Maybe because it’s obvious, but the essential prerequisite is a profound sense of cynicism. Is this an ad for a social strategist, or a politician? Maybe it’s part of the upcoming DSM V, meant to help psychiatrists identify modern psychopaths.
We can only hope this is really a honeypot strategy to attract trolls for adding to our personal shun lists. Oh, Old Spice won’t be releasing the list of applicants? Damn!
I was amused by a recent job listing for Social Strategist at Wieden + Kennedy. The successful candidate will need to prove themselves in a harrowing public competition. Here is a sample of the challenges that will mark the “lucky” winner:
Challenge 1 – Create the best original Pinterest board dedicated to the sport of inline speed skating (NOT roller-hockey).
Challenge 2 – Create and post an original piece of content to Reddit that then receives the most upvotes in a single week.
Challenge 4 – Get the most people to friend your mother or your father (or a parent-like figure in your life) on Facebook in a single week.
Challenge 8 – Create the most reviewed recipe on allrecipes.com in a single week using cottage cheese as an ingredient. The reviews don’t have to be good.
Challenge 9 – Upload the most pictures of your armpit(s) to Instagram during the course of this challenge. The pictures must have your face in them to verify your identity and include the hashtag #mypits.
Reading through it one realizes that the veil between job assessment and fraternity hazing rituals are thin indeed.
