ERM-BC-COOP: You've GOT to be kidding

 

The following invitation to disaster was posted on the Projects for Freelancers web site (http://tinyurl.com/238hnon) by oDesk.

Develop a Business Continuity Checklist

I am seeking a suitable candidate with BCP knowledge or skills sufficient to put together a 2-3 page BCP checklist in MS Word format. The document should be titled "Business Continuity Global Checklist" as per the web site: http://www.businesscontinuityblog.com/

The checklist must be useful to someone putting together a BCP plan for there business and will be given away FREE to those people that sign up to the "Subscribe Today" double opt in form at: http://www.businesscontinuityblog.com/ .

There is likely to be another checklist to be developed to the Disaster Recovery market to the successful applicant. Kind regards; talk soon.

Starting On: April 30, 2010
Ending On:
Posted On: June 13, 2010 23:43 UTC
ID: 100884752
Category: Writing & Translation > Technical Writing
Skills: Business Continuity Planning, BCP, Technical Writing
Country: Australia
Hours Billed: 0.00

So far, the only response seems to be from "An Internet entrepreneur - Freelance Consultant, India" whose stated goal is "To establish a career that would suit my intellectual capabilities and enhance my personal well being. " He is, by his own admission, "a goal-oriented person. I am able to handle professional work pressure well and develop positive working relationships with employer."

What do we have?

First we have an advertiser who either cannot or will not proofread the copy (e.g., "there" rather than "their").

We have an advertiser who suggests he or she manages a business continuity blog (!) but lacks sufficient knowledge to put together a (useless) check-list.

Any business continuity practitioner with any experience knows check lists and templates are invitations to disaster; at BEST they provide a false sense of security.

Our advertiser, you may have noted, wants the job to start on April 30; although the job was posted on June 13.

The respondent from India may be the perfect person for the job. He apparently lacks any business continuity experience - his response fails to address any of the requirements , but his price - $5.56/hour - is probably more than his work is worth at least for this posting.

With attitudes toward business continuity such as shown by this posting, it's no wonder that

(a) we are the Rodney Dangerfields of the professional world

(b) that people think that, like writing and photography, anybody who can spell the profession can call himself/herself a professional (writer, photographer, planner).

Perhaps I'm missing something.

Perhaps I ought to submit a bid.

John Glenn, MBCI
Enterprise Risk Management practitioner
Hollywood - Fort Lauderdale Florida
JohnGlennMBCI at gmail dot com