What is Digg?74 Comments
- nymphetamine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Better question: does Wii Golf count? If so, I'm totally getting hired!
- x0nIMIn0x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15If you want to crack the Old Boy network, then yes, play golf.
Want to get ahead at a tech company? Join your supervisor's guild in World Of Warcraft. - Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Gone from..? When has it ever been different? It's not called the "good ol' boy" network for nothing. What you know gets you hired for the line job or for the IT position. "Merit" is how well you suck up, assuming your company even promotes from within anymore (a rarity these days).
As for golf, it falls into the "whatever the boss does for fun, that's what I do, too, if I know what's good for me" department. - shrewduser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12its a nice cliche, but citing one or even a dozen cases doesn't make it a fact...
getting to know management and befriending them is of course a great way to get noticed though.... but like that needs to be said? - fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12"We need a woman to show we're equal-opportunity employees ... who's that skank who always bothers us at the golf course?"
- violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11It's all well and good till you ninja some loot and it gets taken out of your paycheck.
- davidrools, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Because senior management isn't 12 years old?
- 4degrees, on 10/12/2007, -8/+18so its gone from what you know/merit, to who you know/nepotism and now to; do you play golf?
*sigh* - jmeskimen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9@nymphetamine
Better make it Tiger Woods 07 for the Wi... You'll look more professional. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I interviewed for a job and the General asked if I played golf. I thought for a moment and said, "No sir, but I caddy."
I got the job. - Smog2k, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Learning how to play golf is required in Harvard business school.
- Skitzzo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@slush, you've got to be kidding me, that can't be true!
- therealrico, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Could be worse ways to network. Spending a beautiful day on a golf course is fun, like Charles Barkley said Golf and sex are the only two things that you can be bad at and still have fun.
- violentvinyl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8It's not golf per se, it's networking, bottom line. There are several articles out there that indicate that networking will get you ahead, whether that occurs at happy hour or on the links is up to you, but obviously, if two people are equally qualified for a position, the one who's had more exposure to upper management (assuming you were always seen in a positive light) stands a better chance of promotion. Also, the ability to network effectively is extremely sought after, especially if you work with customers or vendors in your job. There are a million different reasons networking is a good thing, and it's a huge selling point for fraternities and sororities in college as well too.
- slushpuppie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6 my significant other just got their MBA where a proficiency at the poker table was a requirement for more than one professor for their final grades... no joke, very true.
- Skitzzo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Does this mean I can deduct (or better yet expense) my new set of clubs?
- Fhionnlaoch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6You don't need to play golf. You just need to pay 20,000 to get into the right country club.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Thinking that PAR is all caps means you don't know enough about golf.
- Nodaki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I have passed on every golf tourney with my company and I know it has hurt it me career wise.
Thing is if I actually did play golf I know I would be hurting my career worse. I am a terrible golfer. I have perhaps the most wicked slice that has ever been seen. I am somehow able to hit the ball behind me when teeing off. The fact that I am terrible is not the real problem; the real problem lies in the fact that I go absolutely ape-***** when I suck at something. I throw my clubs, curse, and make a complete ass of myself when I golf.
So for people like me, not going to the golf tourneys is helping my career as they don't get to see what a true ***** I am. - antoniojvr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You poor ignorant soul. Do you have any idea how much business is done on a gold course? It's not just face time, it is tough work.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5If you believe that, I went to a school where carving a hole in a pumpkin and then boning it was a requirement for graduation.
- quomen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It depends what your gender is,
if you're a man and know how to get in and out of 18 holes then I think you're fine.
the women need to keep a neat and maintained lawn with smooth greens. - Nedlog23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Admitting it is the first step to recovery my friend.
- ciotog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@violentvinyl; You've got it there, why is it so hard for people to understand that it's about networking and golf happens to be a convenient way. Sometimes it's who you drink with or something else that seems equally superficial. How it's done is pretty much irrelevant - it's finding out if you're an ok person to be around that they usually want to know.
- vwvwvw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The right candidate doesn't sit around and wait to be found.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Or... suck a mean dick.
- Nedlog23, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Golf is a silly game! There I said it . . . now digg me down before you hit the links.
- ShutYrDiggMouth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i wonder if mini-golf counts
- dpknc84, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If I hire someone, I want more than a brain. I want someone who's also not socially inept and can deal with situations where they are around others.
- ubhe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3social networking, get good at it.
- Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"if you make money for people in charge that will stand out much more than your golf game, sorry but its true;"
If you make money for people in charge, they have no incentive to promote/move you. They like you right where you are. Sorry, but it's true. - Karyyk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm digging you up. The only way you can justify a game where a bunch of middle-aged men chase is little while ball all over the place is to use it as an excuse to drink...
- JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'd say better to network through golf than networking through taking up the cigarette habit and meeting the big bosses outside during their smoke breaks.
- Hennell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3We are good at it... we're all on Digg arn't we?
- kermithefrog, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"yes"
- pintomp3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2davidrools: sometimes i'm not so sure about that.
- imeddy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I guess it'd help if you work for people who care more for prestige and outer appearances, than actually hiring the right man for the job.
- vwvwvw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2See if you can volunteer with something. Being there is more important that actually playing.
- OwdenBowden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is a lot to be said about the Work/Network away from Work (that includes Golf, Drinks, meetings, Out-of-office events, even video gaming) that can make you or break you. Make your life easy - Take Golf lesson and start playing the game. Worst comes to worse you could use the exercise and fresh air. Otherwise - work on your Puckering and Glands because it is going to take a lot of kissing up and sucking up to get a head.
- dropsOfClarity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is a reason people pay obnoxious amounts of money to attend USC (University of Southern California), and it isn't their stellar academics. Networking is how things are done nowadays. The golf course is just a more casual business luncheon.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually, you COULD if you did make business deals on the course.
- Karyyk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Schmoozing and kissing ass will always get you farther than what you know. Haven't you ever noticed how many idiots there are in upper management?
- bflfab, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As long as I get to keep golfing I don't really care how far ahead in business I get!
I go to work to pay for golf. - The_Dude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Golf is cool is you do it the real way....walking the course. Carts are for old farts!
- Karyyk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1(oh, or advancing that career of yours)
It will get you farther than that advanced degree or 10 years of experience...sadly. - snowbooch, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6phew...boy am i glad i spent yesterday on the course!
- polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Heh, I am not a 'business' guy, but golf is pretty fun.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hate golf. It seems stupid to chase some little ball hundreds of yards so you can hit it into a little hole. It's a total waste of space. There goes my CEO job.
- nightwing2000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Sadly, this is true.
First, it's a variation on the "like hires like" theme, which is racist/sexist at its core. The menagement people are more concerned with how you "fit in", recognizing that a significant amount of management time is spent in meetings. Certainly they want people who hang around and suck up to them, unless you're remarkably competent. Rarely does anyone provide guidance and training in management, so it's sink or swim - except, these guys look after their own. If you're their drinking and golf buddy, they'll prop you up no matter what, and provide the most generous severences when necessary.
Of course the management was incompetent - most of the guys they picked, and who then picked and promoted the next wave, were just as big bumblers. They could smell competence and feared it for their potential exposure. Every once in a while we would see a remarkable moderately good leader come through for a few years, before they were off to head office for a top-level job. Never was it an IT guy.
The other stupidity is "face time". A lot of management, especially remote management, don't spend a lot of time mingling with and getting to know the peons. The people who can land the juicy jobs - projects with high profile and a lot of interaction with upper management of the department - get noticed. When it's time to say "who gets team lead?" or "Wo shall we put in charge of X?" only one or two names come to mind.
In our small branch-plant IT department, we've had far more underqualified (downright incompetent) managers than not. One (female) was described as so obsequious when the boss came to visit, that the guy said "I thought she was going to crawl under the table right there". The good ones, they found reasons to move on up or over. The non-suck-ups moved sideways and halfway across the country.
Eventually they decided to make us "remotely managed", all part of different teams with leaders 1500 miles away. The only perk is no adult supervision.
The other old hack they repeated was "if you want to get promoted, have someone ready to replace you." If you're really good, you stay where you are. If you are too useless, you're fired as a peon. The ones that succeeded found the right level - "Who shall we put in the Procedures and Process Improvement team? Let's put Sally, she can't program. We need Frank for real work, he can write rings around anyone." SO Sally spent a year interviewing all the department heads and head office types and making promises about how much better our processes were going to be, hanging out in bars and restaurants with head office types, and eventually they begged her to take the dept head job, for which she was totally unqualified. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There exist a multitude of ways to get promoted. Not only does it vary within each industry it also varies within each company and within each unit. What is really helpful is not to be tied to any one method of getting promoted but to remain flexible. In some places it is dedication to your job that gets you promoted (it's true!)
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