03.27.08

Watch out, Amie is on a rant… When is Enough, Enough??

Posted in Rants and Raves! at 5:36 pm by Amie

Ok, I am going to go on a few tirades, so bear with me…

1.) Jeremy Langhans had it right this morning on this response to Dave Mendoza’s ERE post in the Elite Cyber Sleuthing group..

 http://tinyurl.com/3dd3r4

There are many in our recruiting/sourcing group that is going WAY overboard on using a recruiting community sites that are focused on recruiter development, education and discussion focused on our industry to self promote and spam their business or consulting group over and Over and OVER again. Problem is that WE in the industry feed each others egos. Plain and simple. One person will find a great way to expand networks or reach passive candidates in a new unique way and then you are then instantly promoted to a godlike status where you are handed the ability to spam people about how wonderful you are and how you are their snake oil fix to a rusty wheel you haven’t been able to fix in months. No one calls them out for what it really is, (except a rare few who have the self confidence to know they have a great talent in this industry and don’t need to base their self worth on someone else’s laurels) and it needs to stop. ERE needs to better reign in and control this ever increasing issue. I believe that when you are one of the few that do have an ability to contribute to others in a way that will help them be more successful, this does not give you the right to be an arrogant self righteous zealot. What it does require of you is the intestinal fortitude to have some character to not let the praise or increase in business hinder you from remembering where you came from (the same place as the rest of us) and be a community player and remember “to much is given, much is required”.

I may never make it to that “IT” status. You know, that is not what I am looking for either. But I will tell you this my friend; I will make darn sure that if that point does come, people can see that I want to make the world better… and not just all about me. Ok…. Enough on that one! :)

 Second rant…Shrm.org posted on Tuesday about bullying is now being seen worse that sexual harassment. Yes, you read right. If you are being left out of the lunch group, or if someone isn’t playing nice in the sandbox (or cubie) then darn it! That is way worse to endure and ever get over than someone being sexually harassed. Need a one night stand for that promotion? Who cares.. No one pities that or rebukes that anymore..just deal with it, right? That is similar to what Penelope Trunk’s advice on Sexual Harassment is. But ooohh, if someone dare make you feel bullied, well call the EEOC this minute! I can see the headlines. “Former employee awarded 5.5 million for co worker bullying.” How does HR manage this one? Will we need to make sure we are like the public schools where kids get suspended if they offend someone? Will we need to have unpaid leave if you don’t offer someone to go to lunch with you? OR Heck, lets just ban lunch hour, it is too divisive anyhow. I think we are becoming a society that will not be able to pull their own pants with out the government making darn sure that no one offended us if they didn’t like the color scheme we choose to wear to the office. Oh, Wait! We can fix that too! Corporate uniforms! Ok, enough… you get the point..

3 Comments »

  1. Moises said,

    March 27, 2008 at 9:08 pm

    Thanks Aimee. I enjoyed reading your article.

  2. Karen Mattonen said,

    March 27, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    Amie,
    what a great article. I was ROFL today when I saw this. So true, and God help Anyone who isn’t worshiping them all as much as they do.

    ERE do anything about it? Are you kidding, they are just as guilty in the Nepotism over there, and encourage this behavior.

    Ah the drama of the recruiting industry.. grade school indeed all over again. Geez they put the show Survivor to shame… alliances, double crossing, voting off islands.. who knows what will be next!

    One day we shall see professional reign supreme where a “trainer” or professional will be judged by the merit of their material, instead of the Cliques and “alliances” that are made in this industry.

    Regarding the SHRM article, do you happen to have a link, what an interesting story.. Bullying taken to the extreme huh.. sad day!

    Glad to see you enter this blogging world.. I enjoy your witt and humor.. You have a strong future ahead of you my friend.. Keep them coming.

    Karen Mattonen

  3. David Rees said,

    March 27, 2008 at 9:32 pm

    Good point.

    ERE is a good forum in spite of the archaic design and horrible moderation.

    There are entirely too many subforums which only serves to fracture discussion and tempts people to not only spam, but cross post their spam.

    It is very hard to see which posts are new and the default option when joining any forum is that that forum mails you a digest (ugh!) Why not default to “opt in” for emails?

    The networking/buddy system is completely pointless (as far as I can tell) and the posting software does not allow you to embed a proper URL.

    So it is a bit clunky, but it is the place where everyone hangs out.

    I personally think new accounts should be limited either in where they can post, or how many forums they can post to or something like that. There are so many geographic forums and people post general topics (that are occasionally interesting) to these areas where they are ignored.

    I could go on, but I don’t want to sound like I am bashing ERE - I read it every day and try to be helpful, but I think it could be a much more useful tool if they did a little product management!

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