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Kelly Blazek, founder of the Cleveland Job Bank for marketing communications openings, found herself becoming a hot topic on social media Tuesday after some of her rejection letters went viral, as seen in this Twitter screen grab. She issued an apology to the job-seeker and to the public.

(Jon Fobes, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland's tight-knit marketing communications community lit up Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites with messages of outrage after a job seeker publicly shared some scathing rejection emails she received from Kelly Blazek, head of a popular local job bank listserv. Blazek sent apologies to the job seeker and to The Plain Dealer.

It all started after Diana Mekota, a 2009 graduate of John Carroll University moving back to the Cleveland area from Rochester, N.Y., this summer, shared the discouraging emails she got from Blazek via social media.

"I posted it to reddit, imgur and facebook," asking them to "please help call this lady out," she said. "From there it was linked to Buzzfeed. I also sent this email to WMMS and it was picked up on Rover's Morning Glory Monday morning. I was on the air to discuss."

Kelly Blazek's apology:

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.

Mekota said this is how Blazek responded to her request to connect on LinkedIn: "We have never met. We have never worked together. You are quite young and green on how business connections work with senior professionals. Apparently you have heard that I produce a Job Bank, and decided it would be stunningly helpful for your career prospects if I shared my 960+ LinkedIn connections with you - a total stranger who has nothing to offer me.

"Your invite to connect is inappropriate, beneficial only to you, and tacky," the email continued. "Wow, I cannot wait to let every 25-year-old jobseeker mine my top-tier marketing connections to help them land a job. Love the sense of entitlement in your generation. And therefore I enjoy denying your invite, and giving you the dreaded 'I Don't Know' [scribbled-out name] because it's the truth.

"Oh, and about your request to actually receive my Job Bank along with the 7,300 other subscribers to my service? That's denied, too. I suggest you join the other Job Bank in town. Oh wait - there isn't one." The email ends with "Don't ever write me again."

Mekota said: "At first I was shocked." After re-reading the letter several times thinking it had been a mistake, she emailed Blazek again and said Blazek didn't reply. That's when she started sharing her email with friends. "I decided, with the attention and anger it was fueling, it would be best to share with sites like imgur and reddit."

Hours after the emails went viral via Twitter shares, Facebook posts and emails, Blazek issued her own statement saying: "I am very sorry to the people I have hurt."

Kelly Blazek, the Cleveland IABC's 2013 Communicator of the Year

Blazek, a self-described "Job Bank Mother" was named "2013 Communicator of the Year" by the Cleveland Chapter of the the International Association of Business Communicators for her work compiling job openings in the marketing, public relations, digital communications, media, journalism, graphics, and nonprofit management positions throughout Northeast Ohio.

"Blazek is not just a headhunter or a recruiter, but a senior communications executive who enjoys helping others in the profession," the IABC said in a statement announcing the award. It noted that "her listserv is one of the largest individually produced employment compilations in the country within the marketing and communications field."

"I've always been a passionate advocate for keeping talent in NE Ohio, and we have so much of it in the region," Blazek is quoted as telling attendees at the IABC recognition event. "I want my subscribers to feel like everyone is my little sister or brother, and I'm looking out for them."

Blazek's email blasts note that "Fast Blast postings deliver immediate impact and are sent to over 7,300 terrific industry professionals in NE Ohio that subscribe to Kelly Blazek's Job Bank." In the past, her emails have made it clear that she does not accept invitations to connect on LinkedIn from people she does not personally know.

Once her emails to Mekota became public, however, people not only started calling out for IABC to rescind its award, they posted derogatory comments beneath IABC's story about her, saying things such as: "It's smoke and mirrors. She is not passionate about keeping and attracting talent, she's arrogant and a bully" and "I'm starting a motion to strip her of this title. She's an embarrassment to our entire organization."

Within hours, Blazek had deleted her Twitter account, @NEOHCommJobs, removed all but the recommendations from her LinkedIn account, and deleted all the content on her blog, kellyblazek.wordpress.com/

Mekota said: "This was never a personal attack simply because I was turned down. More than anything, it was about the fact that this senior professional was treating young professionals like this, in a time when it's already difficult to find a job."

"Since this story became so viral, I have heard from hundreds of people in the Cleveland area. Their reaction has been worth all of this. Knowing that people in the Cleveland area are excited for 'boomerangs' and young professionals is the best homecoming I could ask for," she added. Mekota said she has accepted Blazek's apology and wishes her the best.

Related Plain Dealer stories:

Feb. 26: Kelly Blazek again shuts down Job Bank twitter account, a third rejected job seeker speaks out

March 5: Kelly Blazek returns her 2013 Communicator of the Year Award after social media backlash

an assistant professor at Kent State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communications , said, "Cleveland area communications pros are upset, and they aren't holding back. I saw several tweets and blog posts from area professionals apologizing, saying this is not representative of the people of Cleveland and expressing their concern about the negative impression this gives the city and its people.

"People are angry at the way this senior professional treated a young professional," Moore said via email. "What could have been a teachable moment for a young professional turned into an unnecessary social media slap down. And the email message directly contradicts what appeared in a previous news release about making her subscribers feel like they are her younger sisters or brothers.

"This serves as another reminder that we are held accountable for our actions, even more so in our online-driven world," she said. "If we're inconsistent in our interactions with our audiences online and offline, we'll be called out. It can take years to build your online reputation and only one slip-up on social media to destroy it. Another lesson: Think before hitting 'send.'

"It's such a shame to watch this unfold, especially because the NEO Job Bank has been a valuable resource to many," Moore added.

Blazek said she hasn't decided if she will continue her Job Bank email blasts.