so often, but how could he not see how embarrassing this would be? No wonder he needs a communications specialist.

gotothedoctor 10y ago

I suppose I can understand why a guy named Jonathan Pollard is so sensitive about proving his innocence & credibility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard

smitherfield 10y ago
That's quite the non-sequitur.

hownottowrite 10y ago

The timestamps on his edits indicate this all happened nearly a year ago. The timestamps also indicate he invested about three minutes in editing the writing sample (assuming that's all of it). So I looked up the Glassdoor review, and sure enough it was posted on the same day... I love stories so I wondered what else this fellow was up to around that time. Turns out he was writing non-stop and cranking out video content. I have to wonder if this recent post isn't something he planned to write back then but ran out time. In any case, for a guy working 9,000 hour weeks he sure had a lot of time to write great big articles about his life.

pcurve 10y ago

"I graduated from Cornell in 2004." That pretty much puts him in the the same millennial bucket. lol In all seriousness, the applicant's writing was fine, and his correction was superficial at best. Does he not realize how bad this article makes him look?

ams6110 10y ago
The writing was pretty bad, actually. But his isn't a lot better.

zzgo 10y ago

My big takeaway is that Jonathan Pollard has a bigger megaphone than a new college graduate making a negative Glassdoor review. Second to that is that the word magnanimous is probably not in Pollard's vocabulary.

fullDuplexxx 10y ago

I have never seen anything on Glassdoor or LinkedIn worth caring about, ever. I spend almost all of my time avoiding both places and giving zero fucks about the people that get sucked into those whirlpools of desperate flailing for attention.

lancefisher 10y ago

Pro Tip: Don't give feedback to people that don't want it.

wieghant 10y ago

Ughh, more pretentious mockery of millennials. So sick of being looked down on. You know what's more immature than being a 23 year old with inflated ego? Having the experience, yet proceeding to ridicule knowing full well that's not the approach.