36 Year's of Breadth & Depth?

I applied for a marketing and communications specialist position on P-Net last week and then received this reply from a Joanne Kaplan from Exclusive People. I include my response to her for your perusal:

Dear Anton,
 
Please see the breadth and depth of the role. Your cv speaks to journalism and TV presentation. I don’t see the match here.
 
Regards,
Joanne Kaplan
Office: 011 440 8560
Fax: 011 440 8563
joanne@exclusivepeople.co.za

Joanne

Firstly it’s ARNOLD not Anton.

Yep. You’re right. Don’t know what I was thinking. Perhaps it’s the fact that in the last 36 year’s of doing what I do, I’ve built my brand to a piddly little level.

Maybe it’s the fact that in 36 year’s of broadcasting, writing as a journalist, MC’ing for the biggest corporates on the continent, writing for magazines and newspapers, announced and broadcast some of the biggest sports events on the African continent and done marketing and PR work for a whole host of companies?

Mayhap it’s because I was one of the pioneers, faces and game breakers for a fledgling one channel sports broadcaster called SuperSport in the early nineties…where we did everything: marketing, PR, made the coffee and communicated with thousands of people on a daily basis?   

Possibly it’s because I’ve dealt with, conceptualised, refined and worked on literally thousands of companies' corporate functions, be they: launches, recognitions, incentives, events, parties conferences and team building? Effectively…I communicated their message. Forgive me? I’m marketing myself again!     

Or possibly I’m just horribly misguided and the last 36 year’s I’ve just wasted my time on one thing: TV?

Maybe tick all of the above. Maybe that’s breadth and depth? Nah! You’re right. There is no match here.

However, what I do know is that it may be good to think a little wider than the norm. To see things for slightly more than what they are. Not to operate in one dimension. To think laterally and to not just see “a  job” as “a person fulfilling one task” but that there are facets to each worker. Experience and not just a job description. Like donkey said to Shrek: "I’m like an onion…there are layers!”

But perhaps in the "Exclusive People" thinking model there is no space for this kind of thinking.  

As a marketer, I cannot afford to think like that. Can a recruitment agency? Or the company who is employing the agency?

Yours: In sincere apology about my misguided application.

Anton…sorry Arnold!

Arnold Geerdts
pbp@netralink.com
082 55 2001

(PS: I’ve sent your mail and my subsequent response on to a few friends of mine in the media as well as posted it on a few social media outlets. Hope you don’t mind, but that’s just what aspirant marketers and communicators do.
Oooops,  there I go again! )
Arnold Geerdts
pbp@netralink.com