The Market Meltdown

A little far afield from recruiting, but jobs are driven by business growth, so maybe not that far!

The world-wide equity markets seem to be in free-fall, with no apparent end in sight. All the experts are in a tizzy about what to do about it. And, the Fed has cut the Federal Funds Rate by 3/4 of a point, something that hasn't been done seen since 1984.

If you want some sort of sense as to why this is occurring, check out two books highlighted on my blog's main page, "Fooled by Randomness", and "The Black Swan". Both are written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a former Securities Trader. In particular, "The Black Swan" is most directly applicable to our current situation, but "Fooled by Randomness" definitely sets the stage.

There are many good lessons to be learned from these two books, and if your job requires the application of modern statistical methods to help make decisions, it's high time you read both of them.  But I'll warn you, there's a moment where you'll say, "OMG, I've been doing this ALL wrong!"