Online Job Hunting and My Conspiracy Theory

So, here is how NOT to recruit online.

So I get this email from Name I Don't Recognize that reads very much like spam.  The subject line starts with FYI, for one thing.  It seems the status of my job application for TEAMsomeoddnumber is changed.  This email didn't end up in my spam folder, so I opened it to find it contained very little information, as well as an attachment and a link.  This is all looking very spammy to me.  I check the full header, and it actually appears to be from a place I applied to months ago.  I plug the name into my inbox box to be sure, and find this email looks like most of the others I have received from said establishment.  OK, fine.  So I go to find out what has changed about my application, only to find out that either I've forgotten my password or my account no longer exists even though they can still send me emails (I'm now thinking that's what this change in status was, because I was not allowed to use the lost password option).  I won't go into all the infuriating details, but in conclusion I find that obscure language, mixed signals, and general over-automation is not a great strategy for online recruitment.

Seriously, I have to wonder how well this actually works, even for big corporations in a weak job market.  It seems like an awful lot of resources to put into the process of elimination.  They must be sure that all these hoops to jump through really will narrow the field down to the ones who can do the job best.  Perhaps they've calculated it all so that only a specific type of mind can actually make it through the application process.  I've made it to the interview stage a handful of times, but I have yet to actually acquire a job that I originally applied for online.

Some would argue that comparatively few jobs are actually gained by responding to any type of advertisement, and my own job experience would seem to back that up.  Very often it's about who you know and being in the right place at the right time.  This makes this shift toward online recruitment even more mysterious.  Seems like an awful lot effort to put into something that won't do the bulk of the hiring for you.  Some places don't even give you the option of applying any other way except online!  What are you doing collecting hypothetical employees in an online database if only a fraction of a fraction of them make it to your team?

One alternative explanation occurs to me:  information.  This is the age where corporations want to know about you.  Your likes, dislikes, gender, age, beliefs, politics, and anything else they can use in order to sell their product to you.  Most privacy statements will say that they would never share your information with a third party, which is the prevailing fear.  But if the company you're applying to is a big retailer, why would they sell your information?  They're the ones who need it in order to sell you stuff!

Seriously, I've talked about this before:

Sketches and Swatches: Do I really have to sign up for everything?

I give more information to these online recruitment sites than I would give most places, unless I'm filing my taxes or renewing my passport.  What bugs me, if this theory turned out to be true and online recruitment sites are just consumer information banks for corporations, is that I could tolerate this if I actually got a paying job out of it!  That's why people sign up for Vindale Research, and other "Surveys for Cash" sites.  We all know that corporations benefit from our information - why not sell it to them directly and reap some fringe benefits?  Sadly, it doesn't work that way, because there are enough ways to get our information already, that nobody has to pay you for it.

Maybe this isn't news at all.  It certainly would explain the psych-test style questionnaires and the recruitment engines using other recruitment engines to recruit.  I have to say that my job search has gone better of late.  I've had 2 interviews this past week.  One did result from an online ad, though I delivered the actual application in person.  The other was one I'd heard about through word of mouth - in fact, a friend of a family member offered me an interview.  It was at a place where I'm kind of a regular, which is nice.  The whole "it's about who you know" thing isn't as superfluous as it sounds, really.  It's good to have a real-world idea of who you're hiring and who you're being hired by.  It's not a bad place to start, at least.

This post took a turn I hadn't anticipated.  Funny the things that will occur to you when writing/wild-goose-job chasing/venting.  Thanks for reading, Blogger world!  Until next time!

PS:  Having given no time to art-talk in this blog, I feel like I should at least include some of my recent work:

Inkblot Seraphim by ~Eseopia on deviantART

Seraphim - the highest order of angel.  Covered in wings because they can't be seen by mere human beings, though that's probably an oversimplification.  I must say, angels are more interesting and diverse than they appear in pop culture, even going by what research I've done on my own time.  I've put together a calendar containing my drawings of angels that I've done over the years.  It is available through Deviantart...


Angels and Shades Calendar by ~Eseopia on deviantART

and Cafepress:

http://www.cafepress.com/robynmackinnondesigns.756626980

Enough product placement?  :B  I thought so.  Later!

About Work From Home Ads And Affiliate Programs

Hello Blogger world!

Sorry for being in absentia :(.  I return with more of a a game of catch-up to play than ever, but play I shall!

February 6th, 2013

February 5th, 2013

February 4th, 2013

Fortunately I haven't been completely idle in my blog work.  I've been composing entries sporadically, one of which I finished today:

I've seen these ads, as you probably have, boasting $55/hour earnings working part time online.  I've checked this out a couple of times.  Never taken it so far that I can actually say how effective it is, but it appears to be some website that claims to make it easy to make money through the Amazon Affiliate program.  The sense seems to be that they take care of the technical stuff, so you don't have to be a web designer or some such.  This kind of thing seems to be cropping up everywhere, not just on facebook.  Sifting through local online classifieds, these ads are all I see in some categories.  They promise work-from-home opportunities with handsome part-time earnings.  With the Facebook ads, they even specify that they are looking to "fill positions" in my local area.  Maybe they are, but I'm finding myself doubtful that the Amazon Affiliate program needs people specifically working in certain areas for this kind of thing.

I've looked into the Amazon Affiliate program.  THAT seems legitimate.  That they had any part in those Facebook ads is something I doubt, but the program does exist.  It's something you can plug into a website or going online concern that you already have, not something you can start from scratch with and expect to have it work.  You need to have a "thing" already.  With the Amazon Affiliate program, you can run ads for products related to your content.  You can even have your own little "shop".  I've searched some videos on this.  Here are a couple of youtube videos to give you an idea of what the Amazon Affiliate program is like (They are both pretty realistic.  Despite the title pic of the first video, the narrator points out right off the bat that she doesn't make a lot of money with the Amazon Affiliate program, though it is enough to make it worth it for her.)





This is for avid bloggers and people who know how to get traffic to websites.  Having a pre-existing  following is what really makes this work.

What these ads seem to promise is to make this process easier for everyday people.  But can they really do that kind of work for you - generating a following and everything?  And even if they can, is it worth paying them, or putting your trust in them?

The Amazon program isn't the only affiliate program out there either.  There are more than a few big companies out there who are willing to pay ordinary people a little extra to advertise for them.  That's what this comes down to.  Businesses want advertising time.  It's what allows Youtube to remain a free service, and it's why events have sponsors.  We've had it for quite some time, but now people not necessarily in the biz can benefit in a small way.  Maybe that can even be a big way, if you've got the mind for it.

Where am I going with this?  Bottom line, I still don't trust these work-from-home ads, but I think they're cropping up everywhere because they're just inside the boundary of legal.  Kind of like pyramid schemes.  If I were interested in affiliate programs (and I'm not saying I'm not) and had a going online concern with a following, then I would go straight to one of the programs themselves.  I don't believe there needs to be a middle man if this is really going to work.

My First Youtube Upload! Also, Recent Work.

Good day, blogger world!

I just finished uploading a short video to youtube - finally, after years of having an account, I have actually uploaded some content. It's not much - mostly a test, but it features one of my current projects. 




Usually I don't go quite this largescale, but I've had the idea in my head for a while, and I wanted to try it. 

Life is interesting.  I am still in 2 jobs, and the problem with the latest one has become not so much the job itself, but rather the co-worker element.  Specifically working with the same co-worker who answers every question with annoyance and or frustration and deals with her stress by browbeating me each time I make a mistake.  Asking her to explain things yields precious little, as she is low on patience and clearly unimpressed with the fact that I was not borning knowing how this particular workplace works.  Every gaffe on my part is a source of grief, and I've come to think of this job, or rather this job situation, as a form of torture.  Fortunately I don't do full-time hours there yet.  Unfortunately, my earnings between both jobs are only just covering my mortgage payments and condo fees.  So the job search continues.  On the plus side, I have been making a little more money making art lately.  I've had a couple of commissions, and some sales in my Cafepress.  Not much, but it's not nothing. 

To wrap this up, I'd like to show you one more piece of my latest work.  The inspiration was a beautiful performance by Anya Nesvitaylo of the Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada, dancing the part of Carmen in a short pas-de-deux during theABTC's  "Intense" Gala. 

 

 

Anya is one of the principle dancers of the ABTC, and her roles have included Christine in Phantom of the Opera and Lady X in Don Juan.  The ABTC has had some really good work out these past few years, pushing boundaries with established storylines, and more recently addressing serious issues, as in the production "Ghosts of Violence". 

 

I have to wrap this up now.  Thanks for stopping by, Blogger world, and I'll see you next time!  :)



I am an (artistic) anxiety machine O_o!

    Just give me a few crossed wires, a little pressure, work that requires speed and accuracy combined, some verbal cues to over-analyze, and off I go!  You'd think after a while it'd just become white noise.....But no.  How is it that I keep putting myself in jobs that require speed and accuracy?  Not deadline speed, but spur of the moment speed.  On the plus side, having an extra job means I have a little more freedom to look for a job that fits me a little better.  In theory I have the skills and experience to do this job, but efficiency has been a problem in the past.  Hopefully I'll get faster as I get used to it - more hopefully, I'll find a job that fits me better.  I've got a job that fits me just fine, in addition.  That's why I'm hanging on to the 2 shifts/week I'm getting from that one.

    On the online front, I made another cafepress sale today :)!  2 of them in fact (2 different greeting cards) - first time in a while.  Seems to happen every time I go into an extended frenzy of uploading - and it's almost never any of the things I upload O_o.  Perhaps seeing my new items, customers also see some of my older stuff go by.  Hey, I'm happy with that :).  I also made an order of swatches to Spoonflower, so hopefully I'll have a lot more designs in my shop after that arrives.  My exploration of Spoonflower has lead to one entry for my hitherto hypothetical list of dream jobs:  Fabric print designer.  I'd love to just make the designs, get paid royalties for them, and see them put on fabric to be made into all kinds of things by people all around the world.  I'll have to develop this list.

And now, since you've been so patient, I have new work to show you :).  Actually it's recent work colourized in Photoshop, but I feel really good about it:


Art Minis - Dragon I in Colour by ~Eseopia on deviantART

It is available on items in my Deviantart Printshop, and in my Cafepress. 

That is all for now.  Thank's for visiting today, and come back soon :)!