Chief Letter Writer

If you have ever seen the classic Ghanaian movie I Told You So you should be familiar with the term Chief Letter Writer. The term came to mind in a week when I was part of a panel interviewing applicants to fill an opening for a company driver. There were these two application letters that seemed strikingly similar in structure and content and would not have been considered for interviews but for the curiosity of the HRM.

Apparently there was (and still is) a "Chief Letter Writer" in the next town making a living from typing out letters for people who do not even care to read these letters before they send them out. Do we still have such a long way to go?

The template for the job application letter must necessarily contain the word "Youngman" irrespective of the age of the applicant. If you are lucky, your actual age is put in the letter, otherwise, as happened to one of the potential company drivers, you have to face a panel that believes you are thirty years old and explain why you just said you were forty-two. Since the letter must also contain the phrase "flying colours" at all costs, this applicant who had just said he did not finish high school, had to explain why his letter of application said he had passed his high school exams with flying colours.

I could go on and on but I stop here and hope to find an answer to why things must be so.