Online marketing services provider eROI last week posted a novel entry for two job openings on its blog.
The jobs sounded cool. eROI sounds like a cool place to work. And its home city of Portland, OR sounds like a cool place to live.
However, the application process was very not cool. Would-be applicants were required to comment on the blog post.
“To apply, send your resume and details to the address I will supply you offline, but ONLY if you contact me by commenting on this blog and not lurking… We want people that engage… Not watch,” the post said.
Um, guys? I think I can speak for many in the industry on this: When we’re looking for new jobs, most of us don’t want anyone other than prospective employers to know we’re on the market. While you might be hip, and we might be hip, most of us have bosses who are very not hip—especially when it comes to actions that may be perceived as disloyalty.
And hey, if we decide it’s a fit and move to Portland, we’ll be online engage-o-maniacs—promise. Hell, after about 10 minutes on the job, you’ll wish we’d just shut the %$#@ up.
But for now, we’d like to keep the whole job-hunt thing offline, OK? Because even if we comment anonymously, a turn of a phrase, an opinion … anything could tip off our co-workers and supervisors as to who is commenting.
After all, this whole industry is about the size of a large urban high school with much of the same temperament.
And as for those who do risk commenting, they’re either unemployed or a little reckless, you know what I mean?