The virus that’s infected the recruitment industry.
Posted by Mitch on 5th September 2019
I can only guess at the origin of this virus.
It might have been started by one organism or it might have mutated from something else. If it was the first, then my guess would be an agency big-biller encouraging everyone around them to copy their phone spiel – probably back in the 90s.
Or maybe the recruitment industry caught it from the Contact Centre industry.
I am of course talking about recruiters who use the word “yourself” instead of “you”.
“Would you like me to email it to yourself?”
“Is the meeting just with yourself, or is the HR manager joining us?”
“Is the fee discount I’m offering just for yourself, or every other line manager in the business?”
Why do people do this? It makes no fucking sense! Do they think they sound more professional? More grown-up?
Do they say, “Myself will call yourself back later”?
Do they fall in love and tell their partner, “I love yourself”?
If they’d been John Lennon, would they have written a song called “All Yourself Needs Is Love”?
Imagine a world where most people spoke like that? That could happen if these people all start marrying each other.
What can we do to stop it spreading any further?
PS… Yesterday someone sent me this video. It features the MD of a recruitment agency talking about nothing in particular. The most interesting bit is around 20 seconds in when he uses the word “me” (correctly I might add) only to immediately correct it to “myself”.
I think this may be even more serious than I thought.
Comments
By Paul Oppenhemer on Thursday, 05 September 2019You really ought to ask yourself that question.
Oh crap, that actually works. :-)
By Duncan on Monday, 09 September 2019
That video you link to is a parody?
By Mitch on Monday, 09 September 2019
No, it’s real Duncan.
By Brad on Thursday, 17 October 2019
Another phrase I see all too often on agencies literature is “our dedicated team of consultants”...arrrh. No shit, what else are you dedicated too if not your job!
By Tom on Thursday, 02 January 2020
The one which upsets me infinitely more is the confusion between “I” and “me”. People seem to get this wrong when talking about themselves as part of a group. It’s almost as if they cannot understand the difference between being a subject or object.
Commenting is not available in this section entry.