My cycling trip through Puglia was nothing short of wonderful on all counts. The landscape, company, guides and people were completely enjoyable.

The US holiday weekend is approaching, and on Tuesday I start my new consulting job. I’ve enjoyed my respite and I’m looking forward to getting engaged again. I don’t know if my new comapny has a blogging policy; considering that they take a positive stand on the role of social computing and the potential of Enterprise 2.0 I’m hopful that I’ll be able to continue in a more direct manner.

Yesterday I went to Iridium with my friend Ken. We saw Kenny Garrett with Pharoah Sanders. I have always credited Pharoah with opening my ears to jazz. Arguably a lot of things came first, but I will always remember a day when I was a freshman in college, driving around Albany in a beat up 1965 Pontiac. I was listening to a ‘progressive’ AM radio station out of Pittsfield Massachusetts (this was 1974 or 1975 and there was no FM on my old beater) and a tune started playing. It was a pleasant jazz tune and strong vocals, with lots of interesting percussion going on – shells rattling, drums booming . As I drove along it got more and more intense and compelling. Soon I was so amazed that I pulled over to the side of the road and listened intently as the music went completely out with wild saxophone playing and the vocalist yodeling furiously. It gradually came back, finally ending up back at the vamp and vocals. I’d heard Pharoah Sanders and my life was different. The next day I was at the record store and very soon I was listening to Coltrane, Dolphy, Davis and other groundbreaking musicians.

We couldn’t stay for the late set at Iridium, so we made our way to the door. Pharoah was there speaking to someone. I stood right behind him, and when he turned I said to him, “Can I just say thank you for 30 years of joy?” He looked at me and replied, “Have you been listening that long?” He smiled, shook my hand and moved on. It felt really good to be able to thank him for that day and all the things that have flowed from it since then – maybe it was the best part of the evening.

The Taleo blog reports on a report from Money Magazine on the best jobs in America for people looking for change in their careers. They present 4 meta categories that resemble daytime television programming: Young & Restless, Returning Parent (they really mean “Mom” but that wouldn’t be very PC), From the Military to the private sector, and my favorite – Over 50. I have thoughts about the selections, especially (ahem) the Over 50 category but the real issue for me is the coarse-grained categorization. Given the tensions of the journalistic format I can understand the desire to make this snappy.

What really surprises me is that this same broad brush is picked up by Taleo:

“For recruiters, this is a nice piece of research to help target a specific candidate pool. Looking for Sales Reps? Find moms looking to return to the workplace. Need a Field Service Engineer? Identify someone retiring from the military, and so on.”

“Proactive, targeted candidate sourcing and the use of automated solutions can go a long way towards filling open positions with talented employees who will stay with your organization.” Link.

That’s targeting? This is the opposite of what Enterprise 2.0 promises. We shouldn’t use our tools for incredibly broad generalizations that slot candidates based on generalized demographics. These are important categorizations but by themselves they have no more depth than a sound bite. Being in the over 50 category and coming off my fresh experience in the market I’m offended when I’m contacted for positions that have no bearing on my experience or career trajectory but are the result of some sloppy match based on a single data point about me. At least no one suggested (yet) that I should consider teaching, pension administration or medical records coding – all great choices for an Old Guy, apparently.

Thomas should send Taleo his copy of the Cluetrain Manifesto.