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This isn't for me, I have a good job that I'm thankful for but a family member who is living with us came legally from another country, has a green card now and all that good stuff. They have an OK grasp of english, can converse but don't ask them to speak in medical terms or anything like that. They worked in IT/Electrical components in their native country.
Well they have been applying for jobs in restaurants, airlines, bilingual call centers, etc and even those jobs they are not getting hired for. They were told in a restaurant...to do prep and wash dishes that they were looking for "more experienced" people because they didn't have time to train. Meanwhile the advertisement they responded to is posted every other day on CL. They applied at a couple of bilingual call centers, told they didn't have enough customer service/banking experience. They apply at airlines for baggage service/loading airplanes and don't even get a call. They applied at a grocery store, took an aptitude test and didn't finish in time because of course the reading of english is slower than you or I. They applied for Chilis, Macaroni Grill, Friday's. for prep/cook and dont' even get a call.
How can people complain that there aren't enough willing people to work when I'm sure my nephew isn't the only one trying and trying but even the minimum wage jobs are too picky. And we are not in a location that has high unemployment.
That's pretty much what I've experienced while looking for jobs. It's a crapshoot. You have no idea if you're doing something wrong or if you are being held back unfairly. It's not all his fault, that's for sure.
Asking someone to be proficient enough in relevant languages is not "too picky".
It was the same when I moved to South America
I never said they werent' proficient. How many times have you gone to a restaurant kitchen and seen everyone speaking English? What I said was that their conversational english should be good enough to land some kind of minimum wage job, especially if they were calling for people to be bilingual. From what I've been told, it's hard to find bilingual people that are legal to do jobs.
Welcome to the system. Sucks doesnt it, its almost like all the people who come on here to vent....arent making it up.
Impossible - I have it on good authority from internet trolls that the problem is with the workers an not the system...
Seriously, though, it is insane. It's reached the point where the most basic job requires specialized experience.
As for the language issue, of course that could be a concern for customer interaction, but I've seen no shortage of fast food joints around here where not a lick of English is spoken once the workers are no longer talking to the customers. I can understand why they may not hire somebody without experience on as a cook, but come on - how many years of "professional experience with a Whirlpool industrial model restaurant dishwasher in an fast-paced, taco-focused restaurant environment" or simliar is required until we as a nation admit that this is artificially manufactured "skills shortage?"
It's gotten way out of balance. And for those who don't comprehend, by "it's" I mean the job market. By "balance" I mean the supply of people to the available positions.
Some of the old jobs that you could get if you have a pulse just don't hire anymore. Here's something though: you can basically get hired to be a financial "advisor" or insurance sales rep if you have a pulse, provided no serious criminal record. Can you believe how hard it is to get a job in certain traditionally blue collar professions, like a janitor, and how easy it is to apply to work for a life insurance company, selling products to people who will come to depend on your "sage" advice, perhaps even to the point of life or death?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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If people without experience start getting these jobs, the people with experience will start complaining that they can't get hired. When there are only so many jobs available, employers go with the experienced because they don't have to spend as much time training, the new person can be productive right away, or at least sooner. That's just good business, and I suspect that anyone of the people complaining would do the same thing if they owned a business.
Those insurance jobs are a bad example. I remember being recruited by one a few years ago when I was looking, and it was basically minimum wage plus commission. Some even charged for the training. Unless you are a great salesperson with poor ethics, you sell to all your relatives and friends and then they fire you when you stop bringing in new policies.
If people without experience start getting these jobs, the people with experience will start complaining that they can't get hired. When there are only so many jobs available, employers go with the experienced because they don't have to spend as much time training, the new person can be productive right away, or at least sooner. That's just good business, and I suspect that anyone of the people complaining would do the same thing if they owned a business.
Yes, of course. All of us are self-absorbed, narcissistic psychopaths who are inconsiderate to the needs of their fellow human beings and the newly graduated. All of us trump the dollar over the human being. Heaven forbid we give a person two weeks of training. We won't be able to make a BMW payment or better yet, a new wing on our mansion.
Good business in the 2000's = being an inconsiderate, greedy savage!
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