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Sears has also been teetering on the brink of collapse and total bankruptcy for a number of years now. According to market analysts and investors it is due to poor management, poor customer service, and lack of service due to improperly trained employees leading to customer dissatisfaction. So what does that say about their management and hiring practices?
I haven't seen a single obvious (appearance, accent) immigrant working Sears shopping floors. I can understand why employers would prefer immigrants for some positions (not in the customer service though, sorry, accents = smaller sales).
It's simply that circumstances can force much more capable and otherwise "normal" immigrants to do the jobs that only native born losers and otherwise less capable folks usually do. A capable immigrant has his origin, accent (or lack of language skills), lack of family, friends and social "networks", hard to transfer education & experience, cultural differences preventing him from reaching those corporate stars. Thus he might settle for the lower grade jobs he's too good for. Sure, not rocking the boat and jumping as told counts too, but it's secondary, imho.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Despite the accents, the Russian cashiers at our Sears provided far better customer service and even genuine interest in helping compared to the kids that have worked there in the past. Perhaps it's a matter of immigrant applicants being older and having a better job ethic. Sears probably is in trouble though, even jut before the holidays there were hardly any shoppers there, which is fine with me since I hate waiting in lines, but they can't last long that way.
Recently I drove by a Dunking Donuts and it brought back memories of when I was a kid working at that same location years and years ago. Back then the place was staffed by High School and College kids and we did everything we could to get as far from hard work as we could. The managers were so frustrated at us! I went in and ordered some donuts and noticed that everyone was an immigrant and they were very friendly and efficent and appeared to work 10 times as hard as our team ever did. But it sure brought back some memories!
whether you prefer a woman, a Mexican man, you hate red headed people, you hate the long term unemployed or you prefer (illegal) aliens - BIASED!...
biased. I don't want to be 10 feet any where near you. I don't care what you put in your job ad or tell me at the interview. All I have to do is LOOK AROUND AND SEE WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE YOU HAVE WORKING THERE. Picture is worth a thousand words.
A non retired friend of mine works as the top manager at a Sears Store and is responsible for the oversight of the hiring of hundreds of people every year. He told me in complete confidence that he will always hire the immigrant if he can, vs an American born white or black person. And if he can he will hire a woman before a man.
He has been in retail managment for the Sears Organization for over 25 years and has seen thousands of people come and go. Good employees and bad. His feelings about preferring immigrants and women over American born men are not based in any scientific studies but just gut feelings and experiences working closely with thousands of employees over the years. He understands that that there are plenty of unqualified lazy immigrants but IN GENERAL he has had a much better luck with immigrants, than native born folks.
What do you think, do immigrants in GENERAL make better workers than American born employees in retail and customer service positions? (Lets not talk about exceptions but in general)
Please don't tell me you can stereotype or generalize because that is what his comments are all about. He DOES GENERALIZE based on 25 years of experience.
I don't think you can say "all" immigrants, but many of them do in general have certain qualities that most Americans lack. First, they usually come from someplace pretty awful to live, so they appreciate things that we don't. They are happier with a lower standard of living and they don't feel entitled to much. They will put up with worse working conditions without complaining. They aren't used to having "rights," so they don't worry about their employer infringing on them. Therefore, they will work harder and do a better job for less money and in conditions that many Americans simply would find intolerable. Finally, one really good reason for hiring immigrants is because you can get a real bargain - many highly educated and intelligent people come to this country and find that their qualifications don't carry over, and their language skills aren't adequate for a professional job. That means you can find people with real professional skills and an education who are willing to work at Walmart because they just don't have a choice. I know immigrants working in retail now who used be doctors someplace.
Sears has also been teetering on the brink of collapse and total bankruptcy for a number of years now. According to market analysts and investors it is due to poor management, poor customer service, and lack of service due to improperly trained employees leading to customer dissatisfaction. So what does that say about their management and hiring practices?
I didn't know that. I actually only just started shopping at Sears, because the one near me has absolutely the best customer service of anyplace else in the mall. Like everyone else, they've got lots of immigrants, but they are the kind that speak English and seem to care about the job. I thought they were making a comeback. Now Macys....that's the store I don't go to anymore because of the horrible service. Immigrants there too, but those barely speak English and seem to have no concept of what customer service is supposed to be in the USA.
Finally, one really good reason for hiring immigrants is because you can get a real bargain - many highly educated and intelligent people come to this country and find that their qualifications don't carry over, and their language skills aren't adequate for a professional job. That means you can find people with real professional skills and an education who are willing to work at Walmart because they just don't have a choice. I know immigrants working in retail now who used be doctors someplace.
I worked at Jewel-Osco a local grocery chain as a cashier. One of the women there was a doctor in India. Her PhD didn't transfer to the states and she is now making like $12/hour. For her its still worth it to be here and she was studying to be a doctor here. Its amazing how un-appreciative we Americans can be.
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