I came across a post entitled “Steer clear of these 10 illegal job interview questions” and it got me thinking. People are generally so nervous at job interviews that they often answer questions before giving the legality of them much thought. I’ve also never heard of anyone saying anything along the lines of, “Er, Sir. I don’t think that you’re allowed to ask me that. Next question!” at a serious job interview.
The fact remains though, that there is a line and every working person needs to be aware of it, regardless of whether you are on the giving or receiving end of a job interview. Although some of the questions are American-centric and might need to be replaced with local alternatives, they are pretty useful guidelines and make sense.
I recommend reading the full post on TechRepublic, but for those of you that can’t handle the suspense or are simply short on time, the questions you should keep away from like leprosy are:
I mentioned in my last blog post that I’ve been doing a lot of work with QR Codes over the past few weeks and that all would be revealed very soon. Well, those of you that read yesterday’s Sunday Times and today’s Times would’ve spotted the Nashua Mobile – TimesCode campaign that we launched with (example ad displayed left). Although this is officially a “test” or “beta” product if you prefer, and it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, the general response and interest from advertisers has been overwhelming and I spent most of this morning on the phone talking to excited people from all walks of life.
With a bit of tweaking I believe that we will have a great product and many more people will be experimenting with these codes in various shapes and forms in the near future.
Read the AFP story, in which I was quoted, for more on this groundbreaking launch.
For those of you that haven’t heard of them yet, QR Codes are a type of 2D bar code technology developed in Japan back in 1994 for inventory tracking by a Toyota subsidiary. Their main advantage over traditional bar codes is that they store data horizontally and vertically – instead of just horizontally – hence they are always square.
They support various data types (raw text, urls, phone numbers, sms, business cards etc.) and the end user needs a camera-enabled device with special QR Code reading software (pre-loaded on Nokia N-series devices and available as freeware) in order to decode them. An Internet connection is also required if the code points to a url. As you can imagine, the possibilities for this technology are vast and extremely exciting, especially for the print medium where QR Codes can seamlessly integrate with traditional ads, essentially bridging the gap between online and offline.
This technology is already ubiquitous in parts of Asia like Japan and Taiwan, and all I can say right now is that I’ve been doing a lot of work with them over the last couple of weeks and they will soon be hitting our mobile-friendly shores in the mainstream media for the first time.
If you’re still curious, the QR code at the top points to the mobile version of my blog. Go on. Get the software and give it a try!
I also wanted to share this music video for the latest Pet Shop Boys (yeah they’re still going) single Integral, where QR Codes feature prominently and morph into other objects. Very Cool!
An interview with Kaleidoscope host Mandlakazi Mpahlwa (aired 26/09/2007) where I briefly discuss The Times and the state of new media in South Africa:
I am currently Head of Digital for the South African division of the Trader Media Group where, amongst other things, I manage a digital department and am responsible for the commercial success of several digital products and services ยป more
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