FARK.com: (6883310) A sign of the times. Employers are having a hard time finding people to work for them

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(Some Unemployed Guy)		A sign of the times. Employers are having a hard time finding people to work for them (lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com)		219
		More: Interesting, role reversal, staffing firm, Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute, school of business

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5466 clicks; posted to Business » on 17 Jan 2012 at 5:01 PM | Favorite | share:

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netweavr

2012-01-17 01:23:31 PM

Well if no one's been hiring for the last 5 years, you won't find anyone looking for work today with only 5 years experience.

Idiots.

Weaver95

2012-01-17 01:40:34 PM

netweavr: Well if no one's been hiring for the last 5 years, you won't find anyone looking for work today with only 5 years experience.

Idiots.

I especially like it when the job description calls for you to have 5+ years experience in an application that's only been out for 3 years.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat

2012-01-17 01:43:59 PM

The salient point of the article:

"Employers have been spoiled by the recession," said Melanie Holmes, a vice president with Manpower Group.

Holmes explained that the nation's high unemployment rate left many recruiters feeling they didn't have to look very hard to find a great candidate, and they could skimp on money or benefits.

Employers also may not be willing to spend the time or money training someone for a highly specialized job, or one that requires unique skills.

"Employers are getting pickier and pickier," Holmes said. "We want the perfect person to walk through the door."

Other experts also are seeing evidence that employers just aren't working as hard to recruit workers, either because they can't afford to or they don't feel like they have to. Employers may not be looking far afield because they can't afford moving expenses. Employees may be less willing to move because of the housing bust.

netweavr

2012-01-17 01:57:48 PM

GAT_00

2012-01-17 02:02:56 PM

netweavr: Weaver95: netweavr: Well if no one's been hiring for the last 5 years, you won't find anyone looking for work today with only 5 years experience.

Idiots.

I especially like it when the job description calls for you to have 5+ years experience in an application that's only been out for 3 years.

Yeah, that's always amusing.

Yeah, I can personally vouch that the experience demands are what kept me from finding something. People wanted two years experience at minimum for anything starting, and even if they didn't, things were so bad that people with 10 years experience were taking those jobs. Small wonder they can't find people now.

DanZero

2012-01-17 02:09:07 PM

Peki

2012-01-17 02:09:11 PM

What? You mean people won't work for crap pay, no benefits, and with people who are convinced that they are lazy, stupid, and self-absorbed? No, you don't say!

/the first step to getting out of a hole is to stop digging deeper

serpent_sky

2012-01-17 02:12:54 PM

They can probably find people, but everyone wants someone who can do the work of 5 people, with various skills that don't even go together, traditionally.

In lieu of writing jobs, I find a lot of unpaid internships and "stipend" jobs that pay something like $400/month that used to be mid-level, good jobs. And the standards are actually high! Is it any shock they can't get people to do that?

ecmoRandomNumbers

2012-01-17 02:20:58 PM

"I'm sorry. We're looking for somebody who can code in 4 different languages and has human resources and accounting degrees. Plus, you'll have to work Saturdays and will get no vacation because we need you doing all these jobs at once."

dryknife

2012-01-17 02:35:15 PM

Firearms Industry Booms In Montana (new window)

Because People in power are Stupid

2012-01-17 02:38:10 PM

Maybe all these unemployable people are "process oriented" (new window)

Mugato

2012-01-17 02:38:51 PM

Weaver95: I especially like it when the job description calls for you to have 5+ years experience in an application that's only been out for 3 years.

Or 5+ years experience in a dozen programming languages.

vpb

2012-01-17 02:39:03 PM

We can't find anyone qualified usually means we can't find people who will work for what we feel like paying.

downstairs

2012-01-17 02:52:42 PM

Weaver95: netweavr: Well if no one's been hiring for the last 5 years, you won't find anyone looking for work today with only 5 years experience.

Idiots.

I especially like it when the job description calls for you to have 5+ years experience in an application that's only been out for 3 years.

I'll never understand timeframes on experience. I understand listing what you need to be proficient at, and even a level (expert, mid-level, etc.).

When I learned VB back in 1997, I taught myself and was near expert level within maybe a year or year and a half.

My wife is applying for office assistant-type positions. Luckily she has 10+ years experience with MS Word... but I know that she learned all the ins-and-outs of Word within a year.

So... someone can write sloppy code for 10 years, and they're more qualified than me... who maybe just dug into that specific language a year ago? I don't think so.

SlothB77

2012-01-17 03:01:13 PM

everyone is too busy occupying the public park of some city for weeks on end or busy trying out for American Idol to get useful work skills instead. and this is what happened. so maybe unemployment isn't Bush's fault or Obama's fault - it is the misplaced priorities of many many individuals.

Weaver95

2012-01-17 03:01:29 PM

Mugato: Weaver95: I especially like it when the job description calls for you to have 5+ years experience in an application that's only been out for 3 years.

Or 5+ years experience in a dozen programming languages.

oo...those are always fun!

Nadie_AZ

2012-01-17 03:08:59 PM

Weaver95: Mugato: Weaver95: I especially like it when the job description calls for you to have 5+ years experience in an application that's only been out for 3 years.

Or 5+ years experience in a dozen programming languages.

oo...those are always fun!

I remember the post dot com era. Exactly like this. In 2001, you'd see job postings for 20 years of Java programming experience, 5 years of Windows 2000 experience, proficiency in 32 programming languages on all platforms.

"Employers are getting pickier and pickier," Holmes said. "We want the perfect person to walk through the door."

Oh go cry me a river. Employers aren't exactly perfect people, either.

Aarontology

2012-01-17 03:15:07 PM

serpent_sky

2012-01-17 03:16:43 PM

downstairs:

So... someone can write sloppy code for 10 years, and they're more qualified than me... who maybe just dug into that specific language a year ago? I don't think so.

No, but it prevents them from having to think too hard and actually evaluate people on their individual merits.

GWLush

2012-01-17 03:34:42 PM

I hired someone yesterday for an assistant position. I wanted someone with much more Microsoft Office experience ,especially Excel, but once I interviewed her I knew she would be perfect on the phone and communicating with clients. I am not sure why employers put so much emphasis on the truly unknowns. Someone can have years and years of experience in a certain field and be really shiatty at it. I try to do as many interviews as I can for a position. I like to sit with the person before making any rash decisions based on resume.

I guess I am doing it wrong.

downstairs

2012-01-17 03:35:05 PM

vpb: We can't find anyone qualified usually means we can't find people who will work for what we feel like paying.

Exactly. My wife is looking for a job right now. What used to pay $15/hour now pays near minimum wage. Its not worth it for her to work for that little, since it really wouldn't help us out all that much.

downstairs

2012-01-17 03:36:43 PM

xanadian

2012-01-17 03:37:51 PM

serpent_sky

2012-01-17 03:54:20 PM

downstairs: Exactly. My wife is looking for a job right now. What used to pay $15/hour now pays near minimum wage. Its not worth it for her to work for that little, since it really wouldn't help us out all that much.

Especially when you figure in gas, child care (if necessary) and other expenses associated with work that do come up.

EnviroDude

2012-01-17 03:56:15 PM

In the employers defense, people are desperate enough for jobs that they will apply for any advertised opening regardless of qualifications. Tack on people who have the experience but use crummy resume's, and you have the perfect storm.

/former coworker was let go this past week. The guy has 12 years environmental consulting experience and his resume was 6 lines.

no wonder people aren't getting hired.

/ I aim high and am not nearly qualified to work for the jobs where I have applied.

thomps

2012-01-17 04:00:37 PM

so a company that specializes in finding qualified employees for companies is releasing a study saying that companies can't find qualified employees on its own. why are we talking about this when BP just released a study showing that americans need more gasoline?

downstairs

2012-01-17 04:20:39 PM

EnviroDude: Tack on people who have the experience but use crummy resume's, and you have the perfect storm.

Ones with grammatical errors?

EnviroDude

2012-01-17 04:27:51 PM

downstairs: EnviroDude: Tack on people who have the experience but use crummy resume's, and you have the perfect storm.

Ones with grammatical errors?

those too. Engineers don't major in English, you know!

downstairs

2012-01-17 04:34:02 PM

EnviroDude: downstairs: EnviroDude: Tack on people who have the experience but use crummy resume's, and you have the perfect storm.

Ones with grammatical errors?

those too. Engineers don't major in English, you know!

I was just kidding with ya

/pet peaive

dickfreckle

2012-01-17 04:38:44 PM

GWLush: I hired someone yesterday for an assistant position. I wanted someone with much more Microsoft Office experience ,especially Excel, but once I interviewed her I knew she would be perfect on the phone and communicating with clients. I am not sure why employers put so much emphasis on the truly unknowns. Someone can have years and years of experience in a certain field and be really shiatty at it. I try to do as many interviews as I can for a position. I like to sit with the person before making any rash decisions based on resume.

I guess I am doing it wrong.

I was recently hired based more on my face-to-face interview than my resume. Having been a bartender for years, I have a knack for dealing with clients (especially persuasion) that a lot of people don't share. Sure, my experience and sheer knowledge may be dwarfed by Jim over there, but he's also an irascible, impersonal dick. Nobody wants that if the gig involves anything even remotely public.

You can always teach or refresh a smart employee in other aspects of the job that Jim might have been immediately suited to (replete with ingrained bad habits, I might add), or you can hope to somehow turn Jim into a completely different person and, if not, stuff him in a back room somewhere and don't let him so much as answer the phone, let alone step in the field.

An-Unnecessarily-Long-Name

2012-01-17 05:00:01 PM

Just talking about this with a friend.

Job- Exchange Administrator
Quals- 10+ years experience, BS degree, CCNA
Pay- $40,000
Local- Tampa

ahahahahahahahahah

taxandspend

2012-01-17 05:05:28 PM

I've been looking for four months after leaving my job for LA. I've sent out near 1,000 resumes, have got nothing in return. So I applied at the Gamestops, Best Buys, McDonalds, Chipotle's in my area, again nothing.

I wonder if me having a college degree is holding me back for some of those later jobs.

\still looking

SilentStrider

2012-01-17 05:06:01 PM

Try paying better and giving better benefits.

Oh wait, that might burt the bottom line. Can't have that.

SilentStrider

2012-01-17 05:06:52 PM

burt=hurt

Or a new contraction of butthurt. Take your pick.

downstairs

2012-01-17 05:09:00 PM

An-Unnecessarily-Long-Name: Just talking about this with a friend.

Job- Exchange Administrator
Quals- 10+ years experience, BS degree, CCNA
Pay- $40,000
Local- Tampa

ahahahahahahahahah

Not getting the joke? Exchange has been around for more then 10 years?

Omnivorous

2012-01-17 05:09:27 PM

Try paying better and giving better benefits.

It's cheaper to get Congress to issue more green cards, so that you can hire Indians for the jobs.

J. Frank Parnell

2012-01-17 05:11:49 PM

taxandspend: I wonder if me having a college degree is holding me back for some of those later jobs.

References are what they're looking for. Degrees don't catch the eye of a potential employer like a long list of happy past employers does.

Don't Troll Me Bro!

2012-01-17 05:14:42 PM

In Madison a few years back:

Employer: Tomotherapy
Title: Entry level medical physicist
Salary: $30k-35k
Education requirement: M.S. Medical Physics, Ph.D. preferred
Experience: min. 10-15 years with increasing responsibility throughout

That was posted for probably a year before the company collapsed on itself.
2.bp.blogspot.com

rumpelstiltskin

2012-01-17 05:21:26 PM

thomps: so a company that specializes in finding qualified employees for companies is releasing a study saying that companies can't find qualified employees on its own.

That sums things up pretty nicely.

YixilTesiphon

2012-01-17 05:21:45 PM

falcon176

2012-01-17 05:23:22 PM

Entry Level Mail Clerk
Salary: Bend over
Education Requirements: Dual Masters degree in Anthropology and Aeroscience at an Ivy League school, along with PhD in Chemistry
Experience: 10+ years flying rockets for NASA

why the fark can't we HIRE ANYBODY

Tourney3p0

2012-01-17 05:26:15 PM

Seems like if they really cared about filling the job, they would change the compensation or some other aspect to actually attract a potential hire. If they're not doing that, they probably don't really need that worker anyway.

DrippinBalls

2012-01-17 05:26:44 PM

F*ck employers. I saved up enough dough, paid off my small house, learned a crap load of new tech skills Sent resumes galore. Offers: $10-14/hour. That's with 22 years of programming and DB experience. Told them all to die and go to hell. I'll get food stamps before I'm working for chump wages. Employers today are cheap worthless bastards and the tide will turn, and by God, when it does, I hope to see most of them royally screwed.

ToastTheRabbit

2012-01-17 05:26:54 PM

Honestly,

I was one of those people who came in to my company entry level, saw a need for someone to fill a particular department (R&D) and i studied my ass off for 3 months to learn everything I could about what our company does and how its done and what tech has evolved that's relevant. I managed to position myself in R&D for roughly 1/2 standard pay and I am taking night classes and studying every bit of information i can get my hands on. When the economy improves and we grow and I grow with it.

downstairs

2012-01-17 05:27:31 PM

taxandspend: I've been looking for four months after leaving my job for LA. I've sent out near 1,000 resumes, have got nothing in return. So I applied at the Gamestops, Best Buys, McDonalds, Chipotle's in my area, again nothing.

I wonder if me having a college degree is holding me back for some of those later jobs.

\still looking

It most likely is. Think about it... with a college degree, when the economy gets better, chances are you'll bolt for another job.

I guess you could lie and say you didn't go to college.

YixilTesiphon

2012-01-17 05:29:04 PM

downstairs

2012-01-17 05:31:23 PM

DrippinBalls: F*ck employers. I saved up enough dough, paid off my small house, learned a crap load of new tech skills Sent resumes galore. Offers: $10-14/hour. That's with 22 years of programming and DB experience. Told them all to die and go to hell. I'll get food stamps before I'm working for chump wages. Employers today are cheap worthless bastards and the tide will turn, and by God, when it does, I hope to see most of them royally screwed.

Why blame the employers? The tech industry is now flooded with kids who would be happy to make $28k/year.

It is what it is. I used to be able to charge $3-$5k for a simple website. Now the same quality site can be had for $300. Oh well, I moved on to new things.

As the Internet and PCs became more ubiquitous, you had to see this coming.

I was lucky. I got into the industry in 1994. Colleges weren't offering degrees in computing, so it was geeks like me who could cherry pick projects for a lot of money.

Those were the days... but its no one's fault the bottom dropped out. I saw it coming.

haemaker

2012-01-17 05:31:33 PM

Not only all of this, but employers don't want to hire the unemployed! Here is the thinking...

Yes unemployment is high, but if there were layoffs, they would layoff the bottom x%. We want a top 10% employee, so if they are unemployed, they weren't a top 10% employee. Even if their company collapsed, if they were good, they should have found a job BY NOW!

Tourney3p0

2012-01-17 05:33:37 PM

taxandspend: I've been looking for four months after leaving my job for LA. I've sent out near 1,000 resumes, have got nothing in return. So I applied at the Gamestops, Best Buys, McDonalds, Chipotle's in my area, again nothing.

I wonder if me having a college degree is holding me back for some of those later jobs.

Nope. Telling them you have a college degree probably is, though.

Seriously, you think a degree is going to help you land second shift at McDonalds? Both of you know that their totally sweet 15% employee discount isn't going to keep you around once the economy improves. If nothing else, they've weeded out someone with extremely poor decision making skills when it comes to the workplace.

Macular Degenerate

2012-01-17 05:35:40 PM

In manufacturing, it's pretty common to have 10 unskilled workers laid off, replaced by an automated cell that requires 1 professional person to program and maintain, along with 10 other machines. And there are few places to get high level systems integration engineers who can also step in and do some grunt work in pinch to get a job out the door. The few guys who can step up and get the training (usually professional or management level training) are in like Flynn. The rest are destined for the dustbin of humanity

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