Sad State for Those Looking for Work...

[legion]

It goes both ways. I see posts on job boards looking for rare combinations of skills for next to no pay. I've seriously seen ads asking for candidates with degrees in statistics AND computer science, WITH excellent customer-service and analytical skills, all to be 1st level tech support that pays $15 an hour. You end up turning off people who can realistically do the job while encouraging the crazies "to give it a shot".

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

When I say 'screened', these are the ones that our HR department has weeded out.

What to do?

Maybe the problem is the HR people?

I have applied several times for a transfer to a job I'm more than qualified for and the guys in that department are begging to make the transfer, but HR shoots down my application because I don't check all the right boxes.

[M.D. Holloway]

yup, that's another issue...

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by legion

It goes both ways. I see posts on job boards looking for rare combinations of skills for next to no pay. I've seriously seen ads asking for candidates with degrees in statistics AND computer science, WITH excellent customer-service and analytical skills, all to be 1st level tech support that pays $15 an hour. You end up turning off people who can realistically do the job while encouraging the crazies "to give it a shot".

back when i was out of college, saw all sorts of entry level engineering jobs requiring 3-5 years experience. um ... thats not entry level. you should be engineer 2 by that point, possibly even engineer 1 by then ....

it was at the bottom of the whole, spring 2009 for the job market, but i saw some really really silly job adds.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

but HR shoots down my application because I don't check all the right boxes.

No, chances are you checked the two WRONG boxes:

[ x ] Caucasian
[ x ] Male

[SoCal911T]

Originally Posted by cockerpunk

back when i was out of college, saw all sorts of entry level engineering jobs requiring 3-5 years experience. um ... thats not entry level.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. At my agency, a civil engineer straight out of school with zero experience starts in the $66k - $89k range.

[sammyg2]

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

Just to make sure you understand why your in school kid...

you're

[rwest]

Municipality I work for has frequent police officer testing and it is unbelievable that these young folks who have gone to school and training to be peace officers as a career will show up for the test wearing board shorts and "t" shirts- granted it is a large group setting and not interviews, but they still register by name.

[porsche4life]

Have to bump this. Walked I my bosses office today after some interviews. He's like I've invterivewed 15 guys and not a one of them was any good.


I'll second Ricks comment too, I've seen some crazy job descriptions. When your "needs" list has 50 bullet points, I start to understand why the job has been posted for over a month.

[recycled sixtie]

Shaun you are right to call the bad spellers out. Some members of this forum are calling out people that are not educated and they can't spell themselves.

[ramonesfreak]

I'm an attorney working in a large law firm and I would say 90% of the twenty-something year old workers here write letters with grammar worse than that.

I spend most of my time correcting or totally re-writing letters.

Their ability to understand the issues in order to ask the right questions is even worse than their grammar.

I have a recent MBA graduate in my department who talks like a 7th grader and does about the same quality of work

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

I am do not believe that there are only a limited amount of jobs but rather a very poor offering of those looking for jobs. I have been looking for an inside sales / customer service representative for a few weeks now. I have poured through hundreds of 'screened' resumes. When I say 'screened', these are the ones that our HR department has weeded out. I've seen some they didn't weed out and I truly cannot believe the employee pool in our country! Here is an example of the statement one individual used in the objective section of the resume:



I did not change a word of this. The person had a last name that did not suggest that English was a second langue. They indicated that they held other jobs that would indicate a 4th grade mastery of English or so I would hope. The resume went on with sporadic offerings of lucidity which suggested that they could cut and paste from another document.

I won't post all the examples of ridiculousness. There is a certain level of the population that are unemployable. I am beside myself. I am wasting so much time pouring through countless resumes of people who are just plain scary!

What to do?

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

I'm an attorney working in a large law firm and I would say 90% of the twenty-something year old workers here write letters with grammar worse than that.

I spend most of my time correcting or totally re-writing letters.

Their ability to understand the issues in order to ask the right questions is even worse than their grammar.

I have a recent MBA graduate in my department who talks like a 7th grader and does about the same quality of work

Is it re-writing or rewriting?

I found out that both are acceptable. It's a fast changing world. I am sure there are some brilliant people out there that cannot spell....

[ramonesfreak]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

Is it re-writing or rewriting?

When I'm quickly typing something with my iPhone on a car forum it's whatever I say it is

When I'm working and getting paid to sign my name on documents, it's as close to perfect as I can get it

[M.D. Holloway]

Its one thing posting musings on a chat board (here) - a completely different deal when doing something professionally.

And yes, I don't edit what I post, nor do I spell check, and nor do I give a poop about it to the extent I will change...

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

When I'm quickly typing something with my iPhone on a car forum it's whatever I say it is

When I'm working and getting paid to sign my name on documents, it's as close to perfect as I can get it

You are correct ramon. See my post above.

[ramonesfreak]

The interesting thing to me is that when I go back and read letters my grandparents wrote, the grammar is near perfect. None of them were educated beyond high school or had the need to draft a perfect letter. One grandfather was a fireman, the other was a mail carrier. My gandmothers never worked a day.

I guess they had more pride in their work and themselves

[motion]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

I guess they had more pride in their work and themselves

Yes, people were proud back then. There were only a few things to do in life, and you did them the best you knew how.

In America these days, people are spread too thin, and pride is no longer a part of the equation.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

you're

Yer.

He's in Texas y'all.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Yer.

He's in Texas y'all.

I used to live in TX. Had to go through a rigorous re-education (otherwise known as education) schedule when I left.