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

[William R Ward]

Heather Stern writes:
>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.

OK, here's an idea... each person can submit a sheet of paper
describing what it is they are offering/seeking, with a size
limitation (subject to further editing if needed).  Instead of handing
them the mike, have the MC or someone from the club read these out
loud.  After each one, have the person stand and wave so that people
who are interested can find them.

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

I agree, but there are a lot of people who have been out of work for
way too long...

>> 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.

OK, then how about designating one of the tables that line the walls
as a resume repository.  Tell people to bring copies of their resume
and leave them there, and recruiters to bring printouts of their job
listings, and people can pick them up as desired.

>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.  :(

I agree, but that's a separate issue.  I agree that the speakers all
too often run late.  Perhaps this should be addressed as well.  I'm a
member of a Toastmasters club and we always have someone whose job it
is to keep track of time and indicate when a speaker's time is about
to be up (warning), and when it is up.  Perhaps that principle can be
adapted to SVLUG.

>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.)

Another model to look at is the jobs.perl.org and perl-jobs mailing
list.  The job listings are posted by recruiters or hiring managers
filling out a web form, which is then available on the website and
sent out to list subscribers.  There is a team of moderators, but
there is very little work involved in moderating it.

The trouble is that moderating the jobs list is something that is
generally not of much interest to most people most of the time.  When
you've got a job, it isn't something that matters much.  When you're
job hunting, it would be a conflict of interest...

>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.

That's a concern.  But there's no reason the moderator's identity
needs to be made widely available.  If an inquiry is made to the
jobs-moderator mail alias, then it would be revealed of course...

>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.

To reiterate: I think that the "jobs corner" section should be removed
from the website if no effort is to be made to offer such a corner.

But given the current market with so many people out of work and so
few job openings available, it would be a very useful service to many
SVLUG members.  I think the current policies were put in place in a
completely different universe, when recruiters were desperate to find
people and most people had jobs.  Now it's different, and the policy
should reflect that.

>Commentary from other officers welcome...

Ditto.

--Bill.

-- 
William R Ward            bill at wards.net          http://www.wards.net/~bill/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "When it comes to humility, I'm the GREATEST!" -- Bullwinkle J. Moose