Comments on: Some Notes from the Job Front of the War on Prosperity http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/ Firedoglake weblog Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:47:35 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: alan1tx http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963104 alan1tx Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:29:04 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963104 <p>Like they say at the poker table:</p> <p>If you play for 15 minutes and you can’t figure out who the sucker is…</p> <p>it’s probably you.</p> Like they say at the poker table:

If you play for 15 minutes and you can’t figure out who the sucker is…

it’s probably you.

]]> By: millerdunwoody http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963103 millerdunwoody Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:52:52 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963103 <p>Two weeks ago, the guy who owns the small company I was temping for offered me a job, to happen in a week or two. Didn’t return my call to check in after a week and didn’t say anything for the two days I temped there after the offer was made. So I e-mailed him. He replied back that he’s staying with temps for the time being.</p> <p>No biggie; it happens. What colors this picture is that on my last day of temping there, before his e-mail cancelling the offer, his office manager strode out into the room where I (57) and three temps (20s) were working and stated unequivocally that the company really needed to hire someone young who wouldn’t mind working for peanuts, just so they could get started and have something to do. Said this with me sitting right there, still thinking I had a job offer on the table, and after a full year of unemployment. Rude? Of course. Illegal? Sounds like it to me.</p> Two weeks ago, the guy who owns the small company I was temping for offered me a job, to happen in a week or two. Didn’t return my call to check in after a week and didn’t say anything for the two days I temped there after the offer was made. So I e-mailed him. He replied back that he’s staying with temps for the time being.

No biggie; it happens. What colors this picture is that on my last day of temping there, before his e-mail cancelling the offer, his office manager strode out into the room where I (57) and three temps (20s) were working and stated unequivocally that the company really needed to hire someone young who wouldn’t mind working for peanuts, just so they could get started and have something to do. Said this with me sitting right there, still thinking I had a job offer on the table, and after a full year of unemployment. Rude? Of course. Illegal? Sounds like it to me.

]]> By: PJEvans http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963100 PJEvans Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:33:13 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963100 <p>Where I work, we’ve had potential contract employees (through agencies) not hired because they couldn’t pass the drug check. (Even with a week’s advance notice, in one case: that’s someone who is <em>really</em> questionable as an employee.)</p> <p>We have enough trouble finding people in the field who can do the job, and it isn’t made easier by the corporate lawyers deciding that we can’t get anyone a second time (it was 12 months in and 6 months out, before the guys form corporate got involved), even though it would mean less training and more work from day one.</p> Where I work, we’ve had potential contract employees (through agencies) not hired because they couldn’t pass the drug check. (Even with a week’s advance notice, in one case: that’s someone who is really questionable as an employee.)

We have enough trouble finding people in the field who can do the job, and it isn’t made easier by the corporate lawyers deciding that we can’t get anyone a second time (it was 12 months in and 6 months out, before the guys form corporate got involved), even though it would mean less training and more work from day one.

]]> By: TarheelDem http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963004 TarheelDem Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:11:25 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963004 <p>Been there; done that; went three and a half years waiting after the IT recession. Got a brief 2-month stint renting tuxes during prom season through references from a friend’s mom. Heh, minimum-wage, no-benefit jobs are better than no job at all. When I was out, I couldn’t even get those because I was “overqualified”. If you can get one, do and in working there figure out how that might be an asset when you get back on track.</p> <p>In the past, I’ve done a lot of temp jobs: inventories, truck rental agent, construction site cleanup, even community college teaching. Learned something interesting on every one. For one, did you know that men rarely come in alone to rent a tuxedo; they either come in with their prom date or their fiance. And they are nervous as heck the whole time.</p> <p>And Spotts1701, best of luck to you. It will not last forever. Really.</p> Been there; done that; went three and a half years waiting after the IT recession. Got a brief 2-month stint renting tuxes during prom season through references from a friend’s mom. Heh, minimum-wage, no-benefit jobs are better than no job at all. When I was out, I couldn’t even get those because I was “overqualified”. If you can get one, do and in working there figure out how that might be an asset when you get back on track.

In the past, I’ve done a lot of temp jobs: inventories, truck rental agent, construction site cleanup, even community college teaching. Learned something interesting on every one. For one, did you know that men rarely come in alone to rent a tuxedo; they either come in with their prom date or their fiance. And they are nervous as heck the whole time.

And Spotts1701, best of luck to you. It will not last forever. Really.

]]> By: Fern http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963002 Fern Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:09:42 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1963002 <p>Employers are allowed to do a credit check?!</p> Employers are allowed to do a credit check?!

]]> By: dakine01 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962996 dakine01 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:03:08 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962996 <p><a href="http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/fdl-book-salon-welcomes-wade-rathke-citizen-wealth-winning-the-campaign-to-save-working-families/" rel="nofollow">Book Salon a couple of flights upstairs</a> with Wade Rathke’s <i>Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families</i> hosted by Tula Connell</p> Book Salon a couple of flights upstairs with Wade Rathke’s Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families hosted by Tula Connell

]]> By: Spotts1701 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962991 Spotts1701 Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:54:37 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962991 <p>Believe me, my parents and friends are just as active in giving me job leads. The problem is that I live in Nevada, which just set a new record for state unemployment at 12.5% (add in people who have given up and people like me who are underemployed and the number’s probably a lot closer to 20%).</p> <p>At the moment the ratio of job seekers to actual openings here is somewhere around 175:1. And most of the jobs that do open up are minimum-wage, no-benefits type jobs.</p> Believe me, my parents and friends are just as active in giving me job leads. The problem is that I live in Nevada, which just set a new record for state unemployment at 12.5% (add in people who have given up and people like me who are underemployed and the number’s probably a lot closer to 20%).

At the moment the ratio of job seekers to actual openings here is somewhere around 175:1. And most of the jobs that do open up are minimum-wage, no-benefits type jobs.

]]> By: TarheelDem http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962990 TarheelDem Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:49:28 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962990 <p>The internet is useless for job hunters. Their own friend, neighbors, family, and close colleagues are much better for leads about a job, any job. Oh and their friends, neighbors, family, and close colleagues.</p> <p>And state job services? They still believe that you can go knock on some employer’s door and sell yourself. Heck you can’t even leave a resume with a receptionist anymore. But in most states, being “able and available for work”, the litmus test of actual jobseeking, means actually contacting two employers a week or some other target behavior.</p> <p>And the Monster.com and other sites? Aggregation points for contractors to contractors to temporary contracting companies or personnel agencies to collect resumes in hopes of selling one to their customer. Don’t expect acknowledgment until the customer actually wants to see your personal details instead of a five bullet-point version of your resume. It is no wonder that job hunters are spamming. The opaque hiring processes that human resources departments have created provide incentives for it. Just like casinos provide incentives for folks to keep playing even though they are losing. HR departments royally deserve the spam resumes they are receiving. They set up the system.</p> <p>The “market” part of the labor market is broken and has been for a generation. People have gotten jobs by dumb luck, and employers have gotten good matches with employees when they have, by dumb luck.</p> The internet is useless for job hunters. Their own friend, neighbors, family, and close colleagues are much better for leads about a job, any job. Oh and their friends, neighbors, family, and close colleagues.

And state job services? They still believe that you can go knock on some employer’s door and sell yourself. Heck you can’t even leave a resume with a receptionist anymore. But in most states, being “able and available for work”, the litmus test of actual jobseeking, means actually contacting two employers a week or some other target behavior.

And the Monster.com and other sites? Aggregation points for contractors to contractors to temporary contracting companies or personnel agencies to collect resumes in hopes of selling one to their customer. Don’t expect acknowledgment until the customer actually wants to see your personal details instead of a five bullet-point version of your resume. It is no wonder that job hunters are spamming. The opaque hiring processes that human resources departments have created provide incentives for it. Just like casinos provide incentives for folks to keep playing even though they are losing. HR departments royally deserve the spam resumes they are receiving. They set up the system.

The “market” part of the labor market is broken and has been for a generation. People have gotten jobs by dumb luck, and employers have gotten good matches with employees when they have, by dumb luck.

]]> By: OrganicGeorge http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962988 OrganicGeorge Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:34:29 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962988 <p>I’m in the same situation, medical bills, with excellent insurance, over a period of 4 years drained us dry. Now I can’t be considered for a professional job because of my bad financial report. </p> <p>Talk about insult to injury.</p> I’m in the same situation, medical bills, with excellent insurance, over a period of 4 years drained us dry. Now I can’t be considered for a professional job because of my bad financial report.

Talk about insult to injury.

]]> By: parsimon http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962986 parsimon Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:31:07 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/some-notes-from-the-job-front-of-the-war-on-prosperity/#comment-1962986 <p>The sorts of issues involved in the original post are by this time curious to me, given that I’ve been self-employed for years. Carrying one’s portfolio around (in a briefcase, fully cleansed, as it were) strikes me as, well, as problematic as it’s become. The fact that it’s the default model is striking.</p> <p>I’m very sympathetic to those in that position in this economic climate; it should be said that there may be a problem with that model of employment in the first place. Those of you who are struggling to find a place now, my best wishes to you. There may be room for rethinking the sorts of work that are of interest.</p> The sorts of issues involved in the original post are by this time curious to me, given that I’ve been self-employed for years. Carrying one’s portfolio around (in a briefcase, fully cleansed, as it were) strikes me as, well, as problematic as it’s become. The fact that it’s the default model is striking.

I’m very sympathetic to those in that position in this economic climate; it should be said that there may be a problem with that model of employment in the first place. Those of you who are struggling to find a place now, my best wishes to you. There may be room for rethinking the sorts of work that are of interest.

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