Don’t Call Me At Work!
I’m usually flattered when a recruiter calls me. Even though I’m happy at my current job it’s always nice to know there are people out there interested in what you have to offer. Today, however, I was more upset than I was flattered.
I was sitting at my desk at my workplace, the offices of my employer, plugging away at a project when my phone rang. When I answered the person identified himself as someone with a consulting firm. Thinking he might be trying to offer services to the company I asked what he was calling me about to verify. If he was trying to sell services to us I’d try to redirect him to the proper channel since I don’t have the authority to be fielding such a question. Everyone would be happy.
But this turned out not to be the case. Instead he was calling to recruit me.
When I asked him where he got my number he said he went through the company’s IVR phone directory. Obviously this was not the answer I was looking for so I rephrased the question. “Where did you find me?”, I said. “On LinkedIn“, he responded.
LinkedIn is a social networking site aimed at linking professionals. It’s a great site for keeping up with former colleagues, linking to people in similar professions, general professional networking and, of course, recruiting & finding new jobs. I’ve maintained a profile on LinkedIn for several years and have found it to be very useful. I’m always flattered when someone likes my LinkedIn profile and contacts me for possible a project or position they’re looking to fill. Well, almost always.
This situation was no different except for one thing: this person called me at my employer’s offices.
I asked why he called me while I was at work instead of one of the other methods of contact on my LinkedIn profile. After all, on the top right of every LinkedIn profile there’s a link clearly marked Contact Person X (where ‘Person X is’ the name of the person who’s profile you’re on). The response was “this is how we contact people”.
Let me get this straight. Rather than click the contact link to discreetly send a message to the person you’d like to recruit you call them at their employers offices and have them possibly risk their current jobs by having such a conversation on a company phone? What if somebody overhears the conversation? What if that somebody is my boss? I’m perfectly happy with my job and the last thing I need is to have such a conversation at my desk and risk any repercussions it may bring.
What are the ethics of cold calling someone via their office phone to recruit them? I’d say it’s not ethical at all. It’s one thing if you email me and I reply telling you to call. It’s quite another to assume that it’s alright to call about this kind of subject on an office phone without permission.
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Bubbles from a Black Hole?
Google adds dumb feature to results. I complain bitterly about this and other new features. Apple launching newest iOS this week. MSFT sends out patch for nasty outlook bug. Call of Duty is killing. Contrails getting attention. Bubbles from the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Colored e-paper? How? MSFT sues Motorola over onerous patent royalties. AMD expects to make chips for the tablet market.
Click to listen: [audio:http://m.podshow.com/media/12115/episodes/256520/tech5-256520-11-09-2010.mp3]
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ZUNE Phone Ships!
MSFT Phone 7 on sale today. Hooray. The Zune phone arrives. Toshiba showing off nice thin SSD drives. Google giving away free in-flight Wi-Fi over the holidays. Steve Ballmer unloading MSFT stock. Is he going to quit? Sandy Bridge will be selling by the ton next year sez Intel. HTC doing an app stoore. SyFy network snubs Google. Windows 1.0 anniversary. Nokia retake Symbian. Queen Elizabeth on Facebook.
Click to listen: [audio:http://m.podshow.com/media/12115/episodes/256387/tech5-256387-11-08-2010.mp3]
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Macbook Air May be Faulty
Facebook taking its mobile strategy to a new level. Apple sued over faking upgrades. MSFT will sell a lot of Kinect and Phone 7 phones. Hooray. T-Mobile just calling 3G to 4G no matter what it really is? I complain about this. Google Buzz stays in the news. iTunes goes to 90-second previews. RIM getting killed. Violent games story march on. Google in significant breach or UK laws. Macbook Air having issues.
Click to listen: [audio:http://m.podshow.com/media/12115/episodes/255802/tech5-255802-11-03-2010.mp3]
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Google Day
Violent video games still in the news. California law at stake. I talk a little about the new Phone 7 ad that does make me laugh. Twitter to squeeze ads within tweets somehow. Newest iPhone OS out for developers. Google loses $8.5 million over Buzz lawsuit. Dept. of the Interior sued by Google. Turks hate YouTube. Google now offers bug bounty. Big money. Google traffic out of control.
Click to listen: [audio:http://m.podshow.com/media/12115/episodes/255683/tech5-255683-11-02-2010.mp3]
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