From: JTS - MCDLXXXVI (jts7@duke.edu)
Date: Tue Sep 26 2000 - 12:13:48 PDT
...When a young man's thoughts turn to economics. I really can't imagine
anything worse than the housing market in Boston (with a pre-emptive
"shaddup, you" to those suffering in SV). Nor can I imagine anything much
better than the job market in Boston. The problem with both are the
middlemen. Middlemen suck, but it's a middleman's market.
Whatever happened to "cutting out the middleman"? Every vehicle I've
seen which was to empower that has just turned into another fertile
feeding ground for middlemen. Monster.com Boston.com ebay.com
what-have-you, in any high demand situation the middlemen crash your
party unless you've got very strict controls... and even then they sneak
in. What's to do?
The worst piss-me-off that happens in any given day is the jackass
recruiter who calls posing as somebody else and asking vague questions in
order to find a person to poach (myself or otherwise) for some other
job. Especially when the number they leave behind is a fake. Look
people, I'm just trying to get a job done here, and when I want a job,
I'll ask for it.
Which leads to the next problem. Say you ask for a job. Where? Any job
board. Sorry, you just bought yourself a 6-12 month pass into recruiter
hell. It's like running a classified ad that says:
"WANTED - cat sitter. Pay: $50,000/yr. Call home phone: xxx-xxxx"
The phone just doesn't stop ringing, and the cretins are persistent. How
the heck to tell the "good" recruiters from the jackanapes? Bah.
I'm a big fan of the personal network. Rohit has turned his into a
cottage industry/bit factory. As far as I'm concerned, the system just
looks impossible to construct; the best method is avoiding the system by
connecting via the job "Grey Market". But what of the masses, the
shut-ins, or the newly relocated?
Bitch bitch moan. All I know is, this blows, and it's not getting
better. The signal/noise involved in a job search is just about
unbearable. What's the answer? how does a young web designer cut the
shit and find jobs without middleman hassles in the absence of personal
network in a town such as, say, Boston?
Why, he turns his neighborhood mailing list into a job board. No, wait,
that's not right. And even worse: I'm a middleman, it's my roommate
who's looking. So, don't send me any job offers, I'm just curious if
anyone has recommendations on "best way to do this" besides just knowing
a guy with an opening.
JTS
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