Back to work...

Gus and I debated for a bit about whether or not we should reinvite the recruiters from last week to post job announcements on our board. We were quite disappointed at the response rate, despite the 1% return. Yet, it challenged us to rethink what we could have done better.

First, the subject heading in the email was weak, to say the the least. In the mad rush to get the first invite out, I guess we didn't think hard enough about how best to optimize that space.

This is what I had proposed: "Post your classified ad on ORIENTED". Gus tacked on a "for free" at the end of it, and that's what we used. HOW VERY CHEESY. If you were a job recruiter and you received that in your inbox, wouldn't you think, "What the heck is ORIENTED and who cares?!" I would.

So this time, we write "Bilingual Job Candidates" in the subject heading. If that doesn't get their attention, then nothing will. We are also adding a link to the People Directory, showing them the caliber of international professionals that do visit our site, which we didn't do the first time.

Gus was concerned that this second blast might create a negative impact to the recruiters and suggested that we wait another week before contacting them again. But in the end we felt that, given the above, we didn't give ourselves a fair chance to begin with and that we should do so before we assess the 'spam' aspect of our efforts, something we have always been very careful about.

Some of my friends don't think that it's a good idea to be revealing so much about what really goes on behind the scenes for fear that it might give our competitors an upper hand. Well, perhaps. But I am very conscious of everything that I write (i.e. I'm not dumb), and I am also very, very, clear about what it takes to make an online community successful.

A "strong management team and funding" are not at the top of the list. Both are important, yes, but that alone gets you nowhere if your website sucks, as there are more than a handful of dotcoms (many who are publicly listed) with great teams and lots of funding but whose websites... SUCK. And you KNOW which ones I'm talking about.

Plus... how do you know that I'm not purposely wanting their (competitors) attention for a specific reason? I could have something up my sleeve that is completely unrelated to O, and I could just be using "what we do behind the scenes" as bait, to draw them here.

The one thing that my closest friends are constantly accusing me of is being "cryptic", especially in my writing. Who ever really knows what I ever really mean... except, well, me? Isn't that what "being Chinese" is all about?

Besides... I was talking about the SUBJECT HEADING of an EMAIL. Give me a break.

My website partner is errr...

Gus came down to help me with a textpad macro and concluded his daily visit with another go at his new digital camera. He told me not to move anything except my arm, so I did. Five minutes later, he went back to his desk and sent me this .gif in an email entitled, "ok it's just a start". I cannot believe I built a website with this guy... HELP.

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