(thread)

what if we flipped hiring on its end... what if we made "candidate's desired work listing" sites instead of "job listing" sites, and if companies had to apply to the candidate and be screened to see if their job makes the cut?

I know, that's sorta basically how this whole thing currently works in basic mechanics, except...

we unfortunately use all the reverse language, and that language sets the all the wrong/bad expectations (candidate has to land the job rather than job has to land the candidate).

you wouldn't have a resume or a linked-in profile, you'd have a public listing where you described yourself as a worker and the kind of job you want. it would be up to companies to create a matching "resume" (aka, "job listing") that impressed you enough to get a call back.

those companies would have to provide references, aka former employees, who could speak to how great the company is.

those companies would have to go through screening calls where they answered questions about their work environment, compensation, culture, review processes, etc.

we'd completely de-stigmatize the idea that someone was "looking for work"... instead of that being seen as potentially disloyal to a current employer -- anymore than a company posting jobs while you're working there is betrayal -- it would be expected and continual.

IOW, people would always be publishing and updating publicly what they wanted to work on, and the job (and their boss) would always be trying to figure out if they were meeting that or if they needed to change the job to keep the person.

if you like your job, you keep your current public listing in line with your current job duties. but if you want something to change about your job, you change the listing. other companies get to compete to see if they can match that better than your current employer.

just because companies have the jobs, money, and benefits, shouldn't mean that we let them have all the power in this interchange.

it's all screwed up, and it's mostly their fault.

we could maybe fix it (a little bit) if we flipped it as people-centric instead of job-centric.

listen, I don't need to hear all the cynicism of why this would never work. everyone already knows all the reasons why this won't happen.

go study how strongly entrenched, societal-level power-dynamics get inverted... it's hard, but it's not unprecedented.

I'm not going to listen to any replies that are nay-saying. If you want engagement, you have to convince me you're worth talking to about it, by discussing why this *can* work, not why it can't.