Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Jordanian Initiative

I’m surprised that no one particularly those amongst us that make it a habit of theirs to address these issues bothered to mention about the project lead by former president Clinton entitled “Clinton Global Initiative”. This link gives some back ground about the project.

http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=1399&srcid=-2


I’m personally impressed by what I have read about it especially that it covers four topics that are very near and dear to my heart. A) Education b) Energy c) Health d) Poverty alleviation.

I think that an initiative like that would be very helpful for country like ours, we hear about so many initiative that were created in Jordan over the last decade or so, sadly most of these initiatives either die in their infancy, never see the light, or never develop all the way until fruition.

I don’t pretend to have any answer but I’m just trying to toss some ideas around so hopefully it will stimulate a discussion about how can we lift Jordan to a higher standard better and more improved than the current one. Can we emulate the global initiative, better yet, can we localize or domesticate the global initiative with a similar initiative called the Jordanian initiative.

I know I sound like I’m too influenced by the global initiative and to tell you the truth I’m, but why not, I guess I’m extra ordinarily utopian individual, or a big day dreamer.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Help Wanted

Help Wanted



The Jordanian press and publication department is looking for qualified candidates to fill in a number of vacant positions available for a recently enacted domestic surveillance program.

Positions entail spaying on electronic media websites, blogs, web pages, electronic news beaurues, correspondences, news bulletins, comments, chats, announcements, and electronic press releases.

Qualified candidates must posses an excellent command of the English language, must be willing to engage the bloggers into a lively desirable discussions for the purpose of entrapping them. This isn’t a nine to five position, a designated spy must be available on a twenty four to forty eight hours shifts. When the story breaks so will the spy be ready to report on the flurry electronic activities about it.

The position offers a basic salary and plenty of commission incentives, the more people you turn in the higher your income will be. Our goal is to shut the mouths as well as the spirit of those nonconforming so called electronic media journalists.

In the past we have been successful at shutting the print journalists as well as defining delineated borders for the video and audio journalist personnel, we expect to have the same level of success if not better, faster, and more swifter at the electronic media.

For immediate consideration forward “ironically” via electronic media your curriculum vita outlining your qualification, interests, and goals. Only applicants that demonstrate the highest degree of becoming excellent spies will be considered for the positions, and will be invited for further processing and training on the best methods of how to spot violators of electronic media journalists and bring them to justice.

If you aren’t self confident well rounded spy willing to turn in the most intimate person to you;then you need not bother applying for any of these open positions, this isn’t for the feign hearted individual.

Interested applicants need not worry about public exposure, confidentiality is of a paramount importance to the press and publication department, all reporting and turning in people will be done in highly covert operations, you need not worry about being exposed.

We encourage young talented English proficient male and female Jordanians to take advantage of this rare opportunity, applications will be reviewed on first come first serve order, don’t let this excellent opportunity pass you by, hurry, the time to become a highly paid spy is now. Experience is not necessary, nor is it a requirement.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

New ways of looking for a job

Nowadays eager job seekers are turning to places like You Tube to tout their marketable skills, prospective employers are reacting positively. A decade or so ago, the same people were sending in video tapes of themselves to companies that they hoped to work for, in a recorded two to three minutes segment they would outline their career goals, education, training, professional experience and even hobbies. When those video tapes ended up being too bulky and require video cassette players to view them, employers lost interest in them and soon enough they have become extinct. Not long afterwards the compact discs emerged as the favorite tool for sending one's blurb about him and his job prospects. While I concur that the cold calling is dead but so is the web sites that people post their resume on it 'on line' in hope of trying to locate a job, it too caught up with the frenzy of job searching for a number of years .Regrettable, the trend didn't last and the force of the imposed technology caused it to move on as well. Check this out: In any given day there are millions of resumes circulating on the internet, even those resumes that are job specific number in the hundreds of thousands, employers don't have the necessary time to sift through these job applicants in order for them to select the right candidate. Often times even human resource managers are under intense pressure to staff the vacant positions as soon as they possibly can in a relatively short period of time line, though, to do so in a hasty manner would do the company disservice and result in hiring the wrong candidate. On the flip side of the coin, watching an already uploaded segment on You Tube can be achieved with relative ease by a click of the mouse. Only then the employer can get a very clear idea about the person's character by watching him/her introduce themselves on You Tube or similar website, and if they don't like what they see they never have to see them again. There are no reams of resumes to go through, no highlighting of important facts, and no narrowing down of three, two, and finally one candidate. When the human resource manager watches the You Tube like video he/she will decide on the spot whether that particular candidate in the segment is suitable or unsuitable to work for their company. They will be able to watch his appearance, listen to his voice, and determine his nationality, color, body language and so on. These are very important characteristics for employers. By contrast, posting a resume on the internet is going out of vogue; soon it will be extinct just like the video cassette and the compact disc before it. People should realize that technology is changing the face of how we should be looking for a job now and in the future. Remember once upon a time when finding a job was solely based on referral. A friend of yours, your neighbor, or your uncle used to recommend you for their boss and then the next thing you are hired based on their recommendations. Then there was the job ads appearing in the newspaper, and answering them via the postal services, followed by an invitation for an interview, and finally the hiring. Then there was the cold calling, the walk in, and even the stopping of managers in the middle of the street begging them to give you a chance for an interview. All of these styles have gone out of business; they are no longer effective in locating and landing a job. While I do wish the best of luck for the founders of this new online job seeking company in Jordan, I think that they have arrived into the market too little too late, the digital divide had caught up with them, and unless they add some new innovative features to go a long with merely posting a text resume they will be doomed. One must be mind full of all of the changes that are occurring around him, what used to be fitting a couple of years ago may not be fitting these days. The key word for Akhtaboot is innovate- before-it -is too- late.