It's the really bad analogy of web 2.0

As a curious observer of web 2.0, I am often amused by the simple, one sentence tagline companies adopt to explain and pitch their product.  The form is always:

"We are the (insert name of actual category leader, such as ebay, match.com) of (insert actual category you are in, such as trading, dating, dragon slaying, as long as it is different than the previously mentioned leader)."  For example, we are the pets.com of children's online clothes, since kids can't drive.

What never fails to amaze me is how such a simple concept often results in really odd mash ups.

Driving down highway 101, I was intrigued by a billboard for JobFox.com, who's billboard branding is "be the hunted" which at first glance seems great, a job site that somehow magically turns me into a valuable, in demand resource.  On second thought, the image of being chased by a pack of hounds until I drop from exhaustion (and then am shot by a really rich guy) sounded less appealing, and brought new meaning to the term "rat race."

Of course, morbid curiosity always wins, and I went to the site, which, oddly, plays down the hunted tagline, but points out, in aforementioned web 2.0 style, that it is "the eHarmony of jobs (job search)."  Nothing like mixing online dating metaphors with being hunted, all for getting to the point of telling the world you are a professional job search site!  Not to mention, the choice of category leader is a poor one, given the huge amount of controversy over eHarmony's biases, and eH's fairly poor reputation with every single person I happen to know.

So, what the site does is rate you for jobs, and tells you which ones you may apply for, versus letting you pick from all on the site, after weighing your background against 10 magic criteria, equally weighted, some of which are as deeply personal and telling of your skillset, such as your work authorization status.  (similar to the eHarmony method of letting you know who your soulmate might be and then controlling your interaction with them)  If you score an 8 or higher for a particular job, this is considered a strong match.  You may send your profile to any job that comes up.  You then get to see when employers view your profile, either that you send, or that they passively find when trolling the site.  All of this sounds like an improvement on the previous monster model.

However, it's bad enough that job searching is in fact like dating, filled with exposing your deepest secrets, longings, weaknessess, and fears to total strangers, and filled with rejection (oh, why hasn't he called!), to get to sit there and watch your perfectly matched future employers not once review you or your job application, is at least as bad as any other job search site, just sadly more humorous to watch as the company trips all over itself with metaphor and analogy.

Comments

[Marilyn J. Tellez, M.A;]

Yes, the job search can be a lot like dating! However, you can control, as a job seeker, who you date!

And, doesn't anyone network any more in the best sense of the word. Giving something & getting something all over the place leads to job leads!

[Consumer Semiconductor Girl]

Marilyn makes a good point. Job searching really is all about networking, who knows you, who you know, etc. Since I was posting more about the branding, I did not address the relevance of online job searching. However, I'll point out plenty of people, especially the 30 and younger set, are all about networking online, suggesting the right approach to online job hunting would still be in fashion.

[gowtewendof]

Is that a new way? Are you trying to reach my gorgeous one A joke for you peoples! How do crazy people go through the forest? They take the psycho path.