"Job marketplace" vs. "workplace"

Question

How can a westerner land an IT job in a third world country? appears well on its way to closure. Some reasons for closing this specific question appear in this meta question. However, I wish to address one specific comment on the actual question:

I also think that this isn't about the workplace, it's about finding jobs (or to say it another way, the job "marketplace"), which is off-topic in my opinion.

I disagree with this particular reason for closure as off-topic. The job search, hiring practices, and the like seem like good questions for this site so long as the questions are otherwise good. Another way to look at this is that career-oriented questions that otherwise meet the guidelines for good questions should be welcome here (I think).

What say you? Agree? Disagree? Should we include something about the job search process specifically in our list of what is on topic? Are there certain job-search- or career-related questions that we specifically do not want?

Answer 1

This question went off topic with Im looking for almost an IT "peace corps" type role. How could I find listings like this? Had the question been about the process of getting a visa, or some other specific process related to getting a job overseas it would have been on topic.

This question quickly became point me to the new monster.com. That is why it is off topic.

The same standards for questions still apply as they do for all SE Sites. If we allow the site to go off the rails by allowing bad questions we might get closed for being a low quality site.

Answer 2

UPDATE Also, see this related question: Can I ask "Professional Careers and Advice" questions here?

I'll use my answer to elaborate on my comment - it's possible that I'm already gaining a reputation for being the "off-topic" police, and in a few cases it's been pointed out that perhaps I am being too narrow in my interpretation. :P

My comment comes from a broader question regarding what the topic of the site is itself. I interpret it to be about the workplace, the place where people are performing work, and can include questions on structure, organization, politics, advice on the dynamics of work, etc.

The argument for allowing these questions, as I understand it

It's on topic because, though it's not about the performance of work, it's about finding work, which is hard to separate from doing work.

The argument against allowing these questions, from my perspective

This question in particular asks where to find a particular kind of work. To me, it sounds like a question that can be answered by a google search, and it's hard for me to imagine valid answers that are more than one line. The best answers I can imagine for this answer essentially turn it into a poll.

Am I going too narrow here?

As the scope, tone, and culture of the site is formed, I find these sorts of questions especially interesting, and I'll concede that I side more with "make it highly focused" and "let's see what happens", in a general sense. Maybe that's good, maybe it's not.