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The now-former Miss California USA, Carrie Prejean, whose comments about gay marriage and internet feud with Perez Hilton made her way more famous than the actual Miss USA winner (who is from my home state of North Carolina - go NC!), has finally lost her crown. The official reason stated by the pageant
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Comments
06.12.09
I'm assuming you are pro gay marriage. I'm also assuming you would not have written this post if the buzz around her was because she held a belief that you agreed with.
Am I wrong?
Sure the emails are unprofessional, but this is newsworthy? I think her response is probably "somewhat" typical of the millennial generation. I've seen plenty of office emails from million dollar wall street types that are AT LEAST this unprofessional.
I could write a post with essentially the same point about millennial's dress attire at most offices.
06.12.09
Scott - please do write that post! I'd love to read it.
Lilit - so true about e-mails. I've heard of one company owner who actually proofed each and every e-mail his employees sent to ensure they were being professional. At the very least Carrie could have used spellcheck.
06.12.09
Scott, the writer didn't make any mention of her views on gay marriage, so it's not fair of you to draw this conclusion on what her opinions may or may not have been. This post is not a political or gay marriage issue, or even about Prejean, it's about professional etiquette and the importance of proper communication, regardless of your generation.
06.12.09
Scott, the buzz around her concerning this topic is her level of insubordination, not her previous statements. And her unprofessional emails have nothing to do with being a millenial. I've seen plenty of emails from Gen Xers and Boomers that are unprofessional as well.
06.12.09
I think we've got more important things to worry about than the professionalism and grammar of a young beauty pageant woman.
These kinds of things are just a distraction, like a fly in our ears.
06.12.09
Actually, there is a reason I think this is relevant: because it's not as uncommon as one might hope.
I'm not even speaking about the tone of the quoted e-mail, which certainly appears to be an issue. No, what I mean is that I've heard that professors are starting to encounter essays written in text-language. I hope it's apocryphal. But e-mails like this suggest that, in fact, that may really be happening somewhere.
This is not purely generational. I remember being amazed in high school by how many of my mother's club members seemed incapable of writing complete sentences--and these were people who, for the most part, were college-educated.
There is an ongoing need for education about business communication, and Prejean's e-mail is a good reminder of this. More and more, I think there needs to be a "life skills" course required in high school, and this should be part of it.
06.12.09
I recently wrote an article about this for TalentEgg: http://talentegg.ca/incubator/2009/05/email-etiquette-for-students-and-r...
It goes to show you that the lack of professionalism in emails is pretty wide-spread for Gen-X as well as Gen-Y. I would go so far as to assume that this is the kind of behaviour that occurs in a lot of workplaces.
06.12.09
Well, at least she didn't use OMG or LOL.
06.12.09
When I write emails to people outside of work, I tend to write them as they come out. Its more of a dialogue that way.
When writing emails for more professional purposes, I will try and clean it up a bit.
I will say that I've never taken any sort of grammar class (and it probably shows, lol) but I wanted to note that its been left out of public school curriculum for years.
06.13.09
Unprofessional business communication, especially emails, is a big complaint from the business community about Gen Y, so I'm glad this post came out and is getting attention. I agree with the commenters who point out the sloppy email is not necessarily Gen Y-exclusive, but this complaint is often associated with Gen Y so it is the Gen Y burden to bear. Better to fix your communications and stand out against the negative assumption (deserved or not). This in fact represents a real opportunity. Because so many employers are frustrated by Gen Y communication you can really distinguish yourself by excellent professional communication.
06.15.09
@Katenonymous
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I remember being amazed in high school by how many of my mother's club members seemed incapable of writing complete sentences--and these were people who, for the most part, were college-educated.
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I couldn't agree with you more here. I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks it is completely ridiculous to write incomplete sentences and consider yourself a competent writer. I tried to mention this to someone on here who took offense to this.
Here's an example of what I mean:
I'm a GenY writer. And that just means I'm really optimistic and happy. Which to some may come off as naive.
07.07.09
As an undergrad working with only people in law school or actual lawyers, I see clear and unfailingly professional communication as one of the ways I make clear that I belong in the group. I figure if I wanted to be treated like people who are older and more experienced than I am, I should try to sound like them on their best days.
I totally agree with Caroline: it is Gen-Y's cross, but poorly thought out communication can come from anyone, of any age.
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