I Didn’t Do It

Last week the news sat smack-bang in the middle of denial territory.

Pauline Hanson denied starring in those glam nude pics. Gemteq denied forum allegations that they publish fake jobs.

Pauline reckons she never had a boyfriend called “Jack” and that she feels for the young woman in the bondage outfit featured in the photos.

Gemteq reckon the reason for the similarities between their credible job adverts and ads from overseas job boards is that they look to the latter for “inspiration”.

Shortlist March 13. He said recruiters had historically referred to other job postings for inspiration when writing ads, and this may be the reason for the strong similarities between certain Gemteq IT job ads and other ads posted on overseas boards.

See any similarities here?

I won’t comment on the Gemteq saga. Jobseekers can make up their own minds about the validity – or otherwise – of Gemteq’s job postings. But the issue raises an interesting point. How can the industry be regulated? Seek has made an attempt to set the standard by releasing a statement saying it is making attempts to obliterate fake ads from its job board.

Shortlist article March 13. SEEK is launching a new “job seeker charter” designed to encourage candidates to report job ads which might be fake or misleading.

And sometimes it takes the market leader to set an example of best industry practice. There’s also the RCSA, but they can’t achieve much with the few members they have.

Anyhow, I don’t want a regulatory body in the industry. This causes unnecessary bureaucracy. But surely all of this could be avoided if folks just acted ethically. I mean, and I’m not accusing Gemteq specifically, it doesn’t take much to figure out that posting fake jobs to reverse market candidates is not good for anyone. You don’t need to be goddam Aristotle to figure this out. It damages the industry enormously and ultimately, if you tarnish the industry to which you belong, your business will suffer.

Tread lightly, my people.

MyCareer – Take It Or Leave It

Here’s an update from the MyCareer Melbourne layoffs report of a few days ago.

Fairfax Digital COO Nic Cola, in a Shortlist article, avoided using the words “redundancy” or “closure” when describing the changes at MyCareer – changes that affect eighteen staff from product, technology and marketing roles.

Instead, Nic attempted in a nice little shot at politics, to highlight the benefits to staff of the cuts to the Melbourne positions.  He claimed that staff who had the freedom of lifestyle to haul their arses to Sydney would have “better work flexibility and career progression”.  He denied that their roles were being made redundant.

Okay.  Soooo, let me get this right, Nic.  I go home and announce to my partner that I have been given a “opportunity” to transfer to Sydney.  She and I contemplate the move and discuss that a) the children are settled in school b) our youngest finally has the childcare we have waited for for the past year and c) she cannot possibly consider moving because her employer doesn’t even have an office in Sydney and because of all of these factors, we cannot relocate.  I go to the office to do my job on Monday morning (or, you know, whenever the non-closure closure is happening) and there is no job.  My job is gone.  I know that Nic said I have not been made redundant.  But I DO. NOT. HAVE. A. JOB.

Same outcome, Nic.  Jeeeeez…I hate corporate-speak.