Working on recruiting some interns for a project, I had the occasion to reflect on the very criticism Shahine made regarding my suggestion as well as why government job-exchange schemes have such low efficiency and success rates - and further on the advantages of the free-wheeling anglo system versus the heavy bureaucratic habits of the continental system in employment. Somewhat stereotyped, but the facts on the ground support the stereotype.

My experiences so far in simply beginning to attempt to recruit interns with the local schools has been entertaining at one level - depressing on another. As has been the attempt to use the governmental job exchange.

Illustrative of the bureaucratic approach, rather than a free market approach, the so-called "private business" schools generally want me to establish a "convention" - or some bureaucratic piece of nonsense formally committing me to internships although I have fuck all for confidence in any of them else I might bloody hire right away. As well as "justify" my need for interns. Well, I bloody well want them - why should I "justify" an internship to some school clerk who clearly barely understands my business to begin with?

This of course presumes that one can navigate the bureaucracy to actually speak with someone who is supposedly dealing with internships for their students. Only my persistance has gotten me to that point. North Americans would be shocked at the almost total incomprehension and near total indifference of this supposed business schools at the idea of actually putting themselves at the disposal of firms seeking interns. Never mind the reaction (as in putting me on hold hoping I will go away) to someone actively seeking interns.

The conceptual framework is dominated by the same Continental bureaucracy attitudes found in the governmental sector where my mini-Kafka-esque attempt to use the supposed national employment agency - whose of course real purpose is merely to generate paper shuffling jobs but I did have to try - stopped at the point of my refusal to sign an engagement to engage their interns proposed. Why the fuck would I do that? I don't even know what they'll send me. I confess I was quite nasty to the person in question, so it is entirely possible that the turn of events was not reflecting policy but me and the person getting at total logger-heads.

Regardless, the contrast with the Anglo Saxon model where business schools active seek out firms to place interns with, and further positively fall over themselves if you approach them, is stark.

A small illustration of the "sand in the gears" that while trivial by itself leads cumulatively to lost opportunities whose effects themselves cumulate.