parallelnormal

Sandals are OK when interviewing at Microsoft, at least in Second Life.

Eager to pull as many individuals as possible into their parallel, alternate realities, technology companies have created a powerful new incentive for the virtual world-wary: employment.

Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Verizon are among the companies participating in job fairs and conducting interviews in alternate realities such as Second Life.

Cybersex and randy talk are among the carrots drawing hundreds of thousands of people to online alternate realities. Second Life, for example, is notorious for its red light districts and inane chat room conversations.

But some people may need to see the stick, before they will commit to the learning curve: several hours, often days, are required to master even the basic workings of an avatar (your alternate identity). In fact, many people may soon need an avatar in SL just to find a job, the Wall Street Journal suggests this week (link and excerpt, below).

SL newbies are likely to get dusted by their computer savvy (read, “hip”) competition.

Job seekers “who are less tech-savvy,” the Journal article reads, “are finding they can wind up shooting themselves in their virtual feet.”

If the link to the Journal article (below) goes dead on you, click here to download the PDF.