Blazek's Harsh LinkedIn Rejection Has Truly Gone Viral

Seems like Kelly Blazek's harsh emails to job seekers have gone viral. The whole fiasco, now nicknamed "Blazek Gate," was the top trending topic on Twitter and Google. Although Blazek has since deleted many of her social media accounts, some people are capitalizing on her downfall, like the parody account @KrabbyB under the name Krabby Blazek. See the sample of joke account's tweets below.

To get caught on Blazek Gate, here's a recap of what happened

Blazek, the founder of the popular Cleveland Job Bank, should have been more mindful of her manners, especially since she won an award for being the city's communicator of the year.

Job hunter Diana Mekota, 26, sent Blazek an email asking to join her job board and requested to add Blazek to her LinkedIn network. What she received was an unexpected reply belittling Mekota's seemingly sincere efforts. Mekota then uploaded the exchange on Reddit, and the Internet soon clued in to Blazek's behavior.

Mekota's first message to join the job board, sent on Feb. 19

Imgur user pettiebettie

Blazek's response, which went viral

Source: Imgur user pettiebettie

Blazek's response to Rick Uldricks, another person who faced her wrath, after a request to join the job board

Imgur user pettiebettie

During Blazek's acceptance speech for the 2013 communicator of the year award, issued by the Cleveland chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, she says she wants her "subscribers to feel like everyone is my little sister or brother, and I'm looking out for them."

Since the images have gone viral, Blazek has issued apologies for her behavior. Her apology email was published on the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. This is what she wrote:

I am very sorry to the people I have hurt.

Creating and updating the Cleveland Job Bank listings has been my hobby for more than ten years. It started as a labor of love for the marketing industry, but somehow it also became a labor, and I vented my frustrations on the very people I set out to help.

Hundreds of people contact me every month looking for help, and as the bottom fell out of the job market, their outreach and requests demanded more of my time. I became shortsighted and impatient, and that was wrong.

My Job Bank listings were supposed to be about hope, and I failed that. In my harsh reply notes, I lost my perspective about how to help, and I also lost sight of kindness, which is why I started the Job Bank listings in the first place.

The note I sent to Diana was rude, unwelcoming, unprofessional and wrong. I am reaching out to her to apologize. Diana and her generation are the future of this city. I wish her all the best in landing a job in this great town.

She has also apologized to Mekota and Uldricks directly. Does her apology seem sincere? Front Page