analysis

The Recruiting Nightmare – Introduction

by

I spent weeks dumping my brain droppings on the blog about what I learned in my job search – that applies to job searchers.  I hope it was helpful, I think it was useful, and if nothing else it was immensely therapeutic.

But there’s another side to it that it’s time to address.

As most readers know I also help out recruiters and HR people I know.  I encourage everyone to do it, from passing on good contacts, to being a resource on market info, and so forth.  Recruiters have a hard time.

In my job search as well as my other activities, 2012 is also a year where I have come to the conclusion that Recruiting Is A Nightmare.  Which of course is also an awesome name for a column series.

Oh, yes there are many good recruiters – more than you realize.  There are many happy recruiters – it can be a very satisfying profession.  It’s just that right now, at this time, the level of stupidity, frustration, and utter insanity recruiters face is unbelievable.  I had trouble believing it until I started putting the pieces together as part of my usual research and helping out the recruiters I knew.

Recruiting is painful these days.

So of course beyond helping out recruiters I know, referring people, and being a shoulder to scream on, I realized I should write up my findings for a few reasons:

  1. It’ll help organize my thoughts to help my readers, be they in recruiting or not.
  2. It may lead me to figure out other ways to assist them.
  3. It’ll provide insights I and others can use.
  4. You, the job seeker, can learn to work around the craziness, help out recruiters, and reap the benefits of better jobs, as well as helping your fellows.

So what’s wrong with recruiting these days?  I’d call it a perfect storm in a way – there are many factors that individually don’t always seem bad.  However when you add these factors up . . .

[TO BE CONTINUED]

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

50 Shades Of Shut The Hell Up

by

So, yes, we all know the story.  Woman writes Twilight fanfic.  Twilight fanfic gets repurposed as erotica series known as “50 Shades Of Grey”.  Woman makes money.  People make fun of situation.

Really the only problem as a progeek for me is the latter one – the mockery.

From what I hear about “50 Shades of Grey” is, to put it mildly, is rather purple and the content is may disturb some.  It’s not Shakespeare or Pratchett, and there’s elements that sound rather squicky.  But really the only criticism that seems relevant to me may be some of these quality issues, and even then there’s only so much I can say because I actually watch films like “2 Headed Shark Attack.”*

Read more

Valve Made Money Via Free

by

TechDirt has a great analysis of a larger analysis on Valve’s profitability, specifically how TF2 worked when it went free.  The major lessons are research, connecting with customers, make it so pay isn’t needed to play, and give people a good reason to buy (not a negative).  In short, it appears to be a giant  mass of common sense, which of course makes it rare and remarkable.

Well worth reading.

Also, what I’d add here is that Valve’s approaches are not based on adversity, they’re based on building alliances and providing value (as noted “piracy is a service problem.”).  This is a great model that is also common sense, but begs the question why common sense seems so alien today.  I’d argue that once companies get big enough to throw their weight around, and gain enough “age” to feel they’re fixtures, there’s a risk of abuse.

– Steven Savage