Calling People "Resources" doesn't make you cool

Published 5 December 7 2:9 PM | William

I know I huff and puff about this a lot, but it drives me insane.  Recently, in the ADO.NET NG, a recruiter posted the following.  As annoying as it is to have recruiters post in public newsgroups, do they have to talk like such tools?  Moreover, I understand it's hard to run Spell and Grammar check these days, but if you're trying to recruit people, it might help to at least do a quick coherency check at the end. 

 

Hi,
Please find the requirement below and answer ASAP with updated resume
and contact details....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TPVS Consultant (Transportation Planning and Vehicle Scheduling)

Location: Colorado
Duration: 4 + Months
Rate: Open

********US Citizens only************

We need a very senior and experienced TPVS resource.
This resource would need to travel to Colorado and the engagement is
expected to last till 03/31/08.
TPVS stands for Transportation Planning and Vehicle Scheduling, a
module within the SCM suite of applications.
This is a niche skill set and hard to find.
The resource should preferably have upgrade experience if not
implementation experience in a custom environment would be a close
second qualifying option

 

Now, if you talk like this anywhere else, you'd sound like a complete tool and in fact, you sound like a complete tool talking like that in the office too.  But people seem to forget this. They seem to think that not only don't they sound stupid, but they sound cool.

Let's try some simple substitution to bring home this point

"Honey, can you please call both of our Senior and Experienced Resources and tell them that we'll be spending Christmas in Atlanta this year but will be by their houses on Christmas eve and of course, will have the junior and inexperienced resource with us"

As opposed to "Honey, can you please call both of our parents and tell them that we'll be spending Christmas in Atlanta this year, but will be by their houses on Christmas eve and of course, we will have __________(insert Child's name) with us?"

 

Sounding stupid is one thing, but sounding really stupid b/c you're trying to sound edgy, hip and cool is another thing altogether.  Someone needs to learn how to BullFight

Comments

# Aaron's Technology Musings said on December 5, 2007 3:00 PM:

A colleague Bill Ryan brings up a great point. It is time to stop calling people resources. Humans are

# KF said on December 6, 2007 7:17 AM:

This is to inform you that our furry resource produced some measurable assets off-campus in the AM. Other resources expressed happiness that the asset was not produced in an inside location.  

# William said on December 6, 2007 9:13 AM:

KF:

I need more details about that Resource.  Was the asset a fixed asset?  Did it possess liquidity?  Was the resource a short sausage style resource or a mid-size wirey resource?

Is the 'gift' the resource left really as asset or is it perhaps a resource?  Why does something cease to be a resource just b/c your puppy squeezes it out on your carpet?

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