Re: long term viability of Ada

[frank@bigdog.engr.arizona.edu (Frank Manning)]

In article <52qso0$1b3l@ilx018.iil.intel.com> Uri Raz
<uraz@iil.intel.com> writes:

>In article <529vd7$h9l@lex.zippo.com> nasser@apldbio.com writes:
>
>> If you see 1000 ads asking for skill A, and 1 asking for skill B,
>> are you saying I can't draw any conclusion from this? 

   [...]

>  You can conclude as following :
>   1. The demand for skill A within companies is greater then offered by
>      people within those companies.
>   2. The demand for skill B within companies is satisfied by people
>      within those companies.
>   3. The chances of one to find a job are greatly enhanced if he acquires
>      skill A, but are not if he acquires skill B.

Well, it's possible that all three statements are true. It's also
possible to find other explanations for the disparity in numbers. For
example, companies that use skill A may have a higher turnover. Or
companies may consider skill B to be a competitive advantage and prefer
not to advertise it, finding new hires using word-of-mouth instead.

Which brings up another difficulty -- for any given 12 month period, a
majority of employers (75-85%) hire *nobody* from classified ads, which
means you're trying to extrapolate from the 15-25% who do. That's
assuming the Olympus Research study I referred to earlier is accurate.

There are other problems. Phony ads, for example [*]:

  "Some employers run fake ads to test the loyalty of their
   employees (the ad lists only a box number to write to).

   Some employment agencies run fake ads, usually listing
   jobs that have already been filled, in order to draw you
   in (the old 'bait and switch' process).

   Some swindlers run fake ads, pretending they are employers,
   so that they can get your money (the clue is: the ad give
   you a 900 number to call) or get your Social Security number
   and the number of your driver's license..."

So how many of those 1001 ads are fake? Who knows?

-- Frank Manning
-- Chair, AIAA-Tucson Section

[*] Bolles, Richard. _The 1995 What Color Is Your Parachute_, p. 37.