'Why Companies Aren't Getting the Employees They Need': The Author Follows Up (alternatives, interview)

[mdovell]

Tekkie make a good point. How many times have we seen companies move over the slightest thing. Best buy used to be in the northeast, then they left...then they came back but only after circuit city got larger.

Packard Bell used to be a big computer company and now it's operating out of...Thailand

Microsoft had to change to a video game company in order to survive. Factoring out xbox and they wouldn't be doing too well right now.

Companies do different things in different markets. Ford Escourt in the USA isn't exactly something to brag about. In Europe it won the world rally twice! Gilette is known for making razor blades but they hardly sell single edge safety blades in the USA. In Europe they are known for excellent quality.

I just finished a book about quantatative branding and it was interesting how they validate a brand. Companies like people want to maximize what they have and sometimes that means exiting or entering another market. Home depot just left china. Why? Because it didn't work. They aren't hopping here and there for that but if it didn't work then it didn't work, same with best buy when they closed.

[Cbink]

Originally Posted by Tekkie

This mentality is no different from a company trying to grow and make more money each year. Why does it become a problem when grads and young employees want the same out of life? Last time I checked, most entry level salaries are difficult to make a living off of as a single person, not to mention, to purchase a home and raise a family. This is typically the driving force for anyone to want to move up the corporate ladder.

Complacency is the root of stagnation, and stagnation is the root of becoming obsolete. It's wise for any young employee to always be looking ahead, and searching for the next opportunity.

I'm not talking about steady growth - I agree that's fair. My point is that I'm seeing more and more graduates that are expecting step change salaries (unrealistic) after 2 years. When they don't get them, they change jobs to try and force that but frequently end up earning only a little more than they would have done anyway.

As an example; when an employee at my company hits about 2 years of experience they get charged out at a certain rate. Over and above normal rate increases to deal with inflation etc that rate won't change until say 5 years experience at which point it hits the next grade. I can't give them the step change in salary until I can hit the step change in rate. There are exceptions to that, and there is a small amount of flexibility. That's not to say that they don't get decent raises, but they're not going to double their salary for example.

I don't see how that's complacency. It's business. We have to make money, plain and simple.

[EmeraldCityWanderer]

One of the biggest things I see is that many companies look for the most over-qualified candidate that will accept the lowest wages possible, the second is that independant recruiters are usually aggresive balls of crazy, thirdly people don't always know what they want, and lastly some jobs are simply failing positions.

I have seen several companies I have worked for, and gotten calls from headhunters, where the job and the pay scale are so off base it's an example why people aren't filling the position. One I worked for put a position out for a very senior PhD researcher used to running many labs with multiple million dollar grants for...what the city normally pays burger flippers. I got a call for a position that required multiple professional degrees, plus 12 years of experiance across many fields (IT, finance, and accounting...~4 years each), for less then an entry level college grad usually received.

Recruiters have their own issues. I have talked with a few, and few are sane and normal people. Most try and submit you for everything under the sun because they are comission. Either very underqualified (they know you will make it) or over qualified (hail mary with no other options). I get people who call from around the country looking for people, which has interesting stories. One of my favorite was a recruiter that had a job in PA, and when I said my wife wasn't interested she said (I **** you not) "There are plenty of women in PA."

Interviewing, people don't always know what they want. Few times has the job description matched what people I talk with are looking for. Even then, people don't read resumes or ask the right questions. I had an interview where I got no questions on a certain experiance, the job description had nothing about that experiance being needed, my resume had a ton of that experiance...and I was rejected for not having that experiance at all. I pointed it out and they said yes, I did...but they had no answer.

Lastly, some jobs are just failing positions. I contracted for a bit early in my career, and I saw some of the most frustrating positions humanily workable. One had a manager that would just fire one person when productivity wasn't great, another that demanded 20 hours of overtime a week where the boss would work to trip people up and get them canned for fun (~80% quit rate), and another where I watched patient care folks get assaulted by patients where the management would shrug even when they broke bones.

I have never really seen a job that cannot be filled that did not have one of those employment killers associated with them.

[deposite]

Employers ask for too much. Entry level jobs now ask for two - five years experience. How exactly can they call it entry level when they're chasing after purple squirrels?

This perfection thing is getting out of hand. I went through hell and back to land an entry-level job. I know what it's been like out there.

[ggumbo]

Originally Posted by deposite

Employers ask for too much. Entry level jobs now ask for two - five years experience. How exactly can they call it entry level when they're chasing after purple squirrels?

This perfection thing is getting out of hand. I went through hell and back to land an entry-level job. I know what it's been like out there.

As someone who is trying to find an entry level job out there right now, I 100% agree!

I just wish more people knew...

[jman07]

And yet the ignorant media loves to make headlines about these types of "shortages". The labor market is just like any other market. Same way as there is no shortage of Super Bowl tickets. Supply, demand, and price.

[GTRdad]

Originally Posted by Cbink

That's a different thing entirely though normally. For any kind of visa there are direct costs over and above 'normal' training that the company has to incur and frequently there are things like Green card sponsorship over and above the visa costs. Then there may also be relocation costs if you're bringing someone from another country or area and the costs to the company rack up really quite quickly and can easily be in the $10's of thousands per employee.

I got brought across to the US by my company and had to sign a 2yr agreement to pay back the costs involved (on a prorated scale) if I quit. I had no problem with that - it seemed fair enough to me.

I put in all in the same bucket. They put money/energy in, they expect measurable productivity out. Its a business after all
I was an employee of JPM for 8 years and when I relocated from NYC to Houston I had to sign something that requires me to stay another 1.5years. no biggie since they let me keep my NYC rate.

Originally Posted by Cbink

On the subject of not being willing to pay a rate - it's often not a case of not being willing, but not being able. Every company has to make money to stay in business (obviously). Sometimes, graduates and younger employees seem to forget this and expect the earth and switch jobs every year to try and get more and more money. Of course, this is a different issue to there being no talent. In the case of O&G (my line of work) currently there is a shortage of good engineers with 5-15 years experience and this is pushing the salaries of those individuals up to a point where smaller companies are struggling because salaries have a much larger impact on their bottom line than a bigger company. The oil companies are certainly not helping in this regard (pushing up their salaries but not really being willing to budge on the rates they will pay contractors).

I'm in O&G too, IT finance side and I know exactly what youre describing there. We might be an extreme case tho. Pretty all the O&G and IB banks use the ETRM software and every time a company flexes their muscles for a new type of trading, contractors starts moving and impacting smaller companies as you described. When big oil wants people right here right now they create a huge vacuum and rates are thru the roof and small firms are struggling. Many firms just settle for the washed out ones than to train new players

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by GTRdad

Ok youre just mashing all these things to 'explain' something Do you really think most people care about how their iphones/tablets are made, how many people suffer in diamond and other mines out there. do they care about the guy who got that table salt, that turkey on the table, the milk, the processed foods, the wars for oil, how banks make money, how lawmakers make money. Noone cares about everything 'wrong' out there. People will go to work, war, produce, sell, deal etc. sometimes you dont need to know, be aware but just play, unless youre still in the boyscouts. o ther wise suck it up and start from the bottom like everyone else

Actually given the conditions at Foxconn yes some do care about how iphones are made and diamonds otherwise I wouldn't see commericals for diamonds with ELG certs etc.

Heck I have a friend who works at a supermarket chain where people protested to KEEP their CEO.

Turkey on the table well there's a turkey farm about five minutes from me. Like it or not times have changed. Social media can create a significant reaction and if companies are not prepared for it then they might be around. All it takes is one bad reaction. PR and marketing does matter to companies.

I'm not mashing things to 'explain' but examples can illustrate a point.

[TheBookofLife]

I guess thoes employers or their managers are just not as smart as you are. They seem cannot think such a straight thing through.

[andywire]

A great deal of truth to this. Many companies think a fair wage is outrageous, because they wouldn't be able to compete while paying decent wages. In that case, did these geniuses ever stop to think that the problem lies in the way the business is run? It's very easy to blame the workers or the workforce. Hence, I expect many employers to continue using this strategy while burying their heads in the sand.

I laughed at my last job. They whined and cried how they couldn't keep a bunch of $10/hr positions filled for very long. Folks would stick around for a year, and leave once they realized they would never get a raise. The company whined about money, yet they had no problem pouring millions of dollars into equipment. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't afford NOT to pay a decent wage, given the fact that the equipment was useless without the worker.