Saturday, April 18, 2009

Recruiters become career coaches

As the demand for headhunters has dropped precipitously, many have no work. However, the supply of job hunters has climbed as fast. So many recruiters are now focusing on job search advice for a fee. It seems that the ratecard price is around 250-500 per hour. However, most spend a lot of time giving out free advice as part of their business development efforts.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

People who will not learn

I speak at many conferences. I see a real difference between the attitudes I encounter. The psychographics of each conference are different. All too often I see people who are convinced that they have nothing to learn from anyone else. They will ask for introductions, but never for other help. I see that these people succeed at a far lower rate, but they rarely change. I suspect that most people acquire this attitude at a very early age and rarely change.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Vocational Training vs. Education

There has always been conflict between those who favor vocational training and those who favor broader education. The old apprenticeship focused on vocational training. The apprentice learned how to do a job. While it may not have mattered hundreds of years ago when technology changed slowly, it matters more now when information and skills become obsolete. So it may be more important to "learn how to learn" - a purpose of education. Quite a few years ago, when I was studying Engineering, we calculated that we needed to spend 20% of our time keeping up to date, based on the half-life of knowledge at the time. Most people who go only through vocational training do not realize that so much time has to be spent on continuous learning. As a result. I do favor general education over vocational training. Give me an applied scientist over a technologist any day!