However, I would say for the past 8-9 years now, the abilities of job recruiters have plummeted to a point where I don’t even want to hear from one of them. They are nearly on the same level as a bill collector now. *Smile* It’s sad really. It used to be a respectable job. The first thing I noticed was they began contacting me with jobs they knew I wasn’t qualified for and then proceed to ask me if I knew anyone who might be interested. This used to be an harmless question when called about a job you were qualified for but simply didn’t want or were no longer available to work but now it appears to just be a “doggy paddle” tactic from unqualified recruiters who contact you about a job that’s not even in the same state you are in (especially if it’s noted that you aren’t willing to relocate) for a job you aren’t even qualified for. My answer is always “Why should I do your job for you for free when I’m looking for work?”. Whatever.

The biggest issue is individuals with no technical background are being hired as recruiters for technical jobs. This has been tragic for the IT industry. Think about it. How well do you think you would do with a recruiter with no technical knowledge trying to match you with a technical position they don’t understand the requirements for?

Let me put it another way. How well do you think you would do if you had a computer programmer as an airline pilot, having only ridden in a plane? No training, no flight school, nothing. The only experience they’ve had is having taken a couple of trips in a plane. That’s what it is when individuals with no IT experience are hired to find jobs for computer professionals. The only experience they have is using their work computers to send you job listings you don’t qualify for. *Smile*

How does this all play out? Check out the latest email I received for a job I don’t qualify for. Aside from the usual, “do you know anyone who would be interested”, there was a new and far more horrifying gem amongst the ridiculous list of requirements, only Superman could meet:

“Additionally, please let me know exactly how your credentials and resume speak directly to the job requirement”

What??? So… now, not only were they asking me to give them candidates for the job, now they are asking me to do the very core of their job! If a recruiter is unable to read through my resume (mind you, I abandoned the “lazy man’s” resume for a more professional and comprehensive Curriculum Vitae years ago) and determine how my experience fits the job they are sourcing for, they are unable to do the job they were hired to do. Period.

This is equivalent to me going to work where I create batch jobs in Control-M and asking a developer to create a batch job to test his VB code.

I just had to speak on that for a minute. If you are a recruiter and you are good at your job, that’s wonderful. However, there are too many that aren’t. I’d like to see everyone with the ability to provide for themselves but some effort needs to be made as well. If you aren’t a technical person and you get hired as a technical recruiter, it is your personal responsibility upon accepting a job you know you aren’t truly qualified for to bring yourself up to speed. Google your ass off on anything you aren’t familiar with and stop asking job seekers to do your job!

The “Get Rich”s can do whatever they like, however, polluting the planet is not the only issue the world faces nor is it the only issue the “Get Free”s are trying to address by building a container home. I must also add there are some businesses who are providing modular buildings/homes made from shipping containers and have been doing so for a number of years who I feel are not “Get Rich”s because they charge a reasonable amount for the end result. So my issue isn’t the commercialization of container buildings/homes, it’s selling something for $500 that cost you $5.

So what brought this on? The same thing that always makes me alert when I’m trying to do something “unconventional’; running into naysayers or people doing the same thing but trying to maintain the status quo. I have not run into any naysayers of yet but recently encountered an individual who is a part of a group of individuals who are very much trying to capitalize off of container home building. However, I won’t entertain the situation too long. I’d rather use this post to encourage the “Get Free”s to continue on their path and do what’s necessary to “Get Free”.

My interaction with a “Get Rich” gave me incentive to search the web for container home projects made for what I would consider a reasonable cost. This was hard to do because there are few with a website that actually exist (sure there are tons of container home sites, but you will notice 99% of them are all computer renderings of what could be while the rest do not list building costs). So I will do the best I can to list all costs for my container home. I’ll declare $20k to be my budget for this project.

I felt this needed to be addressed because I’ve seen this before in two of the creative areas in which I operate. The first being the music industry. A music contract is nothing more than a high interest loan to fund a musician’s career and I’ve also witnessed many an individual go bankrupt buying studio equipment they thought they needed to be “real”. All that is really needed in a studio is a room with great acoustics, a great microphone and a reliable medium upon which to record. The only reason I didn’t fall into that same trap when I created my own home studio is because I am a performing musician and I knew creating a great sound had nothing to do with any type of studio equipment. Next there was and still is the filmmaking community’s obsessive need to spend obscene amounts of money on films. The emergence of high quality prosumer camera’s should have made filmmaking seriously cheap for independent filmmakers and it did, if you chose to see it for what it is. But the majority still insists on spending large amounts of money on films in order to be “real”. It’s as ridiculous as someone saying, “hey, this diamond is yours for $2″ and someone saying “no way, I’ll buy it for $2000″.

An even better example is when I went to Ghana in 2002. Trading to obtain goods and services is a big part of the culture and economic atmosphere there. While there, I pretty much traded my whole wardrobe for a new one. The outfits there were so beautiful, I was buying them for myself and people I know back in the states. The African outfits were costing me anywhere from $10-20 for dresses, skirt and pants sets. My roommate even had a designer come in, fit her and make her an outfit and that still only cost about $40. When walking in the cities you can see scores of women working on those old cast iron black and gold Singer sewing machines and they were making the most amazing clothes.

I get back to the States and what I or my family and friends can’t fit, I decided to sell for about $5-10 more than what I paid for the outfits. After some time I was wondering why on earth they weren’t selling. These clothes were amazing! A couple I’d met a while back came over and I asked them what they thought. They go to Ghana several times a year and have an automotive business there. The woman quite simply said, “You aren’t charging enough.” I was surprised. Of course I wasn’t charging a lot because I didn’t pay a lot for them. She said “I know, but if you don’t charge enough, people won’t think they are authentic.” I was in disbelief. I reluctantly raised the prices between $150-400 and people bought them! I was disturbed. The same happened with the wooden masks I brought back. It is just a wild bit of conditioning. And it’s also this conditioning that makes it too easy to find yourself drowning in debt and/or being taken to the cleaners financially.

Being an IT professional, I can say that I’ve made what I consider a lot of money over the years, however it has not lead me to the life I desire. In taking a moment to look at where all that money has gone, it has gone mostly to “acceptable costs and debt”. That is unacceptable to me. These acceptable costs and debts include, unreasonable apartment rental rates (and now having been a landlord myself, those rates seem even more unreasonable), mortgage payments on an unreasonable loan amount, car payments (I’ve only had one car loan in my life because I’ve always driven older cars I could buy right out and the interest rate on the loan I had with Toyota was 17%!), bank fees, utility bills (I’ve had heating bills in the winter be $500+ before), and expensive supermarket food. These are things most of us can’t do without. I just feel at this point, we can make better choices over what we pay for, even for the necessities.

This realization is important to anyone who is trying to not only live without causing distress to their environment but who are also trying to improve their own personal existence by eliminating debt, having more access to the money they are working for and needing to work less and spend more time on the people and activities they love. Period.

I have always made an effort to travel light however, my trip to Germany and Ireland in 2007 was the first time I officially traveled as a filmmaker. I took with me my Panasonic DVX100B, full sized tripod, mini tripod, one full sized high wattage light, 15″ laptop, and a whole host of other gear I never used. It was the first time I’d carried a large suitcase as well. The suitcase needed to be large enough for my full sized tripod to fit collapsed. That’s still a pretty big bag. I didn’t like it at all.

So now I’m planning what looks like a trip to Singapore and Thailand and I have to travel light. Here are some of the issues I faced on my last international trip.

1. I worried about overweight baggage fees every time I had to catch a flight. At my home airport, I had to run to a gift shop, buy another bag, and transfer some items from the large bag to the new smaller bag to avoid paying $80 in overweight baggage fees. Later, I ended up having to pay $250 Euros on my trip from Ireland to Frankfurt because of my overweight bag. That was almost $200 Euros more than the actual cost of the plane ticket! **The airline was Lufthansa which does well on long flights (I flew from the US to Frankfurt with the same bags with no charges) but does not do well on short flights (I guess you have to travel damn near naked on short flights).

2. I had to lug around a heavy bag and my backpack. I did plan ahead with this as best as possible but the reality is, my bags were heavy. The smaller bag I had to buy at the airport fit on top of the larger bag and the large bag had wheels so I could just pull them around but again, the bags were heavy and I felt like I was running a marathon anytime I had to move them. I also stayed in a 3 story hotel in Germany with no elevators (yep I was on the top floor), and a 3 story B&B in Dublin with no elevators of course (and on the top floor again). So it was quite unpleasant trying to get my bags up and down the stairs. My backpack was also heavy because in it were my Panasonic DVX100B, 15″ laptop, batteries, tapes, microphones, etc.

3. I drew too much attention for my taste by using my fancy camera and carrying around my tripod. This by far became the biggest issue for me, although I had no idea I would be bothered by this prior to this trip. This is more of a personal preference if you will. I know many filmmakers who have no issues with drawing attention while they film, it comes with the job. However, I do not like this at all. For me there are some safety concerns as well as creative concerns. Some things to consider… I was grilled at the airport in Frankfurt about whether or not I’d filmed anything when I went to the Reeperbahn. My camera is always thoroughly checked at the security check points. This means pulling out all your gear for everyone at the check point to see (Not very safe; especially when they do it while you have to take your shoes off and on and you can’t glue your eyes to your stuff).

A funny thing… I was carrying around my tripod in it’s bag while in Dublin and I was riding the buses a lot. I got on this one bus and the driver asked me “Is that a gun?”. I had to laugh, it did look like a rifle bag. But what was really interesting is that the driver was serious but he didn’t seem at all concerned if it were a gun. Funny those Irish folks are. :)

On the plane to Ghana, there were two Ghanaian men on the plane handcuffed; on the far side of them, a law officer. I got the impression they were being deported. About mid flight, I looked over in their direction and one of the men smiled a big toothy grin at me and waved. He then attempted to get my phone number. I laughed, both handcuffed men laughed and the tour operator laughed. This was my first encounter with the jovial nature of the Ghanaian, however odd a situation it was.

When I stepped off the plane in Ghana the first thing I thought was “Wow! I’m in Africa.” I felt like I was in a dream. Not because I felt Africa or any other place for that matter is mystical but because I was “out in the world”. We made our way out of the airport and I noticed law officers standing around with machine guns. I wouldn’t see another gun or police officer for the rest of the trip until we returned to the airport.

Now let me cut through the chase about the hotels, etc. because for me travel isn’t all about hotel stays and sight seeing. Bottom line, all of our hotels were fantastic no matter what the star ratings were; some of them offering the most spectacular views of jungle canopies one could imagine. Often, we were personally greeted by the hotel owners themselves and the staff were very welcoming. We were treated like Queens the entire time; never having to carry our own luggage and on occasion having entire dinning rooms to ourselves. The tour company we used, Landtours Ghana, is owned and operated by an African American woman and her Ghanaian husband.

All of our meals were included in the trip package and we ate at some of the best local restaurants; sometimes even having the entire place to ourselves (which I admit, doesn’t really bring me joy). However, our tour was also not very typical. We’d met other African Americans on tour in Ghana while there and they were not having as personal a time there as we were. They were truly just “touring” while were were making real connections and “experiencing” Ghana. The only downside to our trip was that on some level we were being hustled. I’m not sure who was organizing the hustle but there were one too many times when we were being asked to give money for some cause (in closed “setup” setting, not on the street). To make matters worse, it was a hustle to support blind plans to increase tourism that have a devastating effect on the ecological and social landscapes of Ghana. We could already see the negative effects tourism was having on Ghana. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if it increased; but whatever. We grinned, bared, and resisted the hustle.

We did notice that petty crime was handled on a more grassroots level. We did see unarmed security guards at strip malls but they seem to be there simply to shoo away people trying to sell you stuff. One day someone was getting the smack down on the side of a minivan (a preferred method of travel for the average Joe) from a small group of people. It was determined that he’d stolen something from someone in the van. Apparently a few slaps about the head from victims is an acceptable way to handle petty crime. *Smile*