I have come to the foregone conclusion that looking for work in this economy really sucks. I say this because I find myself, again, looking for work and I have combed through just about every job search website that I can think of only to find that most any of the jobs that I really am qualified for require 3 or more years of experience, which I have for most, plus a Bachelor’s degree.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that when a company is looking for fully qualified candidates, they need to make sure that the person they hire has all the knowledge to actually do the work. I get that. What I don’t understand is that if there is someone out there that is equally qualified without a degree, why not hire them? Would you not be accomplishing the same thing?
Prime example of this is looking at the unemployment figures. I use this as an example because of I used to work for Florida’s unemployment group supporting those on unemployment. Yes, I know, I’m on unemployment now. The irony is not lost on me.
"Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March 2011 is 11.1 percent, the lowest since November 2009 when the rate was also 11.1 percent. This represents 1,030,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,251,000. The state’s rate is down 0.4 percentage point from the February 2011 rate of 11.5 percent and is 0.2 percentage point lower than the March 2010 rate of 11.3 percent. This is the first over-the-year decline in Florida’s unemployment rate since November 2006."
Source: www.floridajobs.org
That doesn’t sound too bad considering they are starting to see a decline in unemployment claims. It is still pretty bad though. Florida still has one of the highest unemployment rates on the country. The problem is this isn’t exactly telling the whole story. There are various reasons why these figures show what they do.
1. A lot of the jobs listed right now are part-time or seasonal jobs that do not pay much more than minimum wage.
2. Those that are looking for higher paying jobs are actually forced to move out of the state to looking for work.
3. Some jobs that a person might be desperate for are taken by aliens that will accept the job at a lower rate of pay.
4. The state right now is offering insane tax cuts to businesses that, instead of using these discounts to increase their labor pool, are pocketing it for executive bonus and pay raises.
5. The state of Florida is working right now to eliminate those that are on unemployment and are, even just barely, not meeting their requirement for work searches and availability for work, and changing the outcome of some of the statistics entirely.
There is a huge stigma right now; particularly from right wing conservatives that those that are on unemployment are taking advantage of a free ride and that we are not making an effort. I will be the first to admit that, sadly, this is true for many that are drawing benefits. This is, however, not true for the greatest majority of those on unemployment. Many are trying to find work, concentrating on jobs that would keep us in the same line of work but are finding that companies are not looking for experience anymore. They are looking for the cheapest workers.
A friend of mine that works for a major computer company and has for several years old me of an interesting story. Seems that in recent years they have decided that they would change the way they would staff to try to “Streamline” their support process. This is a company that, for years has had technical support personnel for major systems, working from home. (Telecommuting) This has been working for them for a number of years and shows many advantages, especially to some of their big name clients.
The problem now is that some “bean counter” has decided that it would be more cost effective to have these same support people located in specific areas of the country and report to offices. Not a bad idea if you are trying to promote a team environment. The problem really starts when they tell the current telecommuter that they need to relocate across the country, the move would not be paid for by the company and then there is no promise of a long-term job once relocated.
You can see the problem starting already. A person relocate to Iowa (that is one of the places they wanted them to move to), buy a house or sign a lease, begin working and find out that they are being laid off. Then they are stuck with a lease or mortgage or lease they can’t get out of in an unfamiliar part of the country after being left with the impression that, if they wanted to keep their job, they had to relocate.
These events are actually real. Come to find out, the company was laying-off the current employee in favor of one that just got out of school and was willing to accept the same job at a much lower rate of pay. Many times, the employee that was laid off had years of experience and was able to do a much better job for the client than the college graduate.
Sadly, this is happening all over the place and it creates a bigger problem that no one is addressing because, in the end, there are people getting jobs, all-be-it at the expense of someone that already had the job and was, perhaps much more qualified All this in the name of “Saving a buck”.
This is what those of us who are more than willing and able to work have to contend with. It’s not that we aren’t trying, quite the opposite, we are, but we are not only competing with those that are also applying for the same job, we are competing with companies to see if they are going to be able to afford us, and most of us that are willing and able to do a great job are willing to accept the lower pay as long as it gets us a job and a chance to prove ourselves.
Just something to think about.
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