In many cases a solid needs-based JD exists and must be filled in a perfunctory fashion. But often companies don't really know what they want. Advertising a jo

In many cases a solid needs-based JD exists and must be filled in a perfunctory fashion. But often companies don't really know what they want. Advertising a job becomes a way of seeing what's out there, and whether anyone can bring them some missing "magic". If we think of work as being about relationships then successful ones are slow, sometimes painful routes by which we find lasting partnership. It may involve many on-and-off dates, exploration of shared values and interests, introductions to family, and so on. OTOH, the idea of a "job market" in which human beings are rapidly traded as they "climb a career" is akin to a nightclub for picking up casual sex. Many companies experience nothing but a series of one night stands. Passionate embraces and big promises are followed by tempestuous exits. The cost of casualisation and rapid churn isn't really appreciated by either party, or society at large. Workers, forever "dressing to impress" never really develop deep skills that come from stability. Companies spend a fortune on HR, perpetual transformation, induction, on-boarding and reconfiguration around the latest hire. Little real work gets done and eventually it becomes mutually disrespectful, or even hostile. This gig economy is harmful in unseen ways. Now we have companies desperate for good people, but unable to recruit, and talented workers unable to find a happy workplace, because both are "playing hard-to-get" out of pride and restless, undirected ambition. Imho, it's a situation rooted in immaturity and something Adam Phillips touched on when he said "capitalism is for children".