Are You Hiring?

I just received another brief message through Facebook. All it said was "Are you hiring?"

So as I sent off my standard reply, I thought why not post it here also. I'm beginning to think people believe they are doing the best thing by sending out these three word inquiries. That it is nice and efficient of everyone's time. That with enough three word inquiries something will come back.

Are we hiring? I'm always on the lookout for good people. If you are looking to work here take this tip (and these apply to any employer). 1.In person visits are crucial. If we're not worth the time of a visit or at least a phone call we must not mean much to you, and working here means learning a long set of skills. If we are going to devote ourselves to your development, then you mean a lot to us. And we should mean a lot to you.  We hire people, and we want to see our relationship and your skills grow.  We don't hire warm bodies to be a cog in the machine.  Try out a person to person approach to working here!