Clearer Communication

Today, while Carter was emailing the colleges she was regretting their acceptances she asked me if “writing e-mails” was a job. I explained it was an important skill in many jobs, as all writing is. She pointed out that it was difficult to find the information about where to tell a college “no thank you” in the materials they had sent her.
I told her that there used to be a job called “copy writer,” but now it is “mar-com,” which stands for marketing communications. “Copy writer. That’s what Peggy on Mad Men was.” I love when television is our teacher.
Since I had two friends over during this conversation I did not go on to tell her about “technical writers” or “journalists” or now “bloggers,” and “content providers.” Writing is the most universal skill in most work and I fear we are not educating enough people with expertise in writing. One friend told me about a college acceptance letter her child received that said, “We chose you. Now we hope you choose us.” That copy sounded a little desperate to us. 
As a blogger I write everyday, but just for twenty minutes. I know there are many grammatical and spelling mistakes in things I produce, but I do this for the discipline of producing something daily. Since it is “work” I do for free I say that I am happy to refund anyone’s money if they are unsatisfied with the product I produce. This is about the only place that can happen. People who communicate for money need to be better at it than I am here.
For example, yesterday Russ was trying to figure out if our trash was going to be picked up today, our regular trash day, or since yesterday was a federal holiday, for January 1 which was on Sunday, would our trash be delayed?  The calendar on the website said,”holiday changes are noted above,” but they weren’t. He read four web pages and found buried in the middle of the fourth page in the center of a paragraph the answer to the question in a very round about way. It could have been much clearer.
Today I tried to make an appointment for Carter to get her Passport renewed. I called dozens of passport offices only to get recordings all day. I read everything on the US.gov website trying to figure out how to get an appointment. Finally, Carter and I just went downtown to the main post office where the passport office is and talked to a clerk. Turns out that no passport interviews or processing goes on on the third day of every month. This is information that could be written down somewhere, but is not on the list of days the offices are closed, like MLK day or the Fourth of July. 
Being skilled at communications is a talent that would serve everyone well. What is the most important idea you are trying to convey? Don’t hide that. In communication about getting a passport the fact that you can’t apply in person on the third day of the month is not the most important thing to know. But, it should be listed somewhere, along with the caveat of what if the third is a Sunday, or a federal holiday, then is it pushed back another day?
“Writing email” may not be your job, but doing it badly will certainly hurt you in getting the job. Maybe we should go back to having “copy writers” then people might know that producing clear and concise information is what they were hired to do.