Biggest Ripoff Ever
I’m beginning my job search for a teaching job starting in September 2012.
I have two of the most in-demand qualifications: French & Special Education, so I have a little bit of an edge; however, it’s no guarantee. There are thousands and thousands of unemployed or underemployed teachers in Ontario. And thousands more graduate every year.
Enter what I believe to be the biggest ripoff ever – applytoeducation.com
This website has convinced school boards all over Canada that it is a brilliant idea to only accept job applications through this website.
Let’s consider for a minute that all of these school boards already have a website where they are perfectly capable of posting their own job advertisements. They all also have email addresses, where they are perfectly capable of accepting job applications.
The only benefit to this website that I can see is that it does consolidate job postings into one convenient location.
But there’s a catch.
Job-seeking teachers have to pay $12 per year per school board to apply to jobs.
The reality of the job market is that you have to put out a lot of applications before finding a job. In most cases, this requires applying to many different school boards. Even if I were not willing to move, there are four different school boards in my current city alone. Considering I’m willing to go just about anywhere in Ontario, that’s a whole lot of school boards. I’ve already purchased “credits” for 5 school boards and will likely purchase at least 3-4 times that before I find a job – that’s $180+ just for the privilege of applying to jobs. Not to mention the website also has a revenue stream through the advertising they post, which features some pretty targeted ads – talk about a captive audience.
The website must have received a number of complaints because they’ve chosen to post this notice on the bottom of all pages: “Please note: Our fee is for e-couriering your application portfolio to the Employers you apply to. This is something you have always paid for in the past when you mailed, couriered, or faxed your application.”
Last time I checked, email doesn’t cost me anything. And for the past 10 years, most employers have preferred job applications be sent via email. Neglected to mention that one in your disclaimer, didn’t you?
Sticking to my guns.
My New Year’s resolution was to stop undervaluing myself – especially in the realm of my photography.
I had an interesting situation this week where I also stood up for myself in the area of my videography.
My most recent YouTube video (posted a few posts ago on this blog if you haven’t seen it) has gotten quite a bit of attention. It’s really popular in Italy, of all places. It hasn’t gone insanely viral, but it has at least spread around moderately – more than is typical of my videos. Since video views tend to increase exponentially, it certainly has the potential of gaining millions of views – eventually.
A very popular website approached me and wanted to buy the rights to my video. My first reaction was to be incredibly flattered. This video had been out for only a couple of days and hadn’t even broken 1000 views at this point. It was validation that I had created something worthwhile.
But, after I considered what was being offered, I ultimately decided to say no when an agreement could not be reached to my liking. The deal-breaker was that even though it was a non-exclusive license, they wanted the right to sub-license (essentially, re-sell) my video to third parties – without my prior approval or consent, or without me receiving any kind of royalty. That just didn’t sit right with me and they weren’t willing to budge on it… so I walked away.
I definitely lost an opportunity to make some revenue – but in the end, I’m glad I didn’t devalue my work just to make a small sum. And it’s not even just about $$s – I may never make the amount of money I made by saying no here. But creative control over how and where my video is used – that has value, too. I’m glad I didn’t give that up.
If I were an idiot father…
… who shot his daughter’s laptop with a gun and posted it on YouTube for the world to see, I could have paid off all my debts in a matter of 3 days.
It’s just so crazy and unpredictable exactly what will go “viral” on the internet. I’m sure you’ve seen the video I’m talking about by now – who hasn’t? If you’ve been living under a rock, look up “Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen”.
It’s approaching 20 million views and will likely reach many millions more in the coming weeks.
By my estimations, this means that this crazy guy has already made over $20000… and counting… from his stupid, over-the-top act of shooting a laptop with a gun. So many people commented along the lines of “you’re wasting your money – you should have sold the laptop”…. no worries, people… he can buy a whole army of laptops now.
Or was it even real to begin with? Maybe this guy is not an idiot and this was all planned and scripted. I’m so cynical when there’s so much cash involved. I’m sure he and his daughter are laughing at all of us now as they wait for their giant paycheque to arrive.
What Cat Owners Have to Deal With When They Knit.
OK, it’s no secret that I’m a 2o something “Grandma”… I love my cat and I enjoy knitting. There’s just one problem….
Leap Year
If you haven’t watched the movie “Leap Year” yet, you should. Especially if you’re female and/or generally enjoy romantic movies.
The whole leap year thing throws me off… every time I’m writing out schedules or dates, I forget Feb 29th – but I can use the extra day with how busy I am, so I will take the “bonus day” gladly!
