The job search - going it alone

As a senior, I'm spending an increasing amount of my time in the job hunt - not the summer internship job hunt (which has admittedly gotten very difficult due to this awful economic situation - I do not envy leaving that process behind), but rather, the permanent job hunt. Due to my time working (and I use this term loosely) with recruiters, I have quickly learned the values of using the Internet to have at job hunting by myself.

The problem with working with recruiters is that you're always using a middleman (or woman, depending on the situation) who may or may not be reliable depending on how stressed the recruiter happens to be, how many potential resumes he or she is juggling, and whether or not your resume makes any sort of impact. In all likelihood, it doesn't. Unless your resume elicits gasps of shock and awe and shines brightly to anyone in the vicinity, you're effectively competing with other people in a way where you have no control - you can't simply conduct it as you would an interview.

I find that it's best to use technology and resume areas like Monster as something of a placeholder. The Internet makes it easy to find people who can point you in the right directions - networking sites, especially LinkedIn, are my favorite place to go. Why place a job in the hands of a recruiter when you can take charge of your own future?

The Strength of Culture and Collaboration

In something of a retread of my last post, online collaboration seems similar in a way to virtual teams. Collaboration online can produce results swiftly and efficiently, and interestingly, in our reading we found that corporate culture was found to be the driving force behind efficiency in collaboration rather than technology. Why could this be?

More freedom and a sense of community rather than simply deploying the latest technology seem to be key triggers. What strikes a memorable chord with me is the "come and go as you please" idea mentioned in one of the articles. Simply put, I like having freedom to do pursue my own goals at my own pace, albeit with a reasonable time. I like having my resources and being told to accomplish something without having to make constant reports or updates, as long as the job gets done well. I have found that this lets me work in a relatively laid back, stress-free situation.

This is the benefit online communication and collaboration. People are often at home and they often have their own resources at their disposal online without making constant trips to the office. If this is the future, I am proud to be a part of it - in my current work now as an American University ambassador, I am in charge of online chats. Ambassadors can chat from home, work, or wherever they happen to be as we help prospective students, and everyone loves it.

The virtual team

I recently saw "Up in the Air", the film billed as the perfect dark comedy for a recession. A subplot of the film deals with the proposed usage of a virtual system where human resources officers, via webcam, will inform employees that they are being laid off. The underlying theme throughout the film is that E-communications lose a real element of the workforce; however, the film also glosses over what is gained with virtual teams.

While you do lose a certain element of real life contact when using virtual teams in an office place, with webcams and telecommunications in place of direct contact, a lot of things are gained. As "Up in the Air" readily admits, virtual teams are less expensive, more time-efficient, and generally more relaxing in a lot of situations. I can't count how many times I've been able to manage more work much more effectively without three people talking in the same room - something about having your own space makes the process much smoother.

Virtual communications and teams may never quite replace real life interaction, but they give us something as well. Beyond convenience and cost-efficiency, they give us a sense of easiness about our work and the way we do it - not to mention, from home we can grab a cup of coffee or maybe put a movie on silently in the background.

My second round with Second Life

My first encounter with Second Life was really considering it something of a novelty. I've been involved in virtual worlds since I was three - video game worlds, to be precise. So after traversing medieval landscapes, post-apocalyptic Earth, and the deep depths of space, my initial reaction when I logged into Second Life for the first time two years ago was "Huh, neat." I made great use of the flying mechanic and I had the most fun with it. I visited some public areas, namely digital seaside resorts and nightclubs. Then I shrugged, logged out, and uninstalled Second Life from my laptop, considering it an interesting diversion for programmers.

Second Life has obviously become so much more than that. In a way, Second Life represents - arguably better than the mega popular World of Warcraft - what digital worlds are capable of. They act as open hubs for corporate, political and social interests of all kinds. Not only that, people are developing careers out of making E-objects in Second Life - I read an interesting article where students are making thousands of dollars a month computing lines of code into objects that can then be sold to people in Second Life. There have even been stories of weddings conducted over this immense program.

The path to technological singularity? That's an open question. For now, Second Life stands as a striking example - albeit one of the most underrated - of what E-technology is capable of.