"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires." — Nelson Mandela
| Take The Red Pill of Individualism.. |
|---|
| ..Or The Blue Pill of Collectivism |
Having thought that another one of the last reflections concerning the problem with GAMMA employers was just a "once off" I've experienced yet another blow from the aristocratic "kings and queens" of Corporate London.
I applied for the following job specification where I have changed the name of the company to "cover my ass" so to speak.
Online Media Production Assistant
Date: Monday 29th October[Company X] is a media company based in central London. We work with some of the UK’s leading organisations and publishers, helping them to develop effective and unique media solutions.
Our online division at [Company X] is growing rapidly and we are looking for an online media production assistant to join our team and support our range of new commercial Web projects. The ideal candidate will have at least one year of experience working in commercial online media, although consideration will be given to candidates with no experience but who demonstrate the necessary skills and attributes.
You will be working in a vibrant, friendly environment where ideas and innovation are encouraged. We are currently undertaking a large number of new media projects and you will be involved immediately in helping to develop these projects through their lifecycle. The role will involve a significant amount of responsibility from the outset as well as strong career growth potential.
The primary role will be working with our online production manager, editors and sales team to develop our websites. You will be responsible for creating, editing, uploading and maintaining editorial, multimedia and advertising copy.
The role will also include the following:
- website design and development
- producing HTML email newsletters for distribution
- blog development
- building and maintaining online communitiesApplicants MUST demonstrate a good understanding of, and experience in, the following to be considered for this role:
- DHTML and HTML
- CSS
- Working with multimedia (specifically video, audio, images)The following skills and experience would be considered desirable and of great advantage:
- Journalism experience - writing and editing
- Experience working with online Content Management Systems
- RSS
- Joomla! and Drupal
- Web 2.0 design and development ideas
- Fireworks
- Flash
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
- PHP
- mySQL/databases
- WordpressWe are looking for someone who is energetic and eager to learn, and who can demonstrate creativity, versatility and some business acumen. The candidate should also be able to work quickly and accurately, and pay close attention to detail.
If you feel that the above describes you we would love to hear from you. Please send a CV and a covering letter to us.
Within 24 hours later on October 30th I sent the following email:
Dear [Ms. X],
Further to our phone call earlier I have attached my current CV for you to consider for this role. I now present a run-down of how I think I'm suited for the job specification as listed on [job-site]
- I have personal experience of Internet marketing which consists of an understanding of "web 2.0" philosophy, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, blog/rss marketing and article marketing. I also have an appreciation of "online communities" and user-generated content. The multi-media "wiki" I'm currently working on demonstrates all this;
- I have full knowledge of HTML, and DHTML (where necessary). I use CSS in my "wiki" site to modify layout, change formatting etc. I have good working knowledge of the following CMS's: Joomla!, Wordpress, and especially Wikidot;
- I have previously used Flash (back at university) which involved Action scripting to simulate various principles in Physics such as gravity, friction, momentum etc. Although I haven't particularly used Fireworks I have used Adobe Imageready previously to "slice" and optimize images for web designs available on-line;
- I have growing appreciations of SEO with an understanding of Alexa rankings and Google Pageranks as a means to test my web site's "reach";
- I have previously installed Joomla! 1.0.8 from "scratch" i.e. by obtaining a web host then using control panels to set-up new mySQL databases and manually working through an installation;
- Examples of "business acumen" and "eagerness to learn": I have written, published and marketed a book through the self-publishing "web 2.0" site: lulu.com. I continue to learn and use all available technologies I find of value to market my work and keep my overheads to a minimum. Most of the applications I use are open-source which also includes my primary operating system — Ubuntu Linux 7.10;
Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Spencer
Having waited a further 24 hours I then decided to phone up today (Nov 1st) and this was the eventual response:
Hi Spencer
Many thanks for sending your CV through to us and your interest in the position. We have unfortunately already filled this position with another candidate however, and so cannot consider your application.
Kind regards
[Ms. X]
Conclusions
Maybe I should have listened to Morpheus when he said:
"You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe."
I made the "always correct" choice though:
"You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."
I will use this experience to get one-up on all those corporate sinners when their "collective consciousness" ultimately fails them due to the on-going paradox of forcing individual conscious minds into self-sacrificing orgies for the "greater purposes" of "the men upstairs".
Looking back at those required and desirable skills I can only surmise the obvious response to heal my bruised ego would be something like — "their loss, not mine".
Comments
Apparently I didn't get the job purely because of timing. No shortlist. No fair chance to get heard. Just bad timing within no less than a few days from the job advert going up to applying (and making an assertive inquiry and follow-up call).
Heck, I even asked about the possibilities for unpaid work experience and the response was like "na, na, na.. dunno… NO.". What has the "Gamma World" come to when they can't even exploit people who want to BE exploited for FREE??
Well it looks as though I certainly took that "red pill" a long time ago. No longer one of "them" and never will be. Its like being "above the Law" in a completely legal way i.e. man's right to exist for his own sake and not for the exploits of others with unfair opportunities to create an income.
The rigidness of ye almighty corporation seems pathetic; they appear to me as completely sensitive to any "wise guy" who can potentially analyze their internal structure and learn A LOT about how they operate in a short space of time.
Conclusion:
The REAL equal opportunities rest in cyberspace and networking.
Viva la neo-economic revolution!