[web-team] Re: [Officers] Job corner??

[Heather Stern]

On Mon, Jul 22, 2002 at 01:38:07PM -0700, William R Ward wrote:
> 
> I think the website needs updating.  It talks of a "job corner" after
> the meetings.  In my experience, after the meetings there's a lot of
> milling about and general hubbub, but otherwise nothing I'd call a
> "job corner".  I suspect this is a tradition that has disappeared.
> 
> With the economy the way it is, perhaps it would be a good idea to
> provide an opportunity for job seekers and offerers to get in contact
> with each other.  The website alludes to an old system where jobs
> could be announced at the beginning of the meeting; perhaps something
> like that would not be a bad idea. 

We used to, but just can't - there are way too many announcements that
result when job seekers and recruiters get the mike, and it was
occasionally difficult to get them to stop talking and hand it over to
the next one.

The result was cutting short of speaker time, when it's the speaker we
all came for.

> Or, do it the way Bay LISA does,
> and have a whiteboard (or equivalent) where people can write their
> names & contact info and what they do or want.

The room is too large, has no whiteboard of its own.  I can bring a
portable whiteboard for the purpose, but with the much larger group of
SVLUG, it might take forever or easily overflow.  Sadly, it doesn't
scale well.

Doing something to more formally re-establish the Job Corner might help;
I think the main thing that has harmed it is that most of our speakers
run closer to lockup-time than we used to, and then Cisco wants us out,
so using the inside of the room as some more meeting space for a brief 
while doesn't work out.  :(

The idea has been raised a few times of having an svlug-jobs@ the way
BayLISA has a baylisa-jobs mailing list.  Disadvantages: It's moderated.
It's highly attractive to spammers.  Recruiters who really recruit, but
just can't restrian themselves from posting more than their fair share,
need to be slapped (kindly at first), and if they remain annoying, blocked.
So it's also a good idea, but it needs an active moderator with time to 
handle it...  who will not disappear on us without commentary as some 
past volunteers have done when life changed for them. (Even if the life 
change itself is for the better - new jobs can do that to folks.)

Although if someone became "job corner dude" or whatever title he or she
would want, perhaps they could address both tasks a bit.  Unfortunately
when the word got out that they do that for SVLUG, they might get
deluged in even more spam, esp. from morons who think SVLUG can hire
people directly.

Anyways I have sympathy for the whole job sitch, but we need to come up
with something to do that doesn't create unmanageable extra problems,
or whose extra problems have at least been actively accepted by some
specific, responsible people who'll keep on the ball.  When it's a 
little more clear what that is... I, or Joyce, or someone else among our
webteam (we're working on having a few more, yes) will be glad to update
the job policy webpage again.

Commentary from other officers welcome...

  . | .   Heather Stern
--->*<--- Starshine Technical Services
  ' | `   SVLUG Web Content Coordinator