Contrariness

Once in a while, one has to remind oneself that crankiness is a perquisite of people over 50. This is contrary to all of the oh-so careful and politically correct advice from "experts" who just noticed there is an internet and that there are social networking sites. I wouldn't mind the absurdity of their advice, except that such folk prey upon my compeers who somehow have never been out of work before. I've decided mockery is their due.

"Don't post anything that you wouldn't want to see on page one of the New York Times," I heard one say last week. I'd be pleased if this did...on standard terms, of course.

Ten minutes ago, I received a job req for a biologist's position. Now that I have stopped hurting myself with laughter, I have to reflect that this is what happens when you loose a tech writer who understands keywording upon a recruiter who does not. Holy hotkeys, Batman!

The last time I approached biology with enthusiasm was tenth grade, and that was due to a teacher who had huge...tracts of land, a fact which was guaranteed to get her the unbroken attention of every fairly straight, testosterone-soaked 15-year-old male. She had enough of my attention to provide me with quite decent grades. Later, my college freshman biology course disabused me of the notion that I had retained anything else of consequence from high school biology. The subject and I have been unfriends ever since.

Yet this is a fair example of how "experts" render their judgments of someone's employability. Keywords, stereotyping, reckless generalisation, and market perceptions that are usually at least a generation out of date: that is the toolkit of the average employment authority. No wonder so many people are out of work.