Free Rise

NY Times: $200 laptops break a business model. The headline only tells half the story.

A long time ago, Scott McNealy of Sun liked to insist that “the network is the computer,” which was a powerful counterpoint to Microsoft’s (and, insignificantly at that point in history, Apple’s) insistence that “the computer is the computer.”

The Sun vision has become ever more true as the network, especially its capacity and flexibility, has expanded. If all your applications are data are on the network, what do you really need at your fingertips? In most cases, just a great browser, adequate RAM, and hardware that minimizes energy consumption. The operating system, the processing power, and data storage become extraneous for most purposes. The $2,000 PC market will thus become the niche market, and the $200 netbook/smartphone market will become universal like televisions or cellphones.

The article (if not the headline) also covers the network side of the never-ending digital revolution, too. The ascendance of cloud computing is rendering IT investment a ever diminishing factor for web companies. So a thousand flowers may bloom with the encumbrance of owning a lot of equipment and hiring a team to maintain it.

All up, this means that soon almost everyone will be able to afford to use a portable computer and to start a web company (if they so desire). None of this is groundbreaking news, but it’s still a marvel to see it happen.

A few months ago, after I left Yahoo!, I put my full resume online for the first time. And it was generally a good decision; I got several calls for interesting-sounding marketing and product positions at appropriate career levels.

But then there were the calls from Siti Corporation.

Siti promotes itself as a “Recruitment Process Outsourcer.” Or as they say:

“SITI empowers recruiting departments to be faster, better and more effective in acquiring the best talent. SITI helps our clients redefine the power of their recruiting departments and change the way companies do recruiting.”

In other words, they take your job posting and send it to India.

So let me tell you about my two experiences as the potential recruitee, so you can see how your company would be represented.

1. One day in December, three different Indian women emailed me about the same position at Comcast. Then they all called my cell phone. Yes, all in the same day.

2. Today, I received a garbled voicemail from Rahul at Siti. He followed up with an email, subject: “Maketing fulltime postion.”

Hi Eric,

Enclosed below please find the details of the requirement, and please do send us your updated resume in word document ASAP, with the following details…

1. Full Name:

2. Contact Number:

3. Email Id:

4. Current Location:

5. Work Authorization:

6. Availability:

7. Rate:

Please let me know in which position you will be comfortable

Location: Santa Clara, CA

Fulltime

JOB DESCRIPTION:

• Marketing person who has done Webinars, Seminars, press releases, data sheets, event managements etc with expertise in IT area US national

Are you kidding me? You give me a misspelled subject line, a one-sentence job description with no employer name, and a demand for information from me? What a joke.

I’ve used recruiting outsource services before, with mixed results. Decision Toolbox has provided solid candidates and often excelled at screening. But for most positions, I’ve found that screening my own resumes and candidates has given me better results in less time.

It’s been more than a generation since our economy has been about making widgets for the domestic market. Today’s successful companies win by attracting and retaining smart, skilled, flexible talent. The recruiter is, in many cases, the first contact that a potential candidate has ever had with a company. So why would a company outsource this first impression to someone who can hardly communicate with them at all?

Citi could not have found a more appropriate way to identify the location of their ATM.

From my Flickr.

Oh, Radar. You were my favorite dead-tree magazine.

And now you’re dead. For the third time.

Magazines die all the time. Most have the lifespans of fruit flies. But print is suffering an undeniable environmental sickness, and many great ones will disappear forever.

This isn’t the mere result of economic recession. It’s because of a broad revolution in how content and advertising are consumed.

How many great print mags will even exist in five years? Who would even dare to start up a new one?

Radar, RIP