There comes a time in all of our Second Lives where we realise that either this virtual world is burning a major hole in our real life bank account, or we've picked up all the freebie items this world has to offer, and want to do some proper shopping. Either way, the solution is painfully clear: It's time to get a job. To join the legions of sl wageslaves, trading their time in for for that trickle of Linden Dollars, trying to get by in this harsh virtual world. Yet, how do you know what career is right for us? How can you tell if you're being paid a good wage? Is it worth your time in the first place?
To find out more, I spoke to Zeus Zetkin, the man behind http://www.sljobfinder.com/, Second Life's Largest JobSeekers' Database and Job Search Engine (who have a base in SL here).
Voodoo Buwan: So, how long have you been running sljobfinder?
Zeus Zetkin: For about 8 months now
Voodoo Buwan: Can you give us some background on what you do?
Zeus Zetkin: Sljobfinder.com is a service run by Indusgeeks Solutions P. Ltd ( LLC in the U.S.) We are primarily a virtual world development and marketing company based out of India. The first such company in India actually. What we are doing at Sljobfinder. com is creating a big inventory of temps for you to hire from on demand. We have also introduced a ranking system, which enable employers to rank employees. That way the quality of our database improves and you get credit for good work , if you are employee and your job prospects improve
Voodoo Buwan: Do you get a lot of people using your service?
Zeus Zetkin: I would say so. We definitely have the biggest database of applicants. It’s at 10677 now. About 1500-2000 applicants per month.
Voodoo Buwan: So, what kinda of things do you find that most applicants are looking for in a job?
Zeus Zetkin: Most applicants look for fun jobs.. dancers, strippers , models etc; but an increasing number are turning to more serious pursuits like writing etc.
Voodoo Buwan: On the flipside, what are the most common jobs out there? Does it reflect what people are looking for?
Zeus Zetkin: Most common jobs out there are dancers ,strippers etc too.There is a lot of demand for attendants and store managers etc. as well. But that is a "between job". It doesn't pay well enough to be a "job" and it's not fun enough. So its a bit iffy... Because start-up capital is so low, why should someone manage? Why not run their own store?
Voodoo Buwan: What is the most unusual job that have had listed on your site?
Zeus Zetkin: Nothing really out of the way, but one was for nurses for a virtual hospital. It was a medical training sim, that was interesting
Voodoo Buwan: So, the SL jobmarket is, primarily retail and services led?
Zeus Zetkin: Yes, almost completely. SL doesn't have a production economy. By default the production that takes places happens in a very unorganised , individual capacity or with big organised developers like us. Whereby you are mostly hiring people in RL to do the production.
Voodoo Buwan: What is the average kind of wage for a worker in SL?
Zeus Zetkin: It used to around 40 L$ per hour for unskilled work and around 150-200 for skilled. Now the economy has grown so much , that it's very difficult to generalise however. On an estimate, for skilled jobs around 500 L$ an hour max, and unskilled around 100 L$. For anything more than stripping ,dancing and camping, the money is too small to bother, except to share profits etc. or for the love of it.
Voodoo Buwan: So, we're still not really approaching the stage where you can jack in your rl job, and live off your sl?
Zeus Zetkin: Not unless you are an entrepreneur. Employment here is at least 5-6 years away from sustainable levels. But for that to happen the general productivity and utility of virtual worlds has to increase. It’s not an employment scenario in isolation. What would you employ people on here, that justifies the pay?
Voodoo Buwan: So, what advice would you give to anyone looking for SL work at the moment, about the sort of skills that would be most useful in today’s SL job market?
Zeus Zetkin: If you really want to make some money working in SL and not running your own business. Management is a good area. Management would include: store, game, estate management etc. And if you are working management negotiate a commission based or profit based wage. That way the owner should be comfortable as he is making money and then sharing it and you get paid better on proven results.
Voodoo Buwan: That's really helpful. Thank you.
Previous articles in this series:
Times of your (Second) Life Part 1: Pregnancy
Times of your (Second) Life Part 2: Childhood
To find out more, I spoke to Zeus Zetkin, the man behind http://www.sljobfinder.com/, Second Life's Largest JobSeekers' Database and Job Search Engine (who have a base in SL here).
Voodoo Buwan: So, how long have you been running sljobfinder?
Zeus Zetkin: For about 8 months now
Voodoo Buwan: Can you give us some background on what you do?
Zeus Zetkin: Sljobfinder.com is a service run by Indusgeeks Solutions P. Ltd ( LLC in the U.S.) We are primarily a virtual world development and marketing company based out of India. The first such company in India actually. What we are doing at Sljobfinder. com is creating a big inventory of temps for you to hire from on demand. We have also introduced a ranking system, which enable employers to rank employees. That way the quality of our database improves and you get credit for good work , if you are employee and your job prospects improve
Voodoo Buwan: Do you get a lot of people using your service?
Zeus Zetkin: I would say so. We definitely have the biggest database of applicants. It’s at 10677 now. About 1500-2000 applicants per month.
Voodoo Buwan: So, what kinda of things do you find that most applicants are looking for in a job?
Zeus Zetkin: Most applicants look for fun jobs.. dancers, strippers , models etc; but an increasing number are turning to more serious pursuits like writing etc.
Voodoo Buwan: On the flipside, what are the most common jobs out there? Does it reflect what people are looking for?
Zeus Zetkin: Most common jobs out there are dancers ,strippers etc too.There is a lot of demand for attendants and store managers etc. as well. But that is a "between job". It doesn't pay well enough to be a "job" and it's not fun enough. So its a bit iffy... Because start-up capital is so low, why should someone manage? Why not run their own store?
Voodoo Buwan: What is the most unusual job that have had listed on your site?
Zeus Zetkin: Nothing really out of the way, but one was for nurses for a virtual hospital. It was a medical training sim, that was interesting
Voodoo Buwan: So, the SL jobmarket is, primarily retail and services led?
Zeus Zetkin: Yes, almost completely. SL doesn't have a production economy. By default the production that takes places happens in a very unorganised , individual capacity or with big organised developers like us. Whereby you are mostly hiring people in RL to do the production.
Voodoo Buwan: What is the average kind of wage for a worker in SL?
Zeus Zetkin: It used to around 40 L$ per hour for unskilled work and around 150-200 for skilled. Now the economy has grown so much , that it's very difficult to generalise however. On an estimate, for skilled jobs around 500 L$ an hour max, and unskilled around 100 L$. For anything more than stripping ,dancing and camping, the money is too small to bother, except to share profits etc. or for the love of it.
Voodoo Buwan: So, we're still not really approaching the stage where you can jack in your rl job, and live off your sl?
Zeus Zetkin: Not unless you are an entrepreneur. Employment here is at least 5-6 years away from sustainable levels. But for that to happen the general productivity and utility of virtual worlds has to increase. It’s not an employment scenario in isolation. What would you employ people on here, that justifies the pay?
Voodoo Buwan: So, what advice would you give to anyone looking for SL work at the moment, about the sort of skills that would be most useful in today’s SL job market?
Zeus Zetkin: If you really want to make some money working in SL and not running your own business. Management is a good area. Management would include: store, game, estate management etc. And if you are working management negotiate a commission based or profit based wage. That way the owner should be comfortable as he is making money and then sharing it and you get paid better on proven results.
Voodoo Buwan: That's really helpful. Thank you.
Previous articles in this series:
Times of your (Second) Life Part 1: Pregnancy
Times of your (Second) Life Part 2: Childhood
