Cheezhead Recruiting News and Opinion

Anonymous comments filled with bitterness have an amusing appeal. I get my fair share. E-mails of this ilk, however, are a rare treat. Last week, I received a warm-and-fuzzy under the pseudonym “Edward.”

Normally I ignore such commentary, but this time I thought I’d do my best Colombo, reply with a piece of tracking code attached, and see what I could see. And – color me surprised! – the e-mail was sent by someone at Monster.

Please, sit-back and bask in the elegant prose of Monster’s finest:

From: Edward Houck
To: joel [at] cheezhead.com
Date: Aug 29, 2007 4:15 PM
Subject: How does it feel?

Why the bad attitude? Is it cool to be disgusted with everyone but yourself? “Dude, they suck…” Intellectuals (if that’s what you’re trying to position yourself as) don’t HAVE to be negative. It’s just easier if you’re really not as smart as you’re trying to appear.

Let’s take the easy route to posing as an intellect and attack the big dog, Monster (dude, I am so against the MAN). Here the entire piece drips with sarcasm, negativity, and flat out old, out of context, and incorrect information. But of particular interest is the comment, “how ’bout this edit: “Monster is still less expensive and far more effective than traditional recruiting methods – which happen to be dying at a far quicker rate than us – but still way more expensive than [just about any other online option here].” Oh, and how do you raise prices on customers for “matching tools” that don’t even exist yet?” Just forget to mention that Monster is #1 and should command the highest price as such, but that would mean being objective which would show sympathy for “the man”, diluting your desired creation of an intellectual, above-it-all position for yourself.

Then the very next article a totally incongruent rant to the above: “We witnessed newspaper go down because of their ignorance to the changing media landscape. F*ck-nuts like Jobster are trying to kill the Internet with the commoditization of what should be a valuable product.”

Huh? Who’s the bad guy? Monster or Jobster? I’m confused. But the important thing is that by being above it all and criticizing everyone you can appear to be smart! Maybe that bad attitude gets you chicks, as witnessed by your new contributor’s comments, but it’s tiresome, boring, and transparent to someone who’s just looking for some objectivity.

My reply: “My first hate e-mail. Sweet!” Monster employee’s reply:

From: Edward Houck
To: joel [at] cheezhead.com
Date: Aug 31, 2007 9:32 AM
Subject: Re: How does it feel?

No hate. Not the type of reply I’d hoped for but guess I expected. Acknowledgement of the inconsistancy of ripping Jobster for prostituting their product and Monster for overpricing in the same few inches of space would have been nice. Is the goal to be a helpful resource and to serve others or to position yourself as an irreverant icon? Unfortunately, I think a casual reading of your site makes that obvious. Of Joel, by Joel, for Joel… Who’s being served, the reader or your ego?

Nice burning reply! You’re so above it all you don’t even have to acknowledge the validity of the points I made. Of course, they’re not even worth a reply, right? There’s it is again! That “I’m so above it all” attitude that permeates your whole blog. Why not offer some truly positive suggestions instead of the constant, negative, whining barrage? Again, nice reply. Ahhhhhhhhhh, to be in Middle school again….

What a great use of company time, huh? I’m sure Monster Worldwide shareholders, management and customers are proud.

Middle school, indeed.

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