March 25th, 2010, 10 Comments »
Imagine this scenario.
Seamus, a database administrator, has decided it’s time to move on from his current job at Microsoft. He’d really like to move south to California and maybe work at Google or Apple. Instead of just giving in his notice and heading south, he posts his intent to leave and his desired new employers on DraftDayDeal.com (not an actual website).
The website notifies HR departments at Microsoft, Google and Apple. It offers the latter companies the opportunity to make a trade–sending another willing employee to Microsoft in exchange for Seamus. Maybe Google has a grumpy technical writer (Tina, perhaps?) yearning for a new gig. Maybe she’s posted her eagerness to move to Seattle on DraftDayDeal.com, too.
That’s today’s bad idea: an online marketplace for trading employees. Of course, every employee starts with a proverbial no-trade clause, and it’s only through their actions that they can post their interest to the site and begin the process. When they do, companies can try to finagle a trade so that they receive value in return instead of simply losing an employee.
I don’t think this idea would ever fly. HR departments aren’t exactly renowned for their innovation and openness. I like talking about it, though, because it highlights two under-recognized facts:
- Much as they may speak to the contrary, employees are just assets to your average company. If the last two years of economic downturn taught us anything, it’s that.
- Employees need to behave like entrepreneurs and consultants inside their organization. It may not seem that way, but employees are masters of their own fate and (to borrow another sports phrase) free agents most of the time.
I think that a site like this might emphasize both these ideas. Additionally, it might bring some transparency to organizations as good or bad employers, much the same way Jiibe does.
It’s probably more of a thought experiment than a tenable idea. What do you think?
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October 26th, 2009, No Comments »
I met Helen Stortini (no relation to Zack) at a recent Net Tuesday event, and she told me about her entertaining project. She was laid off earlier this year, and instead of accepting a new job that she maybe didn’t want, she decided to do a tour of a bunch of possible jobs she could have:
I’m shadowing people at work to find out what they do, what sort of skills they need to do it, and whether or not it would be a match for me. In a sense, I’m still hopping around in the career bouncy castle, but this time I’m looking before I leap.
It’s kind of like bring your daughter to work day, but it’s bring your unemployed 33-year-old friend instead. It’s an opportunity for me to test drive careers, but also to explore the myriad of work (be it weird, wonderful, or ordinary) that people do everyday. And to find out what it is that makes people truly enjoy the work that they do.
So far she’s tried a melange of jobs, such as stock broker, chef and reporter. It’s a fun project, and exactly the sort of thing that gets one a book deal.
Helen comes into your workplace for a day and kicks the tires. She’ll do “whatever menial or mundane task that needs to be done” assuming it’s legal and doesn’t involve removing “all of my clothing”. Can you provide a new stop on her tour?
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November 12th, 2008, 15 Comments »
While sick and bored this weekend, I wanted to watch a mindless movie. I opted for Jumper, a poorly-reviewed, big budget starring the wooden Hayden Christiansen, the foxy Rachel Bilson and the inflexible Samuel L. Jackson. It’s one promise was that Doug Liman directed, but that failed to redeem it.
In the film, Christiansen plays David Rice, who discovers as a young man that he can teleport. The rules of this power are a little fuzzy, but he seems to be able to ‘jump’ to any place he can picture in his mind’s eye. Another ‘jumper’ in the film is able to transport “about two tons” of stuff, both organic and inorganic with him. David, of course, starts robbing banks.
Lying in bed with a slight fever, I wondered what legal jobs a teleporter might be good at. Here’s what I came up with:
- Personal bodyguard – He can instantly teleport his client of out harm’s way.
- Courier – When you really need it there by 10:01am. This also applies to human transport.
- Mercenary or spy – Obviously there are lots of possibilities for stealthy incursion and sabotage.
That’s all I could think of. Do you have any ideas?
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