Double Standards

Some weeks ago, I’m surfing LinkedIn and come across an opportunity. A Romanian team of professionals is looking for a candidate or two who would help them with the day to day of the newsletter, social media, blogs, videos and such.?

I follow their work, read the newsletter so, naturally, I read the job ad. And I figure they’re talking about me since they mention values like courage, freedom, integrity and always speaking up when you see something wrong with the world.?

I round up my CV, my Portfolio, some carefully chosen words (true words, obviously) and I apply. The founder likes my message and tells me I’ll be contacted for a video call with his colleagues. I shortly receive the meeting time, and we lock on a day and interval.?

But… FATALITY!

One day before the scheduled call, I get a little “test”. I’m supposed to complete it in two days, give it no more than two hours, and I’m to deliver the following:?

• Write three paragraphs summing up an article
• Write several posts for the above topic, with illustrations
• Find three articles and sum them up (title and a paragraph - 3 or 5 lines)?

I don’t know about other professionals, but in my book, that stuff doesn’t take two hours to pull off professionally. And, most importantly, it doesn’t come cheap.?

And I kind of get a sniff of how they work on their stuff. I don’t like it.

I also get a sniff of how they treat payment. I don’t like it, either.?

So, I write back saying that two hours are hogwash and that a free test should have been part of the ad.?

Sure, I add the fact that if they don’t like what I said, it’s better for both parties to skip the call.?

I wasn’t rude, crass or violent. Merely firm. And that’s a quintessential Vlad trait, so it’s better to display it before starting any collab.?

And then I get this response, which I can’t quote since it’s in Romanian, but it sounds kinda like this:?

*We understand and respect your time. We understand time is short. We wanted to assess your mindset. Sorry if we disrespected you, but we all started as volunteers, without payment. Too many applicants, we wanted to select them. We're not going to use the materials.

Even though we agree with you, we don’t like your attitude*

I just want to examine two aspects:?

1. We all started as volunteers, without payment

And I started as a right wing back in soccer, what about it? It sounds like payment will be a ragged affair.?

1. Even though we agree with you, we don’t like your attitude

This one is just gold. So, they want somebody who stands up for himself, who challenges the status quo, speaks up about what is right or wrong, BUT NOT TO THEM :)))).?

I just wrote back to say that the test should have been in the ad, not introduced as an additional step (mid-process) and that we should have had the test AFTER the meet. What if I had decided that I didn’t like them??Would I have wasted my time? Uh... yeah, pretty much.

THE LESSON

DO NOT take marketing or whatever you read on social media as the truth. Values are only values when you respect them internally, not just externally.?

And if you want to change the job market, the country, the world, or anything else really, you’ll want to begin with yourself. You can’t change the world with the old ways.?

Especially if you want to… hack work.?