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Frustration Friday: Parasites and Where To Find Them

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Boy are people feeling they're getting a raw deal.  It seems whenever I delve into reading about people's opinions on the economy and politics they're so worried that some parasites are just draining away all their money.  Go on ask yourself – can't you immediately name a lot of people, groups, institutions, etc. you think don't deserve any of your money.

What's funny is that a lot of people who are so afraid of the Parasites Stealing Money are worried about people whose lives are lousy – the unemployed, the people on welfare, the poor, etc.  They're just dreadfully convinced all these unworthy people are destroying the world and so on by getting tiny amounts of money, if they get anything at all.

Meanwhile, as we look at the flaming ruins of the world economy and the smoky scent of ponzi schemes and investment vehicles designed to get around regulation, it becomes evident there are indeed parasites.  Someone ran this economy into the ground and made off with a ton of money leaving nothing behind.

The parasites are the scam artists, lobbied-up politicians, and the financial fraudsters who get us into the mess.  It's not some poor slob who lost his job and exhausted his unemployment that's messing the world up – it's the people with a sense of privilege and entitlement because of their title  or position or their family background or their inheritance who feel they can take anything and not give anything back.

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Frustration Friday: Credit Where Credit Is Due

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You know who needs more respect, credit, and wads of cash in their paychecks?

People working in job placement.  The recruiters, the job counsellors, and the like.  Wether they work freelance or with big placement companies, they deserve more recognition for what they do and what they go through.  Their job is not easy.

Consider the lot of someone working at, say, in recruiting or an outplacing company and all the challenges they face.  They have to deal with clients who have laundry lists of needs that no normal human being could meet, or two sentences of requirements that say nothing.  They have to read the Resumes From Hell – in this case the level of Hell where people can't describe their careers or skills, and proper punctuation is something that happens to other people.  This is their lot.

Now, beyond the challenges that people in placement and job searching and the like face, they also face the fact they don't get much credit for the work they do and the things they go through.  When's the last time you've seen them mentioned in the news favorably, or beyond a source of statistics?

Honestly, especially in this economy, they don't get enough credit.

Job searching and placement is a set of skills, ones that take effort and deliberate action to master.  Doing it for someone else is even more challenging – and many people out there have indeed mastered it.  They're just not going to get much recognition for it.

So let us raise a glass (probably of your favorite Energy Drink) to the people who do all this: the recruiters and counsellors and placement experts.  They've mastered the job search skills and knowledge and pass it on to others.

This Frustration Friday, let's acknowledge their frustration and recognize people who place us in jobs, and the hard work they do.

– Steven Savage