I can personally attest to how helpful Heather has been in launching my PR career. After my internship with Heather, I had the experience of writing a whole PR plan by myself under my belt and a wonderful letter of recommendation that opened the doors to so many other wonderful opportunities. Thanks again, Heather.

You do so much to help rising PR stars in the industry. I think everyone who knows your work realizes that.
.-= Lindsay Olson´s last blog ..Golden Grant Stimulus Package and Giveaway! =-.

I see you’re still upset, but clearly you didn’t read my post very carefully. My comment was all about how to CORRECT the situation. And no, being on one person’s blacklist (mine for example) does not “disqualify that candidate from any job ever”. It simply disqualifies that candidate from a job within MY COMPANY, until the error is corrected with me personally. There is a definite distinction.

Thanks for your comment.

Heather

I am one of those people who wrote that I was outraged at the suggestion that if I buy you lunch, i get off your black list…Hate mail? No, I don’t think so. And folks, it wasn’t taken out of context…it was there in black and white. Are black lists a reality? Of course. The problem is, especially in the Internet age is “HOW DO YOU KNOW THE INFORMATION IS TRUE?” Maybe a candidate DID lie on a resume. Does that then disqualify that candidate from any job ever? Perhaps the candidate learned their lesson and now the resume is completely true…what now? Does an error in judgment doom a person for life? A close read of the WSJ article seems to say yes. As I said in my email to Heather, “I hope you never have the experience of being on a Blacklist.”

As I just replied to Aubrey, that is absolutely not true. If a candidate who posted a positive comment (one they truly did not believe in — which is LYING in my book, but perhaps that’s just how I was raised), and they showed up to an interview drunk or one of the other examples I’d gave, they’d still be blacklisted as a candidate not fit for my company. Period.

And I used buying lunch as the FIRST STEP IN CREATING A CONVERSATION to get off my blacklist — there’s a HUGE difference! Someone cannot simply take me out to lunch to get off my blacklist, let me make that clear right now. I guess I am at a loss as to why people are focusing on the example I gave as the first step in a multi-step process to get off someone’s blacklist.

As I told Ms. Lublin, this is not some written list I keep. Others in the article state they do, but I am not them. I don’t agree with everything the article says, and everyone on this blog is certainly free to disagree with me — WITHOUT worrying about being blacklisted, geez. My point to Aubrey was I’m just not that shallow! Other people might be, but I’m not — and I admit that since she knows me, I expected a different response.

I said it to Aubrey and I’ll say it again — this has been a learning opportunity for all of us I hope. Now the candidates I love to help know blacklists exist. And I know I’ve learned that sometimes my frank, direct approach to topics offends people — certainly not the outcome I ever intend — and job hunting in particular is a touchy subject. I plan to continue giving honest advice, but hopefully we can avoid words like “blacklist” (which I really hate and told Ms. Lublin I don’t actually use) in the future.

Thanks so much for your comment.

Heather

What you said was extremely clear — am I worried that people are posting false messages of support here in order to get on my “good side”. I simply disagreed with you — and did ask for a bit of clarification in the same way you gave your comment (on this blog).

To be honest, your comment did upset me, particularly since we have worked together in the past. Actually, that’s been the most upsetting part of the day — to receive such negative messages from people who KNOW me, not the complete strangers.

But, I guess the end point here is that I would never think less of a candidate who posts here for disagreeing with me — nor would I think more of a candidate who posts here for AGREEING with me. That kind of bias is just plain silly, particularly since none of us are ALWAYS right!

Perhaps we’ve both learned something today.

Heather

But I think putting out this very well-written response in rebuttal was both a brave and a smart response, particularly in this era of Google knowing and telling all. Forever.

I think this has been an educational experience for everyone.

And I certainly don’t think she was implying that candidates should lie to a hiring manager to avoid blacklisting – there’s a huge difference between showing sympathy now when you need a lift (which will paint the commiserator in a good light) and outright lying to a hiring manager, right?

You used buying lunch as an example of getting off a blacklist – I don’t think it’s that far of a stretch for a person to use compassion proactively to avoid blacklisting.