Marketing BRIC
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talkpoliticsA bit of a personal post, but it relevant for this community.
True fact; I have never got a job based on a resume.
When I was very young, jobs always came to me word of mouth. My first job was at Ken Young's fruit market. One day he just asked me if I wanted to help out around the shop. A friend asked me if I wanted to work where he was working once. And that led to another job eventually.
But at 18 I left home for the adventure of the west coast. I was a high school drop out and all my references were from 5000km away. So what I started doing was perhaps unconventional, but it seemed to work.
It never made sense to me to apply to a job advertised in the newspaper and then compete against a whole bunch of other jobseekers. Especially when, like most unemployed people, I knew I was more then likely inexperienced and under-qualified compared to my competition. Under such circumstances it always applying with my resume seemed like setting myself up to fail, rather then succeed.
I advertised in the classified want ads of the local newspaper(s) as a somebody looking for a job. Simply put it read: "LABOURER for hire" And people would call and I'd have different jobs. Sometimes for half a day, cash. Sometimes for weeks or months at a time on a payroll. And as I build up experience my advertisements became more specific as to the type of work I was looking for. As opposed to most people who apply for work they hope they are qualified for.
But why I'm posting this here in this community is not to talk about how to get a job. Or to tell you my life story. Neither are political issues. I want to talk to you about marketing.
Getting a job is all about marketing. Jobseekers are marketing themselves. Sending out a resume and filling out the application is the traditional way of getting a job. Frankly it sucks for all the reasons stated above and more.
Unconventional marketing works. Not only because it's fresh, but because it has less competition. I mean how much value does 4 years of college put on a resume now that everyone did the same. Better off to have a working knowledge of mechanics and some kinesiology and get into robotics. Better to have fluency in a second language then a degree in that language. Better to have a trade.
My inspiration for today's post was because I was listening to Terry O'Reilly's new show on CBC radio called " Under The Influence " Today's premier episode was about exciting new marketing happening in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations. I really encourage you all to read this link, or listen to the podcast.
So here's the thing that's rather political. Marketing has long been one of the things that USA has been excellent at. They have successfully sold the world on the idea that USA is the greatest country in the world. There is always some truth in advertising. USA is indeed the richest country in the world. But there are some stretches of the truth as well. USA is not the freest country in the world when Occupy protesters are arrested for protesting. But for the world perception, it is the place that most of the world's population wants to emigrate to, legally or otherwise.
We know know that the majority of the new wealth is in the "emerging" markets of the BRIC nations, not in Europe or North America. Europe and North America have practically stagnated. The majority of manufacturing moved overseas, and with it the jobs and now they are emerging to have the majority of the consumers too.
So with good reason have companies like Proctor and Gamble decided to concentrate their focus on BRIC nations. And just like they have been pioneers of online advertising, their advertising won't be in traditional media.
How can Proctor&Gamble (or anyone for that matter) hope to break into the huge BRIC market (which is 4x bigger then both Europe and NorthAmerica together) when (for the most part) patents and copywrite protections are absolutely worthless? (...especially in China) Well, one thing for sure, it won't be done through many traditional means.
True fact; I have never got a job based on a resume.
When I was very young, jobs always came to me word of mouth. My first job was at Ken Young's fruit market. One day he just asked me if I wanted to help out around the shop. A friend asked me if I wanted to work where he was working once. And that led to another job eventually.
But at 18 I left home for the adventure of the west coast. I was a high school drop out and all my references were from 5000km away. So what I started doing was perhaps unconventional, but it seemed to work.
It never made sense to me to apply to a job advertised in the newspaper and then compete against a whole bunch of other jobseekers. Especially when, like most unemployed people, I knew I was more then likely inexperienced and under-qualified compared to my competition. Under such circumstances it always applying with my resume seemed like setting myself up to fail, rather then succeed.
I advertised in the classified want ads of the local newspaper(s) as a somebody looking for a job. Simply put it read: "LABOURER for hire" And people would call and I'd have different jobs. Sometimes for half a day, cash. Sometimes for weeks or months at a time on a payroll. And as I build up experience my advertisements became more specific as to the type of work I was looking for. As opposed to most people who apply for work they hope they are qualified for.
But why I'm posting this here in this community is not to talk about how to get a job. Or to tell you my life story. Neither are political issues. I want to talk to you about marketing.
Getting a job is all about marketing. Jobseekers are marketing themselves. Sending out a resume and filling out the application is the traditional way of getting a job. Frankly it sucks for all the reasons stated above and more.
Unconventional marketing works. Not only because it's fresh, but because it has less competition. I mean how much value does 4 years of college put on a resume now that everyone did the same. Better off to have a working knowledge of mechanics and some kinesiology and get into robotics. Better to have fluency in a second language then a degree in that language. Better to have a trade.
My inspiration for today's post was because I was listening to Terry O'Reilly's new show on CBC radio called " Under The Influence " Today's premier episode was about exciting new marketing happening in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations. I really encourage you all to read this link, or listen to the podcast.
So here's the thing that's rather political. Marketing has long been one of the things that USA has been excellent at. They have successfully sold the world on the idea that USA is the greatest country in the world. There is always some truth in advertising. USA is indeed the richest country in the world. But there are some stretches of the truth as well. USA is not the freest country in the world when Occupy protesters are arrested for protesting. But for the world perception, it is the place that most of the world's population wants to emigrate to, legally or otherwise.
We know know that the majority of the new wealth is in the "emerging" markets of the BRIC nations, not in Europe or North America. Europe and North America have practically stagnated. The majority of manufacturing moved overseas, and with it the jobs and now they are emerging to have the majority of the consumers too.
So with good reason have companies like Proctor and Gamble decided to concentrate their focus on BRIC nations. And just like they have been pioneers of online advertising, their advertising won't be in traditional media.
How can Proctor&Gamble (or anyone for that matter) hope to break into the huge BRIC market (which is 4x bigger then both Europe and NorthAmerica together) when (for the most part) patents and copywrite protections are absolutely worthless? (...especially in China) Well, one thing for sure, it won't be done through many traditional means.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 08:53 (UTC)One more specific thing for my latitudes. Most of the better jobs are taken through having good links (mostly relatives and/or close acquaintances). Those people are very often hired regardless of the lack of qualifications. It's "tit for tat", a trade of favors. Everything works on the "favor for favor" system around here, has always worked that way, especially during communism, but those habits are inherited today, too.
I wish there was such a culture of self-advertising employees and a number of employers seeking for specific type of workers. Would've worked beautifully. But right now, you'd remain unemployed for most of your life if you lived here and if you sticked to your way of seeking a job.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 22:06 (UTC)Marketing is always important. It might not work in Bulgaria exactly the way I have done it here. I would probably have to market my skills not as a general labourer, or even a plumber, but perhaps it would be better suited to my skills as an English tutor. A local to the area would probably have to market themselves in other ways.
Trust me, there's no such culture here either. Nepotism is a fact of life everywhere, although granted it's probably not nearly as ingrained in the culture. I, like everyone, would much rather hire my down-on-his-luck cousin then some complete stranger off the street (or Craigslist). But that's not always something that's available or appropriate.
I mean it depends on how you market yourself or your company. Right now our company is advertised as available immediately 24/7/365. So when that pipe bursts at 2am and there's no way of shutting it off, you can call in that favour wait for your cousin to show up tomorrow, or you can call an advertisement like mine in the paper and have it fixed pronto, even if it's a complete stranger. I'm pretty sure this is true here as it is in Bulgaria. But it all depends on the marketing.
If it were not true, there would never be any new foreign labour or business services/products anywhere. My google lists 7 Chinese restaurants in Sofia alone, which is ample evidence that there is some fluidity even in a mostly closed culture of "tit for tat".
You yourself have unintentionally marketed your land to me in some small way. Although I've never found Bulgarian Rakia, I've eager to try it.
Personally, if I was ever travelling to/through Bulgaria, I would certainly ask for your recommendations on where to stay, what to do, etc. rather then rely solely on Fodor's recommendations. Not because I don't trust Fodor's either. It's just that we all trust familiarity most of all.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 22:10 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 22:19 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 23:17 (UTC)First up Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, USA) this June.
Then in March 2013 it's China, Nepal and India.
Eventually we want to do Italy and Slovakia by Vespa.
I have friends who went to the Tomos factory in Koper and highly recommend it.
And I know several people who have been to Pontedera and raved.
This is all in your neck of the woods. I wouldn't mind a little jaunt to Bulgaria too.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 23:23 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 10:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 20:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 02:28 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 03:05 (UTC)Public Education has produced a generation of un-hireable humans.
Date: 10/1/12 14:04 (UTC)We put an ad out for a bookkeeper in Craig's List and the local paper. Although we didn't mention the company, or what we did, the wife did use her domain-centric email address as the contact.
We got 100 canned responses. Not ONE of them took the time, or had the forethought (intelligence?) to see the name, CHECK to see what kind of company we were, LEARN something about us and CUSTOMIZE a response of interest.
I swear if someone had just done that, they would have gotten the job if even remotely qualified.
I want to send them all a response and say "Hey, let me tell you why your response went into the NO file...." But I'm not. Then it just becomes a dog trick.
Oh..and SPELL CHECK, for fuck's sake!
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 15:07 (UTC)We got 100 canned responses. Not ONE of them took the time, or had the forethought (intelligence?) to see the name, CHECK to see what kind of company we were, LEARN something about us and CUSTOMIZE a response of interest.
OTH, I have been spammed on my linkedin.com resume. Companies and headhunters are at least as bad.
When I call back they ask me where the experience is in certain areas. I told them that I made it clear on my résumé that I was only trained in those areas and they hang up on me. Apparently they are just spamming based on headline information.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 20:32 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 20:51 (UTC)So adjust your headline information to better reflect who you are and your skills.
By doing what? Putting my whole damned résumé in my headline? If they’re going to contact me, you’d think they would bother to read the résumé. Reading it would be less of a waste of time than contacting me and bitching about it.
What I am saying here is that companies are just as guilty of spam as people that carpet bomb their résumés. A little more care can be taken at both ends to save time and grief for both parties. I do bother to groom my cover letter and résumé to the job and do not fabricate my qualifications just to get a bad interview.
The employer and I are both entitled to an honest effort to avoid wasting each other’s time and effort
.(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 00:51 (UTC)Applying at companies you want to work at, even if they're not hiring, is a decent job hunt strategy.
Privatizing yourself as a company might help you find contract work, although there are downsides to this. You relinquish employee rights as a contractor, such as being out of work if a contract ends without notice.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 01:24 (UTC)having yourself on linkedin won't hurt. But I'm not sure how you filter out the spam.
I’ve actually turned off my linkedin.com résumé for now because I want to go back and get server and virtual machine training. I’m employed right now, but want to have a backup plan.
Privatizing yourself as a company might help you find contract work, although there are downsides to this.
This is also the part of the plan. I think private contracting is going to be a way to get a foot in the door these days and I see it as the future, at least for a while. This adds a lot of flexibility and takes pressure off companies that aren’t ready to do full time hiring right now.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 20:31 (UTC)You must know there are thousands of unemployed people desperate for anything, and each one has send out many many many applications only to have no feedback whatsoever (perhaps with good reason). So I fault how you marketed your message as an employer.
You cast a very wide net (Craigslist), so it's no wonder you received so many resumes. But if you want a wide choice to choose from, then CL is definitely the place to advertise. You'll get full range of applicants from no experience to the very qualified. If you're willing to invest and train, this might be the way to do it. And you can show them how to use spellcheck.
If you want a specific skill set, you need to focus your search for those employees. This research might take time you can't afford. But hiring staff is like any investment. The more effort you put into, the more satisfied you'll be with the results.
When I need a new accountant/lawyer/electrician/dentist/secretary I inquire with my peers for their recommendations. Word of mouth yields better results then a cold call.
If I need to hire a new crew of (non-union) plumbers, apprentices and general labourers, although there are many such people scanning CL every day, I'd rather post on the Mechanical Contractors board and have that much further assurance that I'm finding the kind of people I need.
This is the part where I turn into a capitalist
Date: 10/1/12 20:44 (UTC)2. Take the time to train people how to use spell check? If I wanted to take the time to do that, I would pick out a recent high school grad. Unfortunately, having a million $ + business bookeeping experience is, um, kinda important...at least to us.
3. We ask for someone with industry experience and a specific skill set. There are enough hints there for someone to figure out who we are and what we do and fucking customize a response. Why is 'initiative' such an evil thing to expect?
4. We have no peers except competitors. And because of the issues within my initial post, people are wont to share quality staffing leads.
5. You validated my point. Quantity is not the key to landing a good job with a living wage. Not Quantity. Quality.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 21:10 (UTC)There are enough hints there for someone to figure out who we are and what we do and fucking customize a response. Why is 'initiative' such an evil thing to expect?
You seem to be drawing the same level of effort from your responses that you put into your job posting. It seems it was appealing to the lowest common denominator. You might want to invest some initiative as well.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 21:35 (UTC)"Creative" is a word we use a lot. You would think it 'creative' to SOMEWHAT customize a response? Or are you saying that I should not expect it, therefore I need 'more initiative'.
There is nothing wrong with testing people's ability to think on their feet.
And YOU are telling ME to get some initiative? What? Peer UP to MY level before you offer someone such elementary advice, ok?
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 22:12 (UTC)There is nothing wrong with testing people's ability to think on their feet.
Oh. Is that what you call turning a job specification into a riddle of some sort and then complaining about the responses?
And YOU are telling ME to get some initiative? What? Peer UP to MY level before you offer someone such elementary advice, ok?
Before you start spewing your high and mighty bullshit, I was just giving you a perspective from the other side.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 02:39 (UTC)Researching the firm you're applying to, customizing your cover letter and/or resume, and appealing to their specific interests isn't a riddle, it's nearly the bare minimum. It's one of the first things people tell you in a resume writing class.
That isn’t at all what I was referring to. The job ad was admittedly short on details and left the job prospect confused as to details. This is the claim of the job ad that was posted
“We put an ad out for a bookkeeper in Craig's List and the local paper. Although we didn't mention the company, or what we did, the wife did use her domain-centric email address as the contact.”
The prospect was expected to be able to extract details from that sufficient to be able to customize. Calling this “thinking on your feet” is hardly a skill for a bookkeeper.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 03:07 (UTC)Fair, I should have read closer. But if my bookkeeper doesn't know how to Google, I'm not sure I want them as a bookkeeper.
TBH, it looks more like they are looking for someone who is good at applying for jobs instead of bookkeeping. Bookkeeping and accounting are not skills that require a lot of online research.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 03:34 (UTC)Or good at moderate level non-linear thinking and rudimentary computer skills. They seem to think that's a good method to obtain quality people and, to a point, I agree.
If they are participating in the design of a bookkeeping system. If they are going to be using one, like Quickbooks, they should probably have that skill. Quickbooks and Google aren’t really related skills.
Also, there is little if any thinking “outside the box” in bookkeeping. It is a pretty numerical and technical skill.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 03:18 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 03:27 (UTC)Except when they are blogging on
(http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/profile)talk_politics (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/) over lunch.
Or when they’re blogging when they’re supposed to be working.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 04:40 (UTC)This is why paying employees a straight salary is better then an hourly wage.
Personally, I don't give a rat's ass how an employee spends their time as long as the job we pay them for gets done.
In the end, that's what really matters.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 09:42 (UTC)This is why paying employees a straight salary is better then an hourly wage.
This is probably one of the reasons why more and more companies are going towards independent contractors instead of employees. Contracting allows more flexibility to demand their continued employment be based on performance.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 03:09 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 03:23 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 21:37 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 22:16 (UTC)Wait...you are 7 years older than me. You know better than to tell me this is our fault. You have been around enough to see the downward spiral known as the younger generations...
And to think some people dread turning into their grandfathers, by cracky.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 22:58 (UTC)Such basic skills as using spell check should be implicit. However, we know this is far from reality. (proofreading is my pet peeve, as there is a huge difference when you forget a decimal place, and a difference between a 2x2x3/4 tee and a 3/4x2x2 tee)
If you don't want to train at all, then outsource. There are staffing solutions that do all the mundane drudgery of checking employees skills as well as training them for general or specific duties. There are always options to replace a bad temp with a better one and usually have the option to hire an awesome temp full time.
Granted there is always some training necessary for any hire. Sales staff need intimate familiarity with product/service unique to a company. Book keepers require knowledge of certain quirks which are unique to every company.
Peers doesn't mean competition. Of course to a carpet company all other carpet companies are competitors. I mean business peers. A small business doing $10million a year needing a bookkeeper has many business peers doing similar sized sales that also have bookkeepers. This should have been obvious.
Yes, refining your search to find quality can be difficult. Quality staff can be found by sifting through a huge quantity of resumes (via Craigslist etc), but that can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Better to seek out only quality employees. Like I said, you can have a temp agency do that work for you. There might be a Bookkeepers association, club or something similar that has a board.
But if I were you, I would inquire with your business peers. You might ask around at the courier service you use everyday, it might be the plumbing company you use, or the restaurant... or better yet involve yourself one morning with the local Chamber of Commerce. All the time asking if they know of any good bookkeepers. Because one of them might say they "use to have 3 awesome bookeepers but when the economy hit they had to let two of them go and they're pretty sure Sally is still looking for a job." Because that's the kind of thing that local Chamber of Commerce meetings are good for (and just about every City Hall has one)
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 02:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 17:23 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/12 19:12 (UTC)The stories of very untraditional marketing trends that Terry OReilly talked about are nothing short of ingenious. Nokia selling phones to sustenance farmers in India seems predatory on the surface, where they exploit the poorest people for their last dime. But suddenly because these dirt poor people have information, a new middle class has emerged. Because Nokia gave them access to weather reports, inexpensive seed sellers, high paying crop buyers, etc.
He mentioned that billboard advertising is being banned in some cites (Sao Paulo, Moscow) because gives nothing back to a community (and it's ugly) unlike most traditional advertising that pays for content on TV, Radio magazines, or pays for a bus shelter or sports arena.
So that's why I mentioned BRIC, not BRICS. I'm sure there must be some new marketing trends coming out of South Africa. There was a post the other day about the pressure on CocaCola in Swaziland to abandon the country. Things like that I find very interesting.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/12 19:27 (UTC)