The Unemployed Worker's New Friend
July 16, 2011 1:00 PM Subscribe
Superficially, this is an amusing story. "Porn magnets"!
A bigger concern is that if these services grow and proliferate, job inquiries will be reduced to another kind of spam, and employers will simply stop advertising vacancies publicly, making job-searching an ever tighter insiders' club. As a consequence, entry-level and outsider applicants may face even worse odds of finding employment: you're either already networked into the industry, or you never even know that the vacancy exists.
posted by Nomyte at 1:12 PM on July 16, 2011 [20 favorites]
A bigger concern is that if these services grow and proliferate, job inquiries will be reduced to another kind of spam, and employers will simply stop advertising vacancies publicly, making job-searching an ever tighter insiders' club. As a consequence, entry-level and outsider applicants may face even worse odds of finding employment: you're either already networked into the industry, or you never even know that the vacancy exists.
posted by Nomyte at 1:12 PM on July 16, 2011 [20 favorites]
This is great; now all I have to do is pay someone in India to do the job they applied for on my behalf for me.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:14 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:14 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
You could take the middle man out of it and hire a foreign national to do a job hunt for you. Then after you find a new job, you can charge a fee for your employee to continue doing the same work for others.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 1:15 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by psycho-alchemy at 1:15 PM on July 16, 2011
This is great; now all I have to do is pay someone in India to do the job they applied for on my behalf for me.
Believe me, I've considered it.
posted by empath at 1:16 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
Believe me, I've considered it.
posted by empath at 1:16 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
A bigger concern is that if these services grow and proliferate, job inquiries will be reduced to another kind of spam
I don't think so, more likely there will be a pre-screen service. This too will probably be outsourced.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 1:20 PM on July 16, 2011 [4 favorites]
I don't think so, more likely there will be a pre-screen service. This too will probably be outsourced.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 1:20 PM on July 16, 2011 [4 favorites]
A couple of acquaintances outsourced their business school applications and essays to the Philippines. It worked out perfectly for both of them. There's a woman somewhere in Manila knowing that she could have gotten into Wharton had the stars aligned differently, but is working for slave wages with no benefits instead.
posted by halogen at 1:21 PM on July 16, 2011 [20 favorites]
posted by halogen at 1:21 PM on July 16, 2011 [20 favorites]
As a consequence, entry-level and outsider applicants may face even worse odds of finding employment: you're either already networked into the industry, or you never even know that the vacancy exists.
This isn't the case now?
posted by blucevalo at 1:22 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
This isn't the case now?
posted by blucevalo at 1:22 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
Welcome to the service economy, I guess. My perspective on this is probably a little skewed, having needed a job so badly that I'd consider outsourcing the search, but this sounds an awful lot like the type of services you can get from a pretty typical recruiter in the technology industry. The quote about them being sent to unrelated jobs that happened to match a random keyword is pretty much par for the course.
posted by feloniousmonk at 1:28 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by feloniousmonk at 1:28 PM on July 16, 2011
Er, should read "having never needed."
posted by feloniousmonk at 1:28 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by feloniousmonk at 1:28 PM on July 16, 2011
At JobSerf.com, candidates pay up to $98 a week for one of a team of workers in Visakhapatnam, India, to find openings and apply for jobs. Many of JobSerf's workers join the company because their English is too rudimentary for them to work in a call center.
Serf indeed.
posted by dersins at 1:36 PM on July 16, 2011 [6 favorites]
Serf indeed.
posted by dersins at 1:36 PM on July 16, 2011 [6 favorites]
JobSerf.com? No way! I'm applying to JobHereditaryMonarchy.com.
posted by feloniousmonk at 1:43 PM on July 16, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by feloniousmonk at 1:43 PM on July 16, 2011 [10 favorites]
Reviewing incoming resumes is already disastrous. Maybe a tidal wave of irrelevance will do away with the whole process.
posted by doteatop at 1:44 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by doteatop at 1:44 PM on July 16, 2011
feloniousmonk: fresh opening for a Crown Prince, how timely.
posted by cgk at 1:57 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by cgk at 1:57 PM on July 16, 2011
A couple of acquaintances outsourced their business school applications and essays to the Philippines. It worked out perfectly for both of them.
Wow, part of me is horrified and angry at what is essentially academic cheating.
And the other part of me is, "These people are going to EXCEL in business school and business. Experience with management of human resources, proper delegation of tasks, recognition of the value of time, etc."
Still, if I had heard it elsewhere, I would have thought it was a sketch comedy bit.
posted by formless at 2:45 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
Wow, part of me is horrified and angry at what is essentially academic cheating.
And the other part of me is, "These people are going to EXCEL in business school and business. Experience with management of human resources, proper delegation of tasks, recognition of the value of time, etc."
Still, if I had heard it elsewhere, I would have thought it was a sketch comedy bit.
posted by formless at 2:45 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's funny because this article was making the rounds a lot this week, and basically makes the case for a polar opposite approach. That is, it is much better to focus your job search on only a few solid opportunities, do some background research on the company, prepare an appropriate resume, and then nail the interview, than it is to just blanket every possible job opening with your generic resume and hope something sticks.
I have landed 3 jobs in the last 5 years or so, and every time I applied to fewer than a dozen companies and only interviewed with 3 or 4. I got the job I wanted every time, and it was a good fit. Even before I had a degree and was working service jobs in high school I took this approach. Sending out your resume to hundreds of jobs or recruiters and then going to interviews with whoever calls you back is going about the whole thing backwards, and this process of hiring some company in India to do that work for you is even more ludicrous. Don't be surprised when end up with a shitty job that you hate, or when you "can't find a job", if you take this approach.
posted by sophist at 2:54 PM on July 16, 2011 [4 favorites]
I have landed 3 jobs in the last 5 years or so, and every time I applied to fewer than a dozen companies and only interviewed with 3 or 4. I got the job I wanted every time, and it was a good fit. Even before I had a degree and was working service jobs in high school I took this approach. Sending out your resume to hundreds of jobs or recruiters and then going to interviews with whoever calls you back is going about the whole thing backwards, and this process of hiring some company in India to do that work for you is even more ludicrous. Don't be surprised when end up with a shitty job that you hate, or when you "can't find a job", if you take this approach.
posted by sophist at 2:54 PM on July 16, 2011 [4 favorites]
At JobSerf.com, candidates pay up to $98 a week for one of a team of workers in Visakhapatnam, India, to find openings and apply for jobs. Many of JobSerf's workers join the company because their English is too rudimentary for them to work in a call center, says CEO Jay Martin.
Dear Sar,
Pliss to find my application for your honoured opening as CEO of very big companies. I am having over twenty years of experience in managing retail sales in my wife's salon.
Thankingyou in advance for your kind consideration of my humble application
Moomjean is a real name? (laughs silently)
posted by infini at 2:57 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
On afterthought, if you were unemployed, would you have $98 to pay for a service that apparently you had all the time in the world to do?
posted by infini at 2:59 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by infini at 2:59 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
Shame kills.
posted by Smedleyman at 3:01 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by Smedleyman at 3:01 PM on July 16, 2011
I wonder why he chose "jobserf.com" when "jobsurf.com" is available? Or could he have put the "serf" in there on prurpose, as alluded to in the comments above?
posted by Renoroc at 3:07 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Renoroc at 3:07 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
Wow, can they outsource the whole "bothering to get out of bed, shave and get dressed" thing as well?
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:11 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by George_Spiggott at 3:11 PM on July 16, 2011
I sincerely thought this was already going on? The very few times I've worked at companies that needed someone, the HR people were deluged with resumes many of which had nothing whatever to do with the job advertised. And this is from before the current economy!
posted by tcv at 4:03 PM on July 16, 2011
posted by tcv at 4:03 PM on July 16, 2011
A bigger concern is that if these services grow and proliferate, job inquiries will be reduced to another kind of spam
I don't think so, more likely there will be a pre-screen service. This too will probably be outsourced.
So more-or-less randomly sent resumés will be more-or-less randomly pre-screened. This has a high potential for comedy, not so much for matching the right applicants to the right jobs.
posted by Skeptic at 4:19 PM on July 16, 2011
I don't think so, more likely there will be a pre-screen service. This too will probably be outsourced.
So more-or-less randomly sent resumés will be more-or-less randomly pre-screened. This has a high potential for comedy, not so much for matching the right applicants to the right jobs.
posted by Skeptic at 4:19 PM on July 16, 2011
It'll take like 5 years before anyone notices that all white-collar work in the world is being done by bots and one very very tired Cambodian.
posted by The Whelk at 5:42 PM on July 16, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 5:42 PM on July 16, 2011 [7 favorites]
This is why your personal network is so important. Without someone on the inside to break through the regular HR crap, you're another faceless resume in a pile with thousands of faceless resumes. That's the *only* way to reliably get at least a callback or something.
posted by hellojed at 6:04 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by hellojed at 6:04 PM on July 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
This is why your personal network is so important. Without someone on the inside to break through the regular HR crap, you're another faceless resume in a pile with thousands of faceless resumes. That's the *only* way to reliably get at least a callback or something.
Which leaves a lot of people vulnerable to how networks are formed in the first place, and who typically gets left out of them.
posted by cashman at 7:28 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
Which leaves a lot of people vulnerable to how networks are formed in the first place, and who typically gets left out of them.
posted by cashman at 7:28 PM on July 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
We advertise for programmers from time to time - we get inundated with CVs that are wildly off topic- and I would say +90% from the sub continent.
C# developer with good SQL Server experience?
Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Java No Experience Java Java Huh? Java Java Java Java Java C# but lives in Bangalore Java Java Java Java
posted by the noob at 7:30 PM on July 16, 2011
C# developer with good SQL Server experience?
Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Java Java No Experience Java Java Huh? Java Java Java Java Java C# but lives in Bangalore Java Java Java Java
posted by the noob at 7:30 PM on July 16, 2011
I don't want to say that resumes and that model of hiring are going to disappear entirely when it comes to software developers, but I think it's going to become the realm of Stuffy Big Corporate IT pretty soon, if it hasn't already.
Aside from the network of past coworkers (I don't think just having 500 LinkedIn contacts is valuable if you haven't actually worked with them), your presence on a site like Github, Google Code, etc., is probably the most the most valuable asset you have as a developer when it comes to getting the type of job you want.
Once you have a solid foundation out there, it's kind of remarkable how quickly you can find a new job if you need one. I didn't even have to interview for the last "real" job I got before I went off into startup-founding-land.
posted by feloniousmonk at 7:57 PM on July 16, 2011
Aside from the network of past coworkers (I don't think just having 500 LinkedIn contacts is valuable if you haven't actually worked with them), your presence on a site like Github, Google Code, etc., is probably the most the most valuable asset you have as a developer when it comes to getting the type of job you want.
Once you have a solid foundation out there, it's kind of remarkable how quickly you can find a new job if you need one. I didn't even have to interview for the last "real" job I got before I went off into startup-founding-land.
posted by feloniousmonk at 7:57 PM on July 16, 2011
I would love a job a a porn site. One of my friends from college works IT for one. He gets damn good money.
posted by Splunge at 2:33 AM on July 17, 2011
posted by Splunge at 2:33 AM on July 17, 2011
Wholly irrelevant to this thread but in response to Splunge's comment - porn sites are apparently the most willing to drop money on cutting edge technology. I know a very big studio with a noname team in the back office who keep the meat and potatoes flowing by working on this stuff. Their CEO told me that it allowed them the freedom to fool around with all cool stuff on the web before applying it to any of their public work for big name brands.
posted by infini at 3:34 AM on July 17, 2011
posted by infini at 3:34 AM on July 17, 2011
Moomjean is a real name? (laughs silently)
posted by infini at 2:57 PM on July 16 [+] [!]
Would you like to swing on a star,
Carry Moomjean home from a bar?
posted by kcds at 4:14 AM on July 17, 2011
posted by infini at 2:57 PM on July 16 [+] [!]
Would you like to swing on a star,
Carry Moomjean home from a bar?
posted by kcds at 4:14 AM on July 17, 2011
sophist: Don't be surprised when end up with a shitty job that you hate, or when you "can't find a job", if you take this approach.
You think people actually want to do it this way? I'm happy that you've got your job that way, but what happens to the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th placed candidates who've tried those tactics too and don't have the job? After 6 months of applications, those candidates might get work, but it's just as likely they don't (and more and more with the economy the way it is). And after 6 months, or maybe even a year, those same candidates are probably asking themselves "what am I doing wrong?" and they're going to be told by well meaning friends, loved ones, and former colleagues, that either: A) They have too much pride if some jobs aren't good enough for them
OR B) They are just not applying to enough jobs.
Eventually, it becomes less about getting the job you think you're a fit for (forget about the job you actually want), and more of just a job. Now, I know you're going to say that you shouldn't get into a position like this, you should be employed while you look for work so that you're not desperate for employment. And that's true, and we'll probably slap you at this point because this doesn't help us get a job...NOW.
posted by FJT at 7:07 AM on July 17, 2011
You think people actually want to do it this way? I'm happy that you've got your job that way, but what happens to the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th placed candidates who've tried those tactics too and don't have the job? After 6 months of applications, those candidates might get work, but it's just as likely they don't (and more and more with the economy the way it is). And after 6 months, or maybe even a year, those same candidates are probably asking themselves "what am I doing wrong?" and they're going to be told by well meaning friends, loved ones, and former colleagues, that either: A) They have too much pride if some jobs aren't good enough for them
OR B) They are just not applying to enough jobs.
Eventually, it becomes less about getting the job you think you're a fit for (forget about the job you actually want), and more of just a job. Now, I know you're going to say that you shouldn't get into a position like this, you should be employed while you look for work so that you're not desperate for employment. And that's true, and we'll probably slap you at this point because this doesn't help us get a job...NOW.
posted by FJT at 7:07 AM on July 17, 2011
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posted by punkfloyd at 1:02 PM on July 16, 2011 [4 favorites]