I think...
...this warrants a re-think of hiring processes more than anything. Even without AI, the tropes and obstacles in job interviews etc are well known these days...the fact that a whole industry exists for things like writing job applications, CVs etc tells you just how uniform the whole thing has become.
I suspect that this process is very "samey" across the board has something to do with the massive number of MBAs out there...and people doing business studies in general.
I studied business for a while...but I was in a unique position where I grew up in and around a fairly large family business, in which I was encouraged to work in any and all positions from the ground up to understand it, my old man would have me doing all kinds of things...right from sweeping warehouses all the way to up to assisting with tax returns, I got to see and be involved in a lot of stuff, not only with the family business, but other businesses affiliated with the business, it's customers and just other business folks my old man was affiliated with (the accelerated in the late 90s when people realised I was a very good techie, I was in high demand all over the place for my technical skills)...anyway, what they were teaching in business studies barely reflected reality at all, I'm fortunate to be able to see things from both perspectives and I can pick and choose which perspective I want to approach from at a given, but a lot of modern "business" folks are fucking stuck with zero flexibility...the academic approach to business is very "perfect world" and relies upon a lot of assumptions...it also seems to centre a lot around "making your case" as it were...this approach can work to a certain degree with certain types of business...if you want to open up a coffee shop or some other kind of simple "one trick" small business then sure a SWOT analysis might be very important, especially if you need to apply for a bank loan or something to start it up...but in reality, starting a business (especially one in a less understood or relatively niche market segment) typically puts you up against a negative feedback, people that don't understand etc etc...so you're met with a lot of resistance that no amount of academic plan writing can get you through...there is an awful lot of conviction and self belief required in these circumstances and you just have to be resourceful...this type of business requires you to think on your feet and define new processes, new ways of doing things...the people that typically operate this way are a dying breed because they're being drowned out by the "paint by numbers" academics.
The way I was introduced to business and the way I still carry out business is to work out where you need to be in order to deliver whatever it is you want to deliver, and find ways to make money out of the steps to get there...which is in stark contrast to the modern take which is to fully flesh out your final product, apply for a massive fucking loan and go straight for the end game.
Lets say you have a great idea for a new "widget"...the modern approach requires you to construct an elaborate business plan with a market analysis, full costing etc etc and then you shop it around to beg for loans to make it happen...that's a bit of a broad strokes description, but you get the point...there is basically no problem solving between conception and producing the widgets and the distribution and production of the widgets lives and dies on whether you can find an investor brave enough to take a punt...which is a risky proposition because the investor will be hanging his hat on your one widget that want to produce.
The way I have always done things is similar, I will write a business plan, assess the market etc...but I won't go around begging for loans. I look at the requirements to get my widget produced and figure out whether somewhere in that chain there are deals to be brokered...if I want a factory to build me a mould and produce my widgets, in order to pay for that, I need to find that money...that money could come from finding alternate suppliers for the factory to bring their costs down, it could be in setting up new partnerships with other businesses to provide more output and revenue for the factory etc etc...you get the picture...a lot of back scratching...finding the funding for a project doesn't always have to come in the form of an investor putting a large deposit in a bank account...that's often the last resort in my experience.
Anyway, my point is that the vast majority of business people out there these days are "cookie cutter" business people, often holding MBAs with no actual experience doing business with anyone...and rely heavily on very academic approaches to getting things done...this leaves you wide open to being exploited...because if you're copy/pasting a process, you can be damned sure that plenty of other people are aware of that process and know how to bend it in their favour.
The worst part is academics tend to hire academics...it's human nature to lean towards what you understand and move away from things you don't...quite a lot of doctrine is hammered into academics and for quite a while they exist in a bubble which becomes their entire scope of understanding...they tend to look inwards rather than outwards...and a lack of outward vision makes you blind to reality.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
