The Market for Lemons

Homelessness is not an option

I am employed. I am a graduate. I am about to be subject to the biggest swindle of my life. Let me explain.

I began employment with a BSc (bronze swimming certifcate) in Computer Science, an MSc (masturbating student civilian) in Computer Security and a year as a Oracle migration analyst. I have, in the last two years, added to my portfolio experience in network security, corporate research and my current capacity in risk and business continuity. Top that off with certified project manager in agile and prince2 techniques and I’d argue I’m perhaps worth more than when I started. However…

The world has changed in the last twelve months and, even more so than usually, the recruitment/promotion playing field looks all the more terrifying. Now I’m of the opinion that the goals of the participants in a recruitment process are:

• The employer: to get a skilled and dedicated individual onboard at the lowest possible cost. .
• The employee: to find the most financially rewarding job possible with the best prospects and the least amount of skill and/or dedication required.

Add to this the fact that, usually, both participants have almost a perfectly symmetrical lack of knowledge about each other. The only knowledge they have is the goal of the other party. I call this ‘the great swindle’ others call this ‘The Market for Lemons’. Once more, let me explain.

‘The Market for Lemons’ is a Nobel prize winning paper in the field of economics back from 1970 by George Akerlof. The basic premise behind this paper is:

Given a complete assymetry of knowledge about the quality of a product; the price of that product resolves to the lowest possible common denominator between all participants in a transaction

At this point I should say, my knowledge of economics (macro or micro) comes from two books: ‘The Economic Naturalist’ by Robert Frankand ‘Cityboy; beer and loathing in the square mile’ by Geraint Anderson. Neither of which could be described as seminal works. However the principle stands. The particular context referenced in Akerlof’s paper is that of a used car bieng sold. The asymmetry of knowledge resulting in the lowest possible valuation of the car being the best price for the transaction. The assumption is that the car may well be a lemon, after all if it was not so then why would it be for sale?

Bringing it back into our context of recruitment we could deduce that the best tactic to secure a good remuneration package as an employee is to proclaim the reasons why your current employer is letting you go. This issue is covered in ‘The Market for Lemons’ and explains the reasons for add’s such as: ‘Must sell Porche due to new family member on the way’ in common auto trading magazines. However the arguement ‘looking for work because employer has been impacted by recession’ doesn’t have the same ring to it. Does it?

Woe is me, looks like we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Note: I’ve tried to reason this using FIPA ACL (if you’re interested look it up, else stop reading). However I have determined that such a language is based on mathematical formalism and, true as ever, mathematical formalism does not take into account in inane behavioral complexity of the human condition. As such I resolve to the following conclusion:

F*ck it; were all in this together, act accordingly.