[Linux-aus] Linux Job Searching - was: Red Hat in Australia is hiring

[Sridhar Dhanapalan]

On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, Russell Coker <russell at coker.com.au> wrote:
> On Tuesday 05 February 2008 18:48, Sridhar Dhanapalan
> <sridhar at dhanapalan.com>
>
> wrote:
> > > http://etbe.coker.com.au/2007/07/06/fragmenting-information-about-jobs/
> > >
> > > The above URL has my thoughts on the best way of addressing this issue.
> > > Unfortunately my attempt to implement it failed and it seems that
> > > without support from an organisation such as LCA this can't be done.
> >
> > If you need help, feel free to promote this to the new Committee, or try
> > and build a team around the idea.
>
> Is there anyone in particular I should contact?

My main piece of advice would be to continue to discuss these issues in the 
open, like on the LA list. The more people there are who are aware of the 
issues, the greater chance you'll have of receiving help.

You could contact the LA Committee directly, but I assume that they're already 
on this list (and if they're not, FOR SHAME!).

> > One important thing to remember about a community is that you don't need
> > a Committee to get things done. Sure, it can help to have their support,
> > but relying on a small group of people often just creates a bottleneck.
>
> I tried doing it on my own but that attempt failed.
>
> You can't get employers unless you have job seekers, and you can't get job
> seekers unless you have employers.

Yes, that is a well-known conundrum. I have been doing my part with regards to 
SLUG by reforming their jobs page[1] and promoting it to people I meet, 
especially recruiters and employers. We've seen a moderate pick-up in adverts 
as a consequence.

Just to throw out a random idea, maybe it's time to have a quality national 
jobs advertising/announcement system to replace the LUG jobs lists?

> LUV has a reasonable supply of job seekers, employers, and regular adverts
> on their jobs list.  I expect that some other LUGs have similar (the Linux
> Australia site wasn't as good last time I checked but at least had a higher
> profile).

The LA jobs site[2] is in a woeful state. AFAIK it is broken, having been left 
behind when www.linux.org.au was migrated to Drupal last year. Now would be a 
good time to promote an alternative.

> If I could get an existing jobs list as an RSS feed then I could kick
> things off.  All it really requires is the conditions of use for one of the
> jobs lists to include RSS syndication either by default or as a mandatory
> thing.

Drupal (used on the LA site) already does RSS/ATOM feeds. Maybe there's an 
appropriate extension for it to better support job adverts too?


[1] http://www.slug.org.au/jobs/
[2] http://www.linux.org.au/jobs/


-- 
"The statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that 
is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing 
falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any 
refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war 
is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process 
of grotesque self-deception." - Mark Twain, "The Mysterious Stranger", 1917
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