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Jesus, it took 19 slides to get to the point which can be summarized in exactly one sentence: 1) Have skills Newsflash: What we call a "job" is simply the tra

Jesus, it took 19 slides to get to the point which can be summarized in exactly one sentence: 1) Have skills Newsflash: What we call a "job" is simply the trading of one currency (actual monetary currency) for another currency (useful work). If the work you are doing does not have some element of skill then you will not get a job. If your degree supplies some of those limited in-demand skills then you may not need more than your degree. If your degree does not then you will need to acquire useful skills in another manner. Period.

kevinburke 16y ago
Agreed, but there was also a lot of insight about how career websites suck, and you're better off using your network and/or working for people on a trial basis
baddox 16y ago
To be fair, what we call a "job" is more than the transactions of skills and currency: it's also the presumed security of constant transactions for an extended period of time.
- Locke1689 16y ago
  True, but the base requirement is still some kind of scarce skill set. If it weren't scarce it wouldn't be an economy.
jim_h 16y ago
I think also 2) Be passionate 3) Get your name out there(blogs) I tried reading it, then skimmed after page 10, then really skimmed/skipped after page 15. I'm not the target audience and maybe I've heard/read it all too many times to care to read it again in 30 slides. I really didn't care to read quote from misc bloggers with their self-named domains. Seems like the part of the post was to get his name and other bloggers names out there. I would have preferred to find out what the author did to get himself jobs with authors, VCs, directors, etc. He never goes into details about that. I don't care about quotes and general ideas. I want the real details about exactly what he did. Maybe I skimmed/skipped too much?
danteembermage 16y ago
I'll add to this his lengthy discussion of "free work" as opposed to "internship". I don't think that's something I would have even thought about right out of school and even if I did I would have blown it off as a silly idea. I think he made a reasonably compelling case for it, especially forcing potential job seekers to think about using prospective employers decision framing to their advantage.
weber88 16y ago
Oddly, I read it as having an orthogonal subject: not having skills, but demonstrating them. The presentation seems to be aimed at the sort of entitled mindset that believes employers will _just_know_ that they deserve 40k fresh out of college. Whether you have skills or not, if all you do is write your bachelors degree and some dot-points on your resume, you're not going to get much credit from employers. Of course, as your skills go up, the chance that you'll get credit for them increases. Truly world class skills would market themselves. The point, however, is that there _is_ an independence between your skills and employers perception of them. It's not always going to be obvious to an employer that you can provide them with value. It's not enough to simply have skills. It's necessary to demonstrate them, to get them out there. The techniques the presenter outlines might be familiar to someone who has done some reading on the general subject, but to the sort of entitled mindset that the presentation seems to be directed at, they mightn't be so obvious. Blogging, building a portfolio, networking: basic stuff to some, but not to everyone.
albahk 16y ago
I clicked through to his blog and it appears he was one of the Seth Godin interns. The tone of his writing and constant links to others with own-name domains now makes more sense... as do their Squidoo pages.

kevinburke 16y ago

Agreed, but there was also a lot of insight about how career websites suck, and you're better off using your network and/or working for people on a trial basis

baddox 16y ago

To be fair, what we call a "job" is more than the transactions of skills and currency: it's also the presumed security of constant transactions for an extended period of time.

Locke1689 16y ago
True, but the base requirement is still some kind of scarce skill set. If it weren't scarce it wouldn't be an economy.

jim_h 16y ago

I think also 2) Be passionate 3) Get your name out there(blogs) I tried reading it, then skimmed after page 10, then really skimmed/skipped after page 15. I'm not the target audience and maybe I've heard/read it all too many times to care to read it again in 30 slides. I really didn't care to read quote from misc bloggers with their self-named domains. Seems like the part of the post was to get his name and other bloggers names out there. I would have preferred to find out what the author did to get himself jobs with authors, VCs, directors, etc. He never goes into details about that. I don't care about quotes and general ideas. I want the real details about exactly what he did. Maybe I skimmed/skipped too much?

danteembermage 16y ago

I'll add to this his lengthy discussion of "free work" as opposed to "internship". I don't think that's something I would have even thought about right out of school and even if I did I would have blown it off as a silly idea. I think he made a reasonably compelling case for it, especially forcing potential job seekers to think about using prospective employers decision framing to their advantage.

weber88 16y ago

Oddly, I read it as having an orthogonal subject: not having skills, but demonstrating them. The presentation seems to be aimed at the sort of entitled mindset that believes employers will _just_know_ that they deserve 40k fresh out of college. Whether you have skills or not, if all you do is write your bachelors degree and some dot-points on your resume, you're not going to get much credit from employers. Of course, as your skills go up, the chance that you'll get credit for them increases. Truly world class skills would market themselves. The point, however, is that there _is_ an independence between your skills and employers perception of them. It's not always going to be obvious to an employer that you can provide them with value. It's not enough to simply have skills. It's necessary to demonstrate them, to get them out there. The techniques the presenter outlines might be familiar to someone who has done some reading on the general subject, but to the sort of entitled mindset that the presentation seems to be directed at, they mightn't be so obvious. Blogging, building a portfolio, networking: basic stuff to some, but not to everyone.

albahk 16y ago

I clicked through to his blog and it appears he was one of the Seth Godin interns. The tone of his writing and constant links to others with own-name domains now makes more sense... as do their Squidoo pages.