The state of IT recruitment

[flexibeast]

Heh, this piece of humour is more true than it lets on:

Linux Job Want Ads Gone Mad

If, like me, you've ever looked for software development work, you'll have frequently come across the sort of ads mentioned in the article; you'll probably know the sort of frustration these sorts of ads engender; and you'll understand the humour in the following comic strips:

User Friendly strip 1

User Friendly strip 2

For those of you who aren't familiar with the IT jargon in the article, here's a roughly equivalent ad for a call centre employee:

Wanted: Customer service operator

Must be fluent in English, Dutch, Turkish, Esperanto and Old English. Must be familiar with a Chomskyian approach to language analysis. Must have 7 years experience writing emergency procedure guides in Old English.

:-P
 

Comments

[velitu.livejournal.com]

thanks for the translation! maybe you could use that in a job interview to make them see how silly their expectations are... being gutsy in an interview and turning it around on them is what gets naiyah jobs. i'm gonna try and take a leaf out of hir book.

;)

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

Oh, believe me, i've seriously considered saying some silly things in order to toy with interviewers . . . . particularly as, on the basis of much experience, most employment agency people don't have a clue about IT, even when that industry is supposed to be their specialty. So all they can do is take a 'checklist' approach: "Ten years' experience programming with C? Check. Five years experience with Java? Check." Which, clearly, a computer could be programmed to do. :-P

The sad result of such an approach, however - an approach based on unrealistic expectations - is that positions are filled by those who bullshit the best (usually alpha-male types). Which i believe contributes to unrealistic expectations of what IT projects can achieve in a given time frame. :-/

If i may ask, in what way is Naiyah gutsy during interviews?

[velitu.livejournal.com]

coz s/he doesn't let them set the terms of the interview like that. s/he takes contorl of the interview and tells them what they actually need to get the job done... and how to go about it.

they, having no real idea about the position are swept away by hir confidence and apparant superior knowledge in the area and and hire hir.

s/he always faked it till s/he made it. s/he has rarely been qualified to do any job. its one of the advantages s/he gained from male, middle/upper class socialisation that s/he plans to keep.

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

having no real idea about the position are swept away by hir confidence and apparant superior knowledge in the area and and hire hir.

Ah, i see.

s/he always faked it till s/he made it.

*nod* See, i simply can't bring myself to do that. Which obviously reduces my chances; but that's just something i've had to learn to live with, albeit not particularly successfully, at times . . . . *shrug*

[velitu.livejournal.com]

oh and naiyah doesn't do any of this agressively either. that's the key i think.

but you are right, the job interview is about who can bullshit the best. *shrug* i guess i shall just hve to bullshit then.

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

oh and naiyah doesn't do any of this agressively either. that's the key i think.

Ah! Well, that is indeed a neat trick. :-)

i guess i shall just hve to bullshit then.

*sad nod* Unless (and until :-) ) you're working for yourself, you probably don't have much choice . . . .

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

:-)

[jomaraubat.livejournal.com]

LJ is pissing me off. Keep losing all the long replies to posts, like I just did to this. Then I get all cautious and copy them all, just in case, until I get lulled into a false sense of security, and then it happens again. Anyway, the gist was...

"Soylent Recruitment" was funny. Nice touch.

Now that I'm looking for work again after 9 years as home Dad, the ads seem to be very demanding, considering there is a desperate shortage of labour. And of course there are the usual calls from employers for Centrelink to be much tougher on jobseekers, because it's all their fault that jobs can't be filled.

But, an ad that took my breath away with it's insolence this weekend was, "Do you have two legs and a heartbeat? Then the Security Industry needs you." Insulting to anyone involved in security, and worrying to anyone who has anything to do with a security officer.

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about the problems you're experiencing with LJ; i experience them occasionally too. :-(

the ads seem to be very demanding, considering there is a desperate shortage of labour. And of course there are the usual calls from employers for Centrelink to be much tougher on jobseekers, because it's all their fault that jobs can't be filled.

Oh yes, it's nothing to do with the fact that Australian businesses seem to want talented and experienced employees, even though those businesses themselves aren't willing to invest in new employees by training them and giving them experience . . . . :-/

And yeah, that ad for a security guard is indeed worrying . . . . being involved in security takes a fair bit more than simply being alive and upright. :-P