One-World Job Market (1959)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 8:27AM ;)
The November 29, 1959 edition of Arthur Radebaugh's Closer Than We Think features a job interview of the future. And what job interview of the (paleo)future would be complete without a man from Philadelphia and his entire family chatting via videophone with a potential employer in Buenos Aires?
Until recently, a man limited his job hunting to his home town. Now he sometimes searches the country. Tomorrow's job markets -- and opportunities -- will be world-wide.
Television will make it possible for an employer in Buenos Aires to interview a job seeker in Philadelphia. New Yorker Felix Cuervo has already pioneered in this direction, interviewing applicants for Civil Aeronautics Administration positions over a 2-way closed circuit. Said Cuervo: "Dress, bearing, manner and ability can be gauged over television about as accurately as in personal interviews."
Thanks again to Tom Z. for the color version of this Closer Than We Think panel.
Previously on Paleo-Future
Reader Comments (16)
Even with Craigslist, the thought of looking for a job in another city freaks me out (yet I'll have to start in half a year).
The prediction is half right, however. For my current internship, I never met my employer until the first day. I thought that the first round of interviews were by phone, but that was the only interview.
Well, why not? We apparently have a one-world hookup market these days. For example, American politicians can find mistresses in Buenos Aires over the Internet.
Is that a guy pole vaulting in the background? Where does he expect to land?
So is the guy going to move his whole family to Argentina? Or will he telecommute?
Future Buenos Aries looks pretty advanced in the future, so it probably won't feel that much different from Future Philly. Plus they have pole vaulters!
Thank goodness Junior wore a tie!
I think that's a guy sitting on a diving board, above a pool. You know, with a fine view of the city water tower and chemical storage vats.
Is the woman next to the B.A. guy supposed to be his wife? Mistress? Secretary? Her expression (downtrodden, potentially a victim of domestic violence; rueing the arrival of the pretty blonde American) suggests the first; she's dressed like the 2nd; but she has a steno pad (how quaint!) and is taking notes.
p.s. could the microphones be any more phallic?
I love it how irrelevant details like "Dress, bearing, manner" are listed before the relevant "ability". I guess they'd say "This guy is incompetent, but he is polite and a snappy dresser. Let's hire him!"
Interesting how the author portraits Buenos Aires as a tropical landscape!!!
Buenos Aires is not Rio de Janeiro!!!
For example, now we are in winter and the actual temperature is 40F.
Cheers,
Many of the comments posted above go a long way towards explaining why 'Mrs Jobseeker' appears to be so unhappy. The raised eyebrow, together with the slightly pursed lip, suggests that Mr Jobseeker won't be going to Buenos Aries anytime soon. But not to worry, Jobseeker Jr already looks set for a great career as Florian Scheider's replacement in Kraftwerk. Keep up the great work!
In the future, the climate of Buenos Aires will obviously be made into something more tropical, either via giant clear domes or by nuking the polar icecaps to release all that fresh water for humanity.
The latter idea was a real one I saw in a magazine of that era. Definitely belongs in Paleo Future.
The Argentine employer looks like General Videla.
I like those comic strips with that determined looking white aryan males.
Well, nearly right. Reminds me of a paleo prediction of video-conferencing with Webcams. Even the round TV camera looks like a 1950s version of a Webcam.
The Rejuvenation of downtowns by closing streets to vehicle traffic and opening them to people and people related uses has caught on quite well in Europe. .
In this country there has been resents from shop and business owners. I understand the same was true in Europe but now the same business people believe it has worked out real well...
I point out that this is precisely how I got a Job in Japan. There are indeed overseas interviews being done over Skype. So while it wasn't exactly close, after fifty years, it is a reality.
The prediction is half right, however. For my current internship, I never met my employer until the first day. I thought that the first round of interviews were by phone, but that was the only interview.I guess they'd say "This guy is incompetent, but he is polite and a Buy Viagra dresser. Let's hire him!"