Great job (last part, for now)

A friend of mine is a world-class lawyer, with a great background in copyright, deal-making and intellectual property issues. She has a stellar resume and could get a cog-job in about two seconds. Except that she doesn't want to do that. She wants to work for a fast-growing neat organization with flexible hours. And she's willing to take a 60% pay cut to do so.

In the current system, there's no place for her (or for you, for that matter) to let the right person know that they ought to rethink the way they're allocating their payroll and their services budget and take advantage of this opportunity. This is ridiculous. There's no other similar expense in a corporation that is totally demand based. Companies don't say, "We're thinking of replacing our phone system, please let us know if there's some new technology that we don't know about" or "Our charity currently uses a traditional system to do fundraising but we're auditioning automated online systems, please send a properly formatted brochure..."

Well, if the single-most-important thing a business can do is hire amazing people, why shouldn't that
process be more flexible and be built around the people, not the slots?

At this point, I'm supposed to point you to some amazing web site that is people-centric, not job-centric, and talk about how smart bosses from around the globe are using it to scout for great people. How an eBay-like revolution is changing this huge marketplace. I can't, so I won't.

Sure, there are resume-driven sites. Wouldn't matter. The bosses aren't there. The culture hasn't shifted yet.

But it will.

Why not print this blog out, attach it to a letter (not a resume not a resume not a resume!!!) and send it off to the place that needs you? If two or three or ten people did it, it might not matter, but if thousands of people started auctioning off their skills in the way it ought to be done (recognizing that you, not the factory, is where the value is) it could become a movement.