I'm not going. Let's just get that straight from the top: I've got nothing against Gibraltar, I just know it's not for me. These recruiters are nothing if not persistent though; a while ago it was Bulgaria that apparently had all the technical writing jobs. You'll love Sofia, they said, it's where all the coolest tech authors hang out... Now it seems these agencies have upped their game a bit: a warmer climate and British soil. I'm still a little cynical if I'm honest.
What amused me was that this particular recruiter seemed to be selling Gibraltar to me and not the job. It's an odd tactic for a recruitment agent, I thought. Someone who deals mostly in the currency and detail of jobs you'd expect to be less like a kind of lifestyle travel agent.
She even included a link to a nine minute video telling me all about this little corner of paradise. It featured a tanned, barefooted supermodel floating leisurely across sandy beaches and through the historical markets without a care in the world. "It could be you, working here, living with people like this," the narrator may as well have said in a Fast Show kind of way, "Imagine that eh, sir? Sunshine, sea, sand, beauty, ooh you deserve it sir, suits you sir, ooh, suits you."
No information about the actual job then? Right. Jog on.
I'm not sure I like this culture where strangers try to tell you what you deserve. Sometimes adverts give you a kind of knowing wink as if to say, "Hey, treat yourself, we know you're awesome." Or worse, they try to convince you that it's the rest of the world - your boss, your neighbours, the people who didn't go to SpecSavers or haven't booked that river cruise... and especially their direct competitors... who are a bit stupid or lousy or just rubbish. Oh but not you - you're amazing.
Well, you are amazing, but not because you bought a certain brand of shampoo or you feed your cat with whole chunks of tuna. You're amazing because you're you, created to be inspirational in a way that only you can be - and you're quite capable of making great decisions for yourself, without being manipulated around the supermarket.
I tell you something else as well...
I'm too good for Gibraltar.
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