It’s
probably old news by now, but DirecTV and The Weather Channel recently came to
terms on a contract dispute. Personally,
I neither know, nor care who wanted what and who eventually gave in. The important thing about all of this is
that, while they were at odds, DirecTV was promoting a network called Weather
Nation in place of The Weather Channel.
Now, despite what my last post may lead you to believe, I’m not a huge
weather buff. In fact, the only time I
watch these channels is when I’m at work because it is the default channel for
the TV in our office. In this time,
however, I did notice a stark difference between Weather Nation and The Weather
Channel: Weather Nation showed weather and The Weather Channel showed pretty
much whatever the hell they wanted (pictures of people at a Comic Book
convention? Golf tips? No problem!).
Now, if I wasn’t watching these channels to keep up on the weather, this
probably wouldn’t be a big deal, but when you’re labeled as a weather station,
I feel like weather is a pretty important thing to show.
So, I
got pretty comfortably with Weather Nation.
I even got to know some of the on-air personalities. I mean, spent every weekday with this network
staring me in the face, Gretchen and Kristin were pretty much family to me! Naturally, when the contract dispute between
DirecTV & The Weather Channel was resolved and DirecTV defaulted back to
The Weather Channel, I was not a happy person.
But thankfully, Weather Nation was still one channel down from The
Weather Channel and I used my superior technological skills to default our
office TV to Weather Nation (by technological skills I mean that I keep the
remote at my desk and hiss at anyone that touches it).
Well,
imagine my surprise when, while browsing the Weather Nation website one day, I
find that they have a job listing for a product manager. I have a degree in marketing, I like Weather
Nation, I am a person, and I am entirely devoid of qualifications beyond that;
it’s perfect. Well, because I have too
much time on my hands and not enough hobbies, I sent in a resume and, what I
believe is, an epic cover letter. Ladies
& gentleman, if you are writing a cover letter to a company, I feel like
you should make it look a little something like this:
“Dear Sir or Madam:
In response to the position advertised, I have
enclosed my resume for your review. I feel I have the personality, knowledge
and drive to become a valuable asset within your growing company.
To be perfectly honest with you, I had a very
nice, professional sounding cover letter written out and it sounded far too
bland for me to even consider sending it to you. I deleted the whole
thing and decided to write something that I believe gives a more honest picture
of who I am and why I am applying for the product manager position with Weather
Nation.
Prior to DirecTV’s contract dispute with The
Weather Channel, I had no idea that Weather Nation existed. But I quickly
became a fan and have managed to stealthily keep all of the televisions in my
current office tuned to Weather Nation, even after the dispute ended. I’m
not a huge weather buff, I only had one meteorology class in college (that I
was AWESOME at), but I believe you have a quality product and I can see that
there is passion within the company. And that is where I can fit in with
you: I have a passion for all aspects of marketing and management and an
appreciation for the product you are selling. Also, if you need me to be on TV at all, I can be really handsome.
As you can see from my resume, I have both plenty
of experience in both marketing and management and next to no experience in
meteorology. Beyond that, I have a firm belief that you cannot sell any
product to a consumer without first selling them on yourself. That is a
skill that I have been perfecting my entire life through constant development
of people skills and also a quirky sense of humor (humor is a subjective thing…).
In addition to my appreciation for your
network and my background in marketing and management, I think you will find
that I am also a focused, driven and also friendly individual with the skills
and desire to succeed. Strictly
speaking, I will not and do not fail at any task placed in front of me.
And in accordance with your requirement for someone who is not afraid to roll
up their sleeves, I have also included a picture of myself with my sleeves
rolled up as I believe this shows that I have a willingness to go the extra
mile and also that I am comfortable with my forearms.
My salary requirement is flexible and
negotiable, depending on such factors as additional benefits, faster salary
reviews, increased advancement opportunities and the possibility of
green-screen shenanigans.
I feel quite certain that I am well qualified and could be a natural fit for this position. I look forward to hearing from you.”
If you read the entire letter, you
probably noticed that I said I sent along a picture. Well, their job listing asked for “Strong
problem solving skills and willingness to roll up one’s sleeves.” So, I sent them this picture…
Hopefully there is someone there
at their headquarters sifting through resumes all day that got a good chuckle
out of my submission. Because I am
absolutely certain that I will never hear from these people.
-Ryan
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