Jobmarket Goes Hardcore

I received this SPAM marketing message in my comments section on this blog.

Normally, the messages promote, say, hardcore sex videos. It’s puerile, I know, but this always gives me a chuckle.

This one was different. This one just brought out my inner grumpy old man (which is getting more and more “outer” as the days go by).

It was pushing a new job board player called Jobmarket. The domain name is registered to TO, KWOK KIT JAMIE. The creator claims the site is developed specifically for the Australian employment market. So what? Who cares? Truly, if you’re going to market a point of difference, make sure it is a point, with a difference. WTF would anyone want to promote a job board in Australia when it is NOT developed for the Australian market?

Do you hear me members of the congregation? Do you get my drift?

FREE JOB POSTINGS in Australia, China, India, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines and Korea

To post jobs for free simply register as an employer in the following sites:

Australia: http://www.jobmarket.com.au
China: http://www.mychinacareer.com
Singapore: http://www.careerinsingapore.com
India: http://www.jobseek.in
Japan: http://www.japanjobs.jp
Hong Kong: http://www.jobsearch.hk
Philippines: http://www.philippinesjobs.ph
Korea: http://www.careerskorea.com

Desperate Times At MyCareer…

This morning I received this email from Ganesh Bettadapura at MyCareer:

Good Morning Geoff,

Just a courtesy follow-up to see how you are going with your Sales Executive ads listed under Work from Category on Seek ?.

I have been assigned as your Account Manager here at MyCareer. If you are looking to place any ads on MyCareer then please contact me directly so I can offer you some discounts.

There are several important features available on MyCareer which may help you get a quality response.

If you have any queries related to our products, features, discounts or benefits then please contact me directly.

Thanking you,

Kind Regards

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

F.Y.I – If you are looking for a quote for your ” Sydney Morning Herald ” ads then please contact me directly before the cut-off time.

Cripes. Desperate times at MyCareer. So desperate, in fact, that one of the new sales approaches is to spam Seek’s clients.

Interestingly, this happens also to be one of the approaches of many in the recruiting industry; offering services to companies who have placed an ad looking for staff. At best, it’s cheeky. At worst it’s annoying and does nothing to ad value to the business making the calls. There’s no way I’d advertise with MyCareer in response to the spam I’ve received. I hope they know this.

Please Support Our Spam

Question: when is spam not spam?

If you ask Recruiter Daily, they’ll tell you it’s when you’ve been notified by them that they will be sending it to you.

If you ask JobX, they’ll tell you it’s when you’ve signed up to receive their “newsletter” and therefore are obligated to receive it FOREVER, despite the fact that you’ve unsubscribed.

Both of these answers are incorrect. Let me extrapolate.

Last week, Recruiter Daily informed me that from now on, because I subscribe to their news, I will “occasionally” be receiving advertising from their advertisers. Well, thanks there, kind of you to tell me. But how does this sort of softening change matters in any way? Recruiter Daily; hear this. I subscribe to receive your updates, not advertising from your sponsors. Whatever the rationale for your decision to share your mailing list with your advertisers, and however politely you request that I read their propaganda, what you are doing surely falls under the description of spam:

It’s illegal to spam (Spam Act 2003). So don’t.

Next: JobX. And I won’t be prettying this up with humorous metaphors about stalking ex-lovers (JobX – I’m just not that into you). I’m gonna tell it straight. This is a point of online etiquette, as well as a principle of law. As my regular readers know, I have had a hard time trying to escape unwanted mail from JobX. Despite my attempts to dodge their steady flow of advertising into my inbox, and my having written about this already, yet another piece of garbage advertising from these persistent junk mailers crossed my desk late last week. Uuuuuuuuuurghhh (this is the sound of a grown man chucking a hissyfit).

I respect clever marketing. I respect building relationships with clients. I do not respect spammers. Spam is unimaginative, cheeky and illegal. It shows a disrespect for the intelligence of your client base – and it also demonstrates a very lean understanding of marketing on the net.

JobX – I’m Just Not That Into You.

Ever had to can a relationship? Pretty tough, huh? Personally, I’m never sure of what angle to take. I mean, who wants to tell someone you don’t want to see them anymore because you don’t like the noises they make when they eat, or you’re not a big fan of the size of their calves (butt, tits – you get the drift).

I’m sensitive enough to know that this is one of life’s trickier situations. And I also know what a pain in the cods it is when you tell that person that you’d no longer wish to be in their acquaintance, and they refuse to let you go. Some call this stalking. Well, the law does, anyway.

Seems JobX have got some, let’s call them…”emotional issues”.

I tried recently to unsubscribe to their newsletters. I’ve written before about how these consist of a form of propaganda sprouting directly from the Goebbels School of Singing Your Own Praises (Special Offer Or Spam). I wanted out. The relationship wasn’t working for me anymore. So I pressed “unsubscribe”. I was redirected to a message from JobX.com.au confirming this action. I shed a tear, “We’re done”, I whispered quietly to myself.

And just when I felt as though I was in a good place and I had finally moved on, JobX came knocking on my door in the quiet hours of the morning with, “JOBX – AAA – Free Career Assessment!” I clicked the unsubscribe button once more. But I’m sensing there’s no way out of this relationship. I feel like I do when I walk into Ikea and decide half-way through that I’m done but can’t find a shortcut to the exit.

Really, JobX. Don’t you think it’s time you found someone else? I’m just not that into you.

Spam Act 2003

Note: the maximum daily penalty is $1.1million.for companies, and $220,000 for individuals, and anybody knowingly concerned in a violation is liable.

Special Offer or Spam?

Whilst you may not agree with everything I write, betcha no one out there is gonna raise a holler about my bagging of spam. Hate it. It’s illegal. And in this world where time is a highly-valued commodity, a spammer’s almost up there with drug-pushers, politicians and parking inspectors as the lowest of the low.

Having said that, it’s interesting that Jobs (powered by JobX) has decided to walk the rocky boundary between legitimate communication with registered clients and plain old stinky spam.

I get a plethora of emails like this from Jobs (note that, rather ironically, one is entitled “how much is your time worth”.

A bit of research on my part has revealed that they have been sent by convicted spammer Wayne Mansfield.

Officially, these emails are not spam. But they smell the same.

Geoff – How Much Is Your Time Worth

SPECIAL OFFER to JOBS registered clients

As part of our continuing Value Added Offerings to our clients, we have negoatiated a special rate for Australia’s most popular Time Management seminar – Effective Time Management.

If you act quickly, you can secure your place at one of the seminars being presented across Australia from September 8th through 11th, 2008 at a 33% discount to the normal recommended retail price. So instead of $167 you pay ONLY $111.

Claim your discount by entering this code in the space usually provided for your web address on the online booking form: JOBSSEPT2008

Offers expires September 2nd, 2008 5pm Western Standard Time.
______________________________

__________________________

“Burnt out, stressed out, rundown and tired? Out of balance; out of control?
Frustrated with wheel spinning? Too much to do; not enough time to do it.”

What you need is a way to learn….

EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

 

Blah, blah…

Business Seminars Australia
Excellence in Business Education
Perth Western Australia… as close as you get to Paradise on Earth
Email: wayne.mansfield@gmail.com visit us at wayne.mansfield@gmail.com visit us at www.au1865.com or
www.waynemansfield.com
Australia’s best seminar schedule is at www.stumpjump.net
Phone: (+61 9221 0922 Fax: (+61 9221 0933

http://www.linkedin.com/in/waynemansfield

Business Seminars Australia
Celebrating 21 years in Business Education
ABN: 45 119 694 558
Postal: P.O. Box 6Ø99, East Perth W.A. 6892
Phone: (Ø8) 9463 78Ø7 Fax: (Ø8) 9463 78Ø8

Business Seminars Australia Plus Offers Update
The Maverick Spirit

This is being sent to: ??????@gmail.com
This advice is being sent to people who have registered at a JOBS
website and therefore have supplied their contact information by
subscribing to one of JOBS or its asscoiated companies services.

This particular communication is a special offer to people who have
registered at a JOBS website.

 

 

 

 

Seek And You Shall Find

Seek are the clear market leaders in Australia on all measures.

However this status also makes them a target for those misleading or undesirable ads that seem to get through the filters.

Take this example. A general search on Seek Executive Brisbane shows:

1. This is meant to be for $100k + jobs.

2. This isn’t the first time this has been flagged with Seek.

3. A search on the other job boards revealed no presence of these types of ads.

Surely as the market leaders, Seek can take measures to avoid this, especially in the executive section, where ads are fewer and advertisers could easily be monitored manually.