I like helping people a lot but not so much if they are only trying to help themselves.<p>In 2004 I changed how I hire people and you folks discussed that (see: <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/BrookeAllen1/brooke-allen-has-a-better-way-of-hiringP" rel="nofollow">http://www.slideshare.net/BrookeAllen1/brooke-allen-has-a-be...</a>)<p>Since then I've become more public about how the job market is broken and how it might get fixed.<p>A year ago when I retired from Wall Street finding ways of improving the market for work has become a major passion project of mine. I have connected with many people and helped them change how they hire or helped them with an article or blog post they are writing.<p>But one downside is that I often get requests from total strangers to help them get a job and - to be frank - I find these requests a imposition.<p>I did not understand why I felt this way until reading this piece by Nick Corcodilos.<p>Brooke (BrookeAllen.com)