Check out this Guy.........

One of the nicer and more "value-adding" blogs I've followed in cyberspace belongs to a guy named just that... Guy Kawasaki. Now though Guy needs no introduction... er... at least to the right people, [sorry Guy, my neighbor's grandma did not know who you were!!] all that I need to say is that he's a Venture Capitalist who he believes is a bit different from the rest of them.

I've read Guy's books since I got into Business School [and you thought B-School only gave you bad habits like making simple things complex with graphs and pie charts!!]. Actually I've just read 1/4th of his book, Art of the Start. Yeah I know, I thought I'll go through his bibliography backwards!!!

One thing about Guy I like is that he finds the same things to be cool that I find cool. That's when I read his blog entry about Spokeo. Now though I think it might give you glimpses into your friends' lives that they might not want you to know [for example, he did not send you his Flicker link of his vacation pics, because he did not want you to see them, right??]. It'll also give you a glimpse of that cute girl who messaged you by mistake but will not send you her picture. So I'm concerned that this may raise those silly privacy issues, but if you just wanna be friendly and keep a tab on your pals, then Spokeo can help you do it!!! Check Spokeo out here!!

Oh and if you want to see pics of a 50+ Japanese guy reliving his childhood with his kids on a WW II submarine, check out Guy's blog here

Of Recruitment Consultants.............

This one I could not resist. I'm sure I echo the pain of millions of IT jobseekers when I post this. I'm really not sure whether I'm getting a bit emotionally motivated to post this, but I just had to make a point.

For any job seeker worth his resume, especially in the IT field, we have got into the habit of recieving 35 mails a day from recruitment consultants trying to convince you that you are a right fit for a profile that has nothing to do.

Just for the record, I'm an IT Infrastructure Consultant. I advise and guide customers about how to use IT Infrastructure effectively. My experience in writing code is limited to C and Perl and that too, just for kicks. I've never written commercial code in my life.

And then I recieve a mail which tries to convince me that I'm the one to do it. After 9 long years honing my skills in Networks. Here is the mail, verbatim. I thought I'd spare the recruitment consultant his 15 minutes of infamy, so I let Mr. CottonEye Joe from XYZ speak to me:

*****************************************************************

Hi Professional,

while congratulating you for your resume being picked and short-listed by us for Top 10 clients in INDIA.

We are pleased to let you know that one of our reputed client is looking for a qualitative professional just like you.
Our client particularly looking for the following skills: Technical Architecture - Microsoft Professionals with 5 to 9 years of IT Experience only.

Demand - Skill/location specification is as below

SKILL LEVEL LOCATION

Technical Architecture - Microsoft .Net Professionals
TL
Bangalore,Mu! mbai,Hyd erabad,Chennai

Technical Architecture - Microsoft .NET Professionals
AM
Bangalore, Chennai

Education: B.E degree in Computer Sciences, Electronics or equivalent; extensive experience and demonstration of required skills may be considered substitutes for
degreed educat! ion.

XYZ - In constant pursuit of Excellence
XYZ will provide you with a world full of opportunities, enviable avenues, very alluring yet enterprising cities, most incredible pay packets and some of the most prestigious corporate companies to choose from and work with. We are glad to have some of the fortune 500 companies in our clients' list to challenge your appetite for the best in the market.

Talent, merit, intelligence, hard work, and perseverance are the things we revere and respect. We value your ingenuity and strive to fit you in the best available! job and position you rightfully deserve. We see to it t! hat you will get the boost to reach for the highest orbit of your career.

XYZ - add wings to your career!

Kindly send your updated Resume along with your salary details and contact details to us in the next available moment to help us help you build your dream career.

TREAT THIS MATTER MOST URGENT AND RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.

Please send us the following details:

Current and Expected CTC:!
Notice Period:
Preferred location :
Date of Birth:
Mobile no:
Email id! :
First name:
Last name:

Kindly send your updated Resume to us in the next available moment to help you build your dream career.
&! nbsp;

Best ! Wishes
CottonEye Joe, XYZ

************************************************************************

This mail actually left me with a myraid of emotions.

It started with "elation", I've always wanted to be known as a Professional..... maybe the best way would be to make it my first name??

Then it turned to clear "joy", I had finally got so famous that I can get shortlisted for a job without an interview.

"our reputed client is looking for a qualitative professional just like you." Sure, do they look for other types as well?? Feeling: Bow down before the Master, lowly employers!!!

Then comes disbelief! Microsoft .NET!!??!! My resume is out there is cyberspace, but I can lay a bet that .NET never even featured as a typo in it!!! At this point, I kinda felt like Neo in the Matrix, where he says..." I know kung fu". Only thing, Morpheus answered, "Sure thing. No need to show me".

After this I lost track of it. Frankly because when someone is telling me about a job, I want to hear the job description. That's what they taught me in Business school!!! But then there's no more job and I get a nice marketing pitch about the recruitment consultant company.

I have still to find a recruitment consultant who is not "In constant pursuit of Excellence" and who will not "provide you with a world full of opportunities".

But then this would take the cake. "enviable avenues, very alluring yet enterprising cities". I'm still wondering!! If you can figure this one out, mail me.

"Kindly send your updated Resume to us in the next available moment to help you build your dream career." Sounds like an infomercial, doesn't it... "Our operators are standing by. Call now".

I think a disclaimer would look professional as well, in addition to that marketing tirade. Something like "If this mail is not relevant to you, please ignore the same". But NO!! The mail had to end perfectly unapologetic for wasting my time, filling up space in my mailbox and abusing my personal information which they had [I'm referring to my email id, which incidentally also contains my REAL FIRST NAME].

So now you know, with what confused emotions, I write this post. I wonder if my fellow professionals in other countries have it as bad. If only they read my resume, those two pages that I've slaved over for nine long years!!

I guess I'll just go lie down for a while now.....................

Resolutions!!!

Happy New Year to you.

Naah, I'm not going to list down a long list of wishes that I resolve to do this new year. However in the true spirit of marketers, I got curious and looked around for resolutions of the marketing masters.

Seth Godin has been a favorite guru of mine, with his ideas and style of presentation both being vast learning grounds for me. For those who came in late [I love that line from the Phantom], Seth is the pioneer of Permission Marketing and of "being not necessarily the best, but definitely being Remarkable". He writes a blog which is continuously on my Netvibes Feed.

Here's what he says about New Year Resolutions:

"Google yourself.

If you're a salesperson, your prospects already do.
If you're looking for a job, your prospective employers already do.
If you've got a job, your co-workers already do."

Wanna know how to fix what you find?? Head to Seth's Blog and his post about "The first thing to do this year".

Oh yeah, and tell Seth I tracked him back. Maybe, just maybe, I can leech off some of his site traffic to mine!! Can't help it, Seth, I learnt to be remarkable from you!!!