If you're a job seeker with a Blackberry, beware the syndrome that may plague your search...

Terse Reply Syndrome

According to their amazing tongue-in-cheek (or maybe this is really serious?) website Terse Reply Syndrome (TRS) affects many BlackBerry® users today. TRS is often associated with those who send email replies that are shorter than one sentence, pay no attention to tone, and disregard answering direct questions with any detail.

Here's a short quiz designed to help you better understand your symptoms and if they relate to TRS.

1. Have you ever replied to an email on your BlackBerry with:
* Good start
* Talk Monday
* Needs work
2. Are your thumbs prone to aching?
3. Have you considered seeking the help of a massage therapist for cramped thumb muscles?
4. Are co-workers visibly or audibly frustrated when they open an email reply from you?
5. Have you ever wished you were at your computer so you could really address the points made in a report?

The problem with TRS? In a job search? You might upset a recruiter or employer by being too brief, too curt, to abrupt.

So, how do you alleviate Terse Reply Syndrome and increase your chances of securing the job you want?

One cure for TRS is Jott for Blackberry. Instead of typing back, you call back and speak a reply. If you have Jott™ for BlackBerry™, just can just hit the “Reply with Jott” option in your full reply menu and leave a message. The message is converted into text, seamlessly integrated into the email message and sent your the recipients. Cool! Now you can leave longer messages...yipppeee!

BTW, I LOVE Jott. And, actually, I don't have a Blackberry, but I wanted to pass this wisdom along to the zillions of job seekers who DO have that addictive device.

Jott is an amazing voice recognition system -- and it's FREE (at least for now...and I love that!) Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments.

So, here's how I use it. I get my best ideas when I'm driving. And I don't want to write them down. Instead, I get on my cellphone (with it's headset, so my hands stay on the steering while) say "Jott" into my phone, and it dials their 800 number. Then, it asks, "Who do you want to Jott?" Usually, I say "myself." Then, I have up to 30 seconds to leave myself a message. It appears in my voicemail, already converted into text! Neat!

The conversation of voice to text is pretty good. In many cases, it's superior to my DragonSpeak. It's not perfect...but it also leaves me a copy of the voice file, which is helpful if I've left an undecodable message! This lets me be productive in the car.

Here's to your more productive job search,
Susan

Susan Bernstein, MBA MA
Job Search Coach & Founder
The Job Search Gym
www.JobSearchGym.com