Yes the the idea of a bit of glamour has taken over and may I say welcome to the new look lowest common denominator society, complete with lights, camera, action!
Oh and I had better not forget the sponsor. Today's celebrity model is brought to you by this week's Samba Drone (Note, I say drone and not drome or dome) - today featuring people doing the mumbo cha cha, decked out as little bumble bees and big red hearts and flowers! I don't see this as a sexist line as these models could be male or female.
Do you know that this rock and roll HR scenario is all too often my idea of how it feels when I go to a job interview. After all, they tell us the gig-economy has arrived. A 'gig' in Australia used to mean a venue for a rock singer or rock band - a star - perhaps doing the mumbo cha cha on stage, as part of the act.
If an employer does not think you are capable of borrowing just a tiny bit from Carmen Miranda's act, while doing the mumbo cha cha, then you have failed the rock and roll manager's test - in the first five seconds of the director setting eyes on you! Yes, a devastating version of the old adage that first impressions count! It has little relevance to whether someone is the best person for the job. What was the job for which they interviewed? Well actually it was an accounts clerk job for a dodgy Parramatta Road used-car yard.
But after the last green sequin was swept up, after another day of frolicking and lights, camera, action and after the casting directors have retired for the day to the nouveau riche boutique bar to sip on on their imported Neptunian vodka, we need to stop and recognise that there is a problem.
I use the analogy of rock stars, because it seems to be the vibe that so many recruitment companies want.
I think that we need to provide a bit of a background of what has happened to rock stars, the original 'gig economy,' throughout the last 20 years.
I find one of the best places to get information on this line of thought is the book by Scott Timberg, entitled: Culture CRASH (the Killing of the Creative Class). It is one of my favourite books.
Mr Timberg described the rock stars of old as a "mix of stars, midlevel journeymen and struggling or aspiring artists at the bottom-end."
He quoted 'New York magazine,' which stated that in 1986, twenty nine separate performers created thirty one number one songs.
'New York Magazine' compared this with 2008-2012, when approximately six artists: "Katy Perry, Rihanna, Flo Rida, the Black Eyed Peas, Adele and Lady Gaga" dominated the charts.
So how does this apply to the HR industry? Well, it's very simple. The music industry is more about looks and glamour than back in the good old days, when if a hit single was great music, it did not need a film clip to sell the record. The same thing applies to HR and the job market in general. If the customers walk into a shop to buy Leggo, the customer needs to see the rock video in his or her mind. The first thing they want to know is if the sales assistant is a Katy Perry person or an Ed Sheerin person? Depending on the audience, one could probably add movie stars into the mix.
People want to base all aspects of our societies on international show business and it is time to go back to who we really are as individuals, what our first suburb or suburbs taught us as young people and what our early role models taught us, lest we shall have to ask the casting directors for permission go out our front doors each morning. Should this happen, then we are dealing with big brother — Joseph Walz