Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

Most companies have a referral program where employes can refer their acquaintances for positions in the company. The idea behind the program is simple, smart people have smart friends and you have a higher chance of finding a qualified person through a referral than a cold interview.

I got the following email today which turns the entire concept on its head and tries to convince you to game the system:

As a qualified professional in a reputed firm you are probably on the lookout for good candidates to refer. I’d like to introduce Round One – an innovative new platform that connects you to job seekers so you can refer those you choose:

Once you sign up you can:

• Receive profiles of candidates interested in your company via email, who you can unofficially interview over the phone
• Earn incentives from Round One for each candidate you speak with
• Refer candidates you choose, via your firms referral program and earn your company’s referral bonus

The third point makes is really clear what their selling point is: make money by referring candidates to your company. But instead of referring people you personally know are qualified for the position, you will be referring people you have talked to a couple of times on the phone and have know idea about. In essence you are acting like a head hunter but instead of being upfront about it you are gaming the company.

I am sure that this practice would be discouraged in most companies and if a person is caught doing this they would face some action. Actually I would hope that this would be the case because this offer is dishonest and sneaky. If you really want to spend time headhunting you should start/join a headhunter company.

What do you folks think? Is this a smart idea, or just underhandedness and not something to be encouraged?

– Suramya

Yes. You read that correctly, Catholic Church’s exorcist thinks that yoga and Harry potter are evil. I could understand if we were talking about Twilight :p 😉 but yoga? Seriously? Yoga has nothing to do with religion, it is a means to attain of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility. Now this insight can be a belief in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam or just a way to calm yourself after a stressful day and get a toned body while you are at it. In certain religions yoga does have a big significance but that doesn’t make it evil. Just as anything that doesn’t fall under your narrow definition of good doesn’t make it evil.

Father Gabriele Amorth, who for years was the Vatican’s chief exorcist and claims to have cleansed hundreds of people of evil spirits, said yoga is Satanic because it leads to a worship of Hinduism and “all eastern religions are based on a false belief in reincarnation”.

Coming to Harry potter being evil, I find that even more silly than people believing that Yoga is evil. If your people can’t understand the difference between fantasy and reality then I am sorry but you have bigger problems to worry about. The books, even though they have magic are about how you can win against all odds if you have the determination and strength to persevere.

I am not a very religious person, if you are a religious person good for you. I don’t use religion to figure out what/who to like or what to ‘hate’, I make my own choices. If that makes me a sinner in your eyes that’s your problem not mine. We are like blind men trying to describe an elephant, and each one insisting that they have the only correct interpretation. Found this image a couple of days ago on the web and had to go find it again for this post as I find it apt.

Finally I would like to end this post with a quote “I don’t fear God, I fear those who claim to speak on his behalf”.

This is all for now. Will post more later.

– Suramya

Source: ‘Harry Potter and yoga are evil’, says Catholic Church exorcist – Telegraph

The famed science fiction series on BBC Doctor Who, celebrates its birthday today. It was 48 years ago we were introduced to the crazy loveable time traveling Doctor and his TARDIS.

I have been a fan of doctor who since the early 90’s when I read the novelizations of the series by Target. Then I went to the US and there managed to find the episodes themselves and was hooked. Now Dr Who is back on BBC and I make sure I don’t miss a single episode. The best part was when my mom saw my collection of Dr who books and told me that she used to watch the show and read the books when she was in college. Talk about a time loop.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out. You will love it. Don’t start at the very beginning as you ‘might’ not like it that much initially, my suggestion is that you start with the 2005 reboot of the show and then once you are hooked start watching the previous seasons.

Source: Happy Birthday to Doctor Who, Wired

– Suramya