6 ms·

There was some hubbub in Sweden a while back about the armed forces putting up a _really_ specific job ad, like it was tailored to one person. Well, it turned

There was some hubbub in Sweden a while back about the armed forces putting up a _really_ specific job ad, like it was tailored to one person. Well, it turned out it was, because the person posting the add forgot to take out the phrase “Make sure Björn meets these requirements” in the middle of the ad.

echelon 6y ago
Do you have a link to the story? That sounds both hilarious and disappointing.
- johnchristopher 6y ago
  A quick google search didn't give me much but I found this https://www.france24.com/en/20200115-swedish-military-duped-by-officer-with-faked-diploma https://www.france24.com/en/20200115-swedish-military-duped-...
  - fallingknife 6y ago
    > He rose to the rank of major despite not having completed mandatory training, and was even temporarily promoted to be able to serve at the military alliance headquarters, the newspaper said. Sounds like they could save a lot of money getting rid of the training requirement.
- brtkdotse 6y ago
  Couldn’t find an English version, but I’m sure you can run it through a translate and get the gist of it https://www.gp.se/nyheter/västsverige/militär-blunder-när-ny-chef-skulle-rekryteras-1.28832487 https://www.gp.se/nyheter/västsverige/militär-blunder-när-ny...
- anon4242 6y ago
  Here's a link in Swedish: https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/70eXyK/forsvarsmaktens-tabbe-i-jobbannonsen--bryter-mot-lagen https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/70eXyK/forsvarsmaktens-... Under the first bullet in the screendump in the article it says: * Experience from personnel management positions and documented good leadership qualities (Here Henric lacks the clear experience why I think it should be moved to meritorious)
juliendorra 6y ago
It’s an open secret in France that many, maybe most (?) calls for new teaching/research positions in university labs are designed to be won by someone already attached to the lab (like a doctoral student for example, or someone with a temporary contract). In French it’s called being "fléché", as in attributed for someone. It’s of course totally contrary to the rules. (It’s most of the time somehow well intentioned, from the point of view of labs doing it, like there’s this great person doing a lot of work and they deserve this new opening the lab fought to get budgeted.) The sad part is that some poor naive young researchers will prepare and cross the country to interview (hopefully now there will be more video calls) not knowing that the call is already custom fitted to someone in the lab. The fun part is that, as there has to be a majority of external jury in the commission appraising the candidates, the external jury sometimes don’t even know that the call is rigged and pick another, clearly better candidate Then, a few months later the candidate starts their new job and is really puzzled at the attitude of this one person… the one that was supposed to win the call
- theshrike79 6y ago
  France has this down to an art. When the French government puts out an EU wide bid for something (As is the rule in the EU), the bid will be won by a French company. Every. Single. Time. And it's not by accident. Finland, on the other hand, is playing things stupid. We've had cases where a city's laundry services was won by an Estonian company(!) because they were the cheapest. They actually shipped all laundry 300km+ south, over the bay and to Estonia. Wash it and send it back. For some reason the people handling the bid were all suprised_pikachu.png when it turned out the arrangement didn't work AT ALL. That's all down to knowing how to write the bid so that the winner will also be the best.
  - rvnx 6y ago
    Estonia was probably chosen because Estonia has very good experience doing laundry of the Russians if you know what I mean. Joke aside, it seems one of the winner of the Finland->Estonia washing contract is actually a Finnish national that incorporated a company in Estonia: https://www.aripaev.ee/article/2011/2/22/soome-pesupesijad-uhisrindes-eesti-firma-vastu https://www.aripaev.ee/article/2011/2/22/soome-pesupesijad-u...
tomcam 6y ago
That’s beautiful
anticapit 6y ago
This is exactly how American companies game the h1b visa system. When I worked at AVG we would write job requirement so specific to an Israel developers who worked for one of our subsidiaries that it was clear no other human being in the world could qualify for it.
- da02 6y ago
  Why Israeli developers? Just out of curiosity, do you have any recommendations for anti-virus software for mobile or for desktops?
  - dalbasal 6y ago
    I don't think he meant israeli developers in general. Specific people.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - anticapit 6y ago
    Oh just in this case I was working at a security company and everybody we imported were from Israel. I’ve worked st 3 security companies and they all either had Israeli offices or had acquired Israeli security startups. It just seems to be a thing there.
- GizmoSwan 6y ago
  Working for a subsidiary has a preferred status for getting a work permit in US. It is called L-1 Intra-Company Transfer Visa: L-1A and L-1B for transfer of managers and specialists https://workpermit.com/immigration/usa/employees-guide-us-immigration https://workpermit.com/immigration/usa/employees-guide-us-im...
- praeclarum 6y ago
  What you call gaming, I call working around the government’s idiotic visa requirements.
  - 6y ago
xondono 6y ago
This is how hiring works in most public tech centers and colleges here in Spain. The job postings are useless, if you want to work there what you need is an introduction (someone to give your CV to a lead that needs hands on deck). Then 2 to 3 months later a job posting with an almost complete copy of your CV will appear and they’ll hire you.
colomon 6y ago
There's a bassoonist urban legend (possibly true) that Bernstein wrote the ludicrous high Fs in the West Side Story bassoon part so that one of his pals who played bassoon would have to be hired for the pit orchestra, because he was the only one around who could play that high.

echelon 6y ago

Do you have a link to the story? That sounds both hilarious and disappointing.

johnchristopher 6y ago
A quick google search didn't give me much but I found this https://www.france24.com/en/20200115-swedish-military-duped-by-officer-with-faked-diploma https://www.france24.com/en/20200115-swedish-military-duped-...
- fallingknife 6y ago
  > He rose to the rank of major despite not having completed mandatory training, and was even temporarily promoted to be able to serve at the military alliance headquarters, the newspaper said. Sounds like they could save a lot of money getting rid of the training requirement.
brtkdotse 6y ago
Couldn’t find an English version, but I’m sure you can run it through a translate and get the gist of it https://www.gp.se/nyheter/västsverige/militär-blunder-när-ny-chef-skulle-rekryteras-1.28832487 https://www.gp.se/nyheter/västsverige/militär-blunder-när-ny...
anon4242 6y ago
Here's a link in Swedish: https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/70eXyK/forsvarsmaktens-tabbe-i-jobbannonsen--bryter-mot-lagen https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/70eXyK/forsvarsmaktens-... Under the first bullet in the screendump in the article it says: * Experience from personnel management positions and documented good leadership qualities (Here Henric lacks the clear experience why I think it should be moved to meritorious)

juliendorra 6y ago

It’s an open secret in France that many, maybe most (?) calls for new teaching/research positions in university labs are designed to be won by someone already attached to the lab (like a doctoral student for example, or someone with a temporary contract). In French it’s called being "fléché", as in attributed for someone. It’s of course totally contrary to the rules. (It’s most of the time somehow well intentioned, from the point of view of labs doing it, like there’s this great person doing a lot of work and they deserve this new opening the lab fought to get budgeted.) The sad part is that some poor naive young researchers will prepare and cross the country to interview (hopefully now there will be more video calls) not knowing that the call is already custom fitted to someone in the lab. The fun part is that, as there has to be a majority of external jury in the commission appraising the candidates, the external jury sometimes don’t even know that the call is rigged and pick another, clearly better candidate Then, a few months later the candidate starts their new job and is really puzzled at the attitude of this one person… the one that was supposed to win the call

theshrike79 6y ago
France has this down to an art. When the French government puts out an EU wide bid for something (As is the rule in the EU), the bid will be won by a French company. Every. Single. Time. And it's not by accident. Finland, on the other hand, is playing things stupid. We've had cases where a city's laundry services was won by an Estonian company(!) because they were the cheapest. They actually shipped all laundry 300km+ south, over the bay and to Estonia. Wash it and send it back. For some reason the people handling the bid were all suprised_pikachu.png when it turned out the arrangement didn't work AT ALL. That's all down to knowing how to write the bid so that the winner will also be the best.
- rvnx 6y ago
  Estonia was probably chosen because Estonia has very good experience doing laundry of the Russians if you know what I mean. Joke aside, it seems one of the winner of the Finland->Estonia washing contract is actually a Finnish national that incorporated a company in Estonia: https://www.aripaev.ee/article/2011/2/22/soome-pesupesijad-uhisrindes-eesti-firma-vastu https://www.aripaev.ee/article/2011/2/22/soome-pesupesijad-u...

tomcam 6y ago

That’s beautiful

anticapit 6y ago

This is exactly how American companies game the h1b visa system. When I worked at AVG we would write job requirement so specific to an Israel developers who worked for one of our subsidiaries that it was clear no other human being in the world could qualify for it.

da02 6y ago
Why Israeli developers? Just out of curiosity, do you have any recommendations for anti-virus software for mobile or for desktops?
- dalbasal 6y ago
  I don't think he meant israeli developers in general. Specific people.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- anticapit 6y ago
  Oh just in this case I was working at a security company and everybody we imported were from Israel. I’ve worked st 3 security companies and they all either had Israeli offices or had acquired Israeli security startups. It just seems to be a thing there.
GizmoSwan 6y ago
Working for a subsidiary has a preferred status for getting a work permit in US. It is called L-1 Intra-Company Transfer Visa: L-1A and L-1B for transfer of managers and specialists https://workpermit.com/immigration/usa/employees-guide-us-immigration https://workpermit.com/immigration/usa/employees-guide-us-im...
praeclarum 6y ago
What you call gaming, I call working around the government’s idiotic visa requirements.
- 6y ago

xondono 6y ago

This is how hiring works in most public tech centers and colleges here in Spain. The job postings are useless, if you want to work there what you need is an introduction (someone to give your CV to a lead that needs hands on deck). Then 2 to 3 months later a job posting with an almost complete copy of your CV will appear and they’ll hire you.

colomon 6y ago

There's a bassoonist urban legend (possibly true) that Bernstein wrote the ludicrous high Fs in the West Side Story bassoon part so that one of his pals who played bassoon would have to be hired for the pit orchestra, because he was the only one around who could play that high.