Incompetence is something you will face during your career and during job searches. Let me give you a personal example.

I kept a copy of an email I received unsolicited from a recruitment firm that was contacting me to enquire about my interest in speaking with them regarding jobs they have with their clients. I got the following email message, the body of which I’ve copied and pasted below but taking out the name of the company who sent it. I’ve bolded the comments in the email that I found most interesting:

[start of email]
Good afternoon,

I am contacting you after a thorough review of your online resume. Your background and qualifications match those of individuals we have been most successful in working with, and we would like to meet with you in person.

ABC Company is the only company working with professionals to obtain their ideal position amidst the most uncertain times of our generation. We specialize in traditional and growth industries in all disciplines.

Our firm deals specifically with positions from $100,000 up to the most senior levels, as well as the very specific needs of both people and companies at this level. We have direct access to a majority of the companies and recruiters that will want to discuss the knowledge and experience that you can bring to their company, or to their clients.

In case you are not familiar with ABC Company, please visit our website at [company's website] prior to our first discussion.

Please attach an updated copy of your resume, and review your calendar so that we can schedule a meeting, and further discuss your career opportunities.
[end of email]

Good afternoon,: I’m always suspect of people who contact me without addressing the email to me personally. Afterall, they did go on to say that they’d done a “thorough review” of my online resume which I presume means they’d have learned my first name at least.

ABC Company is the only company…: This statement is mindless and clearly untrue. So they’re the only company in the whole wide world who could possibly help me find a new job if I was looking for one? I don’t think so. Whatever credibility they had at this time is now gone with this silly statement.

We have direct access to a majority of the companies and recruiters that will want to discuss…: First off, how would the person sending this email have any idea about which companies would want to speak with me when this person hasn’t even spoken with me yet? As mentioned above, they don’t even seem to know my name. There are what, millions of companies around the world, and they claim they have access to “a majority” of them? Please.

This is a typical form email that the person and company sending it apparently don’t realize looks and smells like one from a mile away.

On a whim, I responded to the person who sent me the email and said the following to them:

Hi [name removed]

Thanks for your email. Having worked as a recruiter, when I saw your email I noticed that you didn’t refer to me specifically by name in your opening so I can’t tell if this is a generic email that gets sent to everyone or if you do see something in my background that might interest a specific client(s). Perhaps you could confirm.

Thanks.

Carl

I never did hear back from them.

Bottom line: watch out for incompetence during your job search and career. Read carefully what people email you and don’t be afraid to ask questions up front to avoid wasting your time and getting your hopes up for no reason.

In this case, the company who sent me the email was on a fishing expedition probably just trying to collect resumes but I didn’t fall for it.

Over the past year, we have witnessed a significant amount of money – billions of dollars worth – paid out in bailout money to various companies and industries. The government gave bailouts to companies that produce stuff no one wants and to financial institutions that were largely responsible for the financial mess in the first place.

We have then seen financial services firms who received bailout money pay their senior staff – many of whom were the ones who directed the ship into the iceberg in the first place – a retention bonus. Clearly, they don’t want these incompetents leaving the company and going to another company and screwing them up too. The company likes their incompetents just fine thank you very much and isn’t willing to give them up to a competitor. And they’re willing to pay your tax dollars to retain these losers too.

Afterall, it would cost the firm as much if not more to find and train someone equally incompetent to take their place and screw things up just as bad in an equal period of time. By the time the new person was successfully trained in the ways of incompetence, they’ll be far behind their competitors in the race to the ineptitude finish line.

These days and in this economy, you’d think that the best way to keep your job would be to show your intelligence, good decision-making, track record of success and other positive traits. Some people – and some industries – seem to believe that the opposite is true, however. Interestingly enough, these are the same industries that required a bailout in the first place because they weren’t able to compete on their own.

Incompetence doesn’t grow on trees but it does need to be cultivated and encouraged to survive. It tends to be well-paid too.

We never even got to covering buyouts either.