Skill vs. Mojo: How Technology is Making the Job Market More Competitive

There are a number of articles on the Six Degrees website that talk about the future of online networking and whatnot. Some of the articles are cautious and question the value in online networking when applying to a job.

When wizard Draco Malfoy was set to take his job examination, he said this: "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Surprisingly he is not far from the truth, or rather that technology not magic is making it easier for employers to asses and judge potential employees.

Picture this, you apply for a position for a new company, it can even be an internet based company. Fine, you send in your resume, link to your blog and friend him on facebook.

What do employers do with that information? They judge you. If on your blog you complain about life or use bad grammar, your employer might think "man this guy is going to be a real downer and he uses bad grammar." But is it wise for an employer to base such decision off of "fun" rather than skill?

My answer is that: they can now. In the olden days, people weren't as smart, for gods sake look how fast I can order shoes online. So you have a ton of educated people ready to pounce the job market and then you have the Internet.

In the olden days if you wanted a PHP/Assembler developer you would use the people you could get a hold of in the area and the person you found was probably the person you use, because Assembler is a hard language to learn and the chances of someone knowing both PHP and Assembler were pretty rare.

In today's world a potential employer can, look someone up on facebook then pick and choose between multiple candidates. He will send out interview requests to the person he likes the most. Because there are multiple people with the same skill level Technology makes the job market more competitive, it really then becomes who you know and also if that person likes you.

Maybe Draco Malfoy was right?

Update: Whoops this is a good article that adds to my post.