'Communicator of the Year' Kelly Blazek's Bilious LinkedIn Response Goes Viral

A nasty LinkedIn rejection from someone who was "Communicator of the Year" has gone viral on social media.

Kelly Blazek, who runs a job centre for marketing professionals in Cleveland, sent a barrage of abuse in response to a simple email and request from Diana Mekota.

Mekota, a 26-year-old job-seeker planning to move to Cleveland in the summer, tried to "add" Blazek as a connection on the social networking site for professionals.

Blazek responded: "Your invite to connect is inappropriate, beneficial only to you and tacky."

She continued: "Wow, I cannot wait to let every 26-year-old jobseeker mine my top-tier marketing connections to help them land a job."

"I love the sense of entitlement in your generation," she wrote, then continued. "You're welcome for your humility lesson for the year. Don't ever reach out to senior practitioners again and assume their carefully curated list of connections is available to you, just because you want to build your network."

She finally ended on: "Don't ever write me again."

Her response has spread over Twitter, Buzzfeed and other viral hotspots after Mekota posted it on her Imgur account. Her aggressive message has been posted alongside her Blazek's description of herself as a "passionate advocate" for job-seekers.

Blazek was named the Communicator of the Year 2013 by Cleveland's branch of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Mekota's original email consisted of a short message with details about her professional experience, education and personal interests and asked to join the jobs list. She said she sent a LinkedIn request so Blazek could see her achievements, instead of sending her CV.

In response to Blazek's message, she wrote: "I realise you told me to never write you again, but wanted to reach out as there has been a large miscommunication and I merely wanted to explain myself.

"I apologise if this came off as arrogant or invasive as that was never my intention. I was again, hoping to join your very impressive job board but I understand you(r) reservations."

Blazek has since responded to "everyone involved" in the incident, in an email to CNN.

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."

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

On Thursday, she appeared to have suspended her Twitter account and Wordpress blog.