Shanti’s Dispatches

Having read several of his books and been a longtime follower of his blog, I can tell you that Seth Godin is definitely an outstanding marketer, writer and conveyer of ideas.

He writes about his $5,000 bounty program for finding a new Chief Engineer for Squiddoo:

I’ve gotten some fantastic resumes for this gig, but surprisingly few people seem to be trolling for the bounty.

My personal take on what the problem might be (in this era of globalization, Skype and constant interconnectedness) — Seth writes:

You must … be delighted to work in our offices (a forty-minute train ride from Grand Central Station in New York). Alas, no telecommuters.

I understand the desire to have someone onsite, especially for certain kinds of work.

But just look at the success of 37 Signals, with their team spread out between Chicago, NYC, Copenhagen and Provo, Utah.

Gabriel and I have created the entire Niner Niner weblog network with him in St. Louis and myself in Phoenix, using only Skype and Instant Messaging.

I’ve been playing phone tag recently as well with Charles Jolley of Sprout It systems, who just moved to Prague (Czech Republic), about possible collaboration on a project of his.

SocialText is another geographically disperse “virtual company.”

Not to mention, I believe, Blogger.com throughout most of its pre-acquisition history.

So, Seth - do you see any possibility for future positions / roles for people that don’t have to work / live near Irvington, NY?

I can guarantee you that you’ll get some outstanding resumes the moment you mention “telecommuting OK” in the position blurb.

Think about it this way — the very best people get to choose their working conditions on their terms.

If those conditions are “from home” (for at least a good percentage of the time) — then that’s what the very best will be afforded (by people who recognize said talent).

UPDATE: Seth said he’s raid the post.

In all honesty, I don’t think someone like Seth is going to have any trouble finding the very best, one way or the other.

You can bookmark this, digg this or check the cosmos