Unemployment Round 345

[Nice Squirrel]

Looks like Unemployment in my city is at 3.6%. Outside the metropolitan area it is 4.1%

My work group has a job open with no remotely qualified applicants out of the seven applications we received this month. The job pays $17.50/hr and only requires some sales skills and the ability to pass a background check.

Why do I keep hearing about unemployment and the economy being so bad?

 

[ZiprHead]

Partly the fault of employers mis-matched expectations?

Last year, after I retired from the hospital, I applied for part-time work with Radio Shack. I've had training in electronics, I'm very good with computers and I'm kind of a gadget freak so working for RS piqued my interest. Went to the store to apply and was told I must apply on line. Go on line to RS to apply. Part of the application process is answer a 100 plus question quiz. Virtually all the questions pertained to selling and sales experience. Not one pertaining to knowing anything about what RS actually sells. Since I have no practical sales experience I, of course, never heard from them.

And Radio Shack wonders why they are struggling.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Partly the fault of employers mis-matched expectations?

Last year, after I retired from the hospital, I applied for part-time work with Radio Shack. I've had training in electronics, I'm very good with computers and I'm kind of a gadget freak so working for RS piqued my interest. Went to the store to apply and was told I must apply on line. Go on line to RS to apply. Part of the application process is answer a 100 plus question quiz. Virtually all the questions pertained to selling and sales experience. Not one pertaining to knowing anything about what RS actually sells. Since I have no practical sales experience I, of course, never heard from them.

And Radio Shack wonders why they are struggling.

Yes, that is dumb. We cut out the HR Screening last week and got the applications they rejected. They rejected them for good reason.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Looks like Unemployment in my city is at 3.6%. Outside the metropolitan area it is 4.1%

My work group has a job open with no remotely qualified applicants out of the seven applications we received this month. The job pays $17.50/hr and only requires some sales skills and the ability to pass a background check.

Why do I keep hearing about unemployment and the economy being so bad?

Because that doesn't represent America.

Around here it's supposedly 7.3% but we don't have more working than when it was 15%. Either they have given up or they have moved elsewhere.

 

[laughing dog]

Looks like Unemployment in my city is at 3.6%. Outside the metropolitan area it is 4.1%

My work group has a job open with no remotely qualified applicants out of the seven applications we received this month. The job pays $17.50/hr and only requires some sales skills and the ability to pass a background check.

Why do I keep hearing about unemployment and the economy being so bad?

Because that doesn't represent America.

Around here it's supposedly 7.3% but we don't have more working than when it was 15%. Either they have given up or they have moved elsewhere.

Why do you think your region represents the USA and nice squirrel's does not?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Let's take a looksee:

https://www.google.com/publicdata/e...000000&ifdim=country&hl=en_US&dl=en&ind=false

Remember that we are the lowest in the nation right now.

 

[Hickdive]

Looks like Unemployment in my city is at 3.6%. Outside the metropolitan area it is 4.1%

My work group has a job open with no remotely qualified applicants out of the seven applications we received this month. The job pays $17.50/hr and only requires some sales skills and the ability to pass a background check.

Why do I keep hearing about unemployment and the economy being so bad?

My bold. There's your problem right there. You expect candidates to turn up with the skills already, someone else to have done the job of getting them trained.

No employer these days is remotely interested in looking at a person's qualifications and determining whether they could be trained into the position, they all want someone to come in and hit the ground running even on fairly low wages.

 

[bilby]

Looks like Unemployment in my city is at 3.6%. Outside the metropolitan area it is 4.1%

My work group has a job open with no remotely qualified applicants out of the seven applications we received this month. The job pays $17.50/hr and only requires some sales skills and the ability to pass a background check.

Why do I keep hearing about unemployment and the economy being so bad?

My bold. There's your problem right there. You expect candidates to turn up with the skills already, someone else to have done the job of getting them trained.

No employer these days is remotely interested in looking at a person's qualifications and determining whether they could be trained into the position, they all want someone to come in and hit the ground running even on fairly low wages.

^^This.

I was fortunate that when I entered the job market, most large employers provided extensive training.

Then some genius realised that by recruiting staff from other companies, they could get their competitors to pay to train their staff - they could offer slightly higher wages, eliminate the entire training budget, and still come out ahead.

Those who tried to continue the old system lost their best staff to the higher wage competitors, as soon as their training was finished; and were left with higher costs and worse staff than the companies that parasitised them.

It's a fundamental flaw in the way corporations operate - they are required to try to make a living by stealing each others laundry, and it inevitably leads to sub-optimal results.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Looks like Unemployment in my city is at 3.6%. Outside the metropolitan area it is 4.1%

My work group has a job open with no remotely qualified applicants out of the seven applications we received this month. The job pays $17.50/hr and only requires some sales skills and the ability to pass a background check.

Why do I keep hearing about unemployment and the economy being so bad?

My bold. There's your problem right there. You expect candidates to turn up with the skills already, someone else to have done the job of getting them trained.

No employer these days is remotely interested in looking at a person's qualifications and determining whether they could be trained into the position, they all want someone to come in and hit the ground running even on fairly low wages.

Actually are we are looking for is any retail sales experience. We need applicants that can communicate and most of the applicants did not fill out the application completely. One failed to include their last name.

 

[James Brown]

Geez, I have twenty years of retail sales experience and currently earn $12.75 at my secondary retail job. (I do better at my primary job, but I will need both for the forseeable future.)

There must be something else going on.

 

[Duke Leto]

There are pretty big variations from state to state.

You, Nice Squirrel, are benefiting from a Democratic dominated state government that isn't doing the Austerity thing much and probably the excellent fossil fuel economy in neighboring North Dakota.

 

[PyramidHead]

Ugh. I hate Rhode Island. The laws of economics don't apply here; corruption is king. I seriously wish some neighboring state would swallow us up.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Because that doesn't represent America.

Around here it's supposedly 7.3% but we don't have more working than when it was 15%. Either they have given up or they have moved elsewhere.

Why do you think your region represents the USA and nice squirrel's does not?

I don't think either one is representative.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Looks like Unemployment in my city is at 3.6%. Outside the metropolitan area it is 4.1%

My work group has a job open with no remotely qualified applicants out of the seven applications we received this month. The job pays $17.50/hr and only requires some sales skills and the ability to pass a background check.

Why do I keep hearing about unemployment and the economy being so bad?

My bold. There's your problem right there. You expect candidates to turn up with the skills already, someone else to have done the job of getting them trained.

No employer these days is remotely interested in looking at a person's qualifications and determining whether they could be trained into the position, they all want someone to come in and hit the ground running even on fairly low wages.

Some skills you acquire on the job, some you need training for.

You don't normally learn sales skills in school so it's something that could involve on the job training but that's not likely at $17.50/hr--he's looking for people with some experience.

 

[bilby]

My bold. There's your problem right there. You expect candidates to turn up with the skills already, someone else to have done the job of getting them trained.

No employer these days is remotely interested in looking at a person's qualifications and determining whether they could be trained into the position, they all want someone to come in and hit the ground running even on fairly low wages.

Some skills you acquire on the job, some you need training for.

You don't normally learn sales skills in school so it's something that could involve on the job training but that's not likely at $17.50/hr--he's looking for people with some experience.

A restatement of the problem is not a rebuttal.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Some skills you acquire on the job, some you need training for.

You don't normally learn sales skills in school so it's something that could involve on the job training but that's not likely at $17.50/hr--he's looking for people with some experience.

A restatement of the problem is not a rebuttal.

The point is the position he's describing isn't one for which on-the-job training is appropriate.

 

[bilby]

A restatement of the problem is not a rebuttal.

The point is the position he's describing isn't one for which on-the-job training is appropriate.

That's odd; I could have sworn that someone just said that the skills required are not normally taught in schools. If on the job training isn't appropriate, then where are these skills supposed to come from? The skills fairies?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The point is the position he's describing isn't one for which on-the-job training is appropriate.

That's odd; I could have sworn that someone just said that the skills required are not normally taught in schools. If on the job training isn't appropriate, then where are these skills supposed to come from? The skills fairies?

In a case like this on the job training is appropriate for an entry-level sales position. I don't think he's describing an entry-level position, though.

 

[bilby]

That's odd; I could have sworn that someone just said that the skills required are not normally taught in schools. If on the job training isn't appropriate, then where are these skills supposed to come from? The skills fairies?

In a case like this on the job training is appropriate for an entry-level sales position. I don't think he's describing an entry-level position, though.

I say Holmes, I note a marked absence of fecal material.

So you are saying that the problem is that they expected somebody else to provide training to their prospective employees. Obviously, if everyone expects somebody else to do something, that thing doesn't get done.

And as training costs money, nobody is going to do it - because their competitors who don't do it can then use the money saved to offer higher wages and poach the trained staff.

 

[Axulus]

In a case like this on the job training is appropriate for an entry-level sales position. I don't think he's describing an entry-level position, though.

I say Holmes, I note a marked absence of fecal material.

So you are saying that the problem is that they expected somebody else to provide training to their prospective employees. Obviously, if everyone expects somebody else to do something, that thing doesn't get done.

And as training costs money, nobody is going to do it - because their competitors who don't do it can then use the money saved to offer higher wages and poach the trained staff.

Maybe they need an experienced person _now_. Training isn't instantaneous and not every person is equally trainable for any particular position.

As they are offering well above minimum wage, they could mitigate the training cost with a lower starting wage. The drawback is the additional time it takes to get to the desired production level from the individual.