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The interview process today is incredibly annoying as many folks mention.
I just wonder how different was it finding a job back in the good ol 90's compare to now.
From what i hear it used to be that when you got your degree you could choose to work wherever you want
But thats long gone now.
Im helping my little brother finding his first part time and just always wonder how different getting a job is now then back in the days?
I use to have a coworker. He is in his 50s. He told me back in the 90s. All you had to do was go down to the lobby and look at the bulletin board. On the bulletin board, all you ahd to do was look for those hiring, call up for information and boom you have an interview. It did not matter if you have experience or what not, employers will still train you. What destroyed the labor market was the 2008 recession. Now employers are real picky.
I graduated from High School at 17 years old June 8, 1972. Had a full time job with our local paper four days later. I don't think I even interviewed. My grandfather knew somebody in the advertising department. It's not like that now.
Yeah, a general Business degree or Business Administration degree used to be valueable. Not anymore. And a degree in Liberal Arts is almost worthless.
IT/Computer Science degrees were rare in the 70s, started getting more popular in the 80s.
One area where people seem to be able to find good jobs is nursing.....RNs can usually find a job. That seems to have remained consistent.
Something else........women used to have to start as secretaries/clerical workers unless they had a degree to teach or unless someone wanted to take a chance and let them have a professional job. I know of 2 women who had degrees in Journalism and Communications in the early 70s. They applied at large corporations for jobs in their field but had to start out as secretaries! This was very common ........."the girls in the office"........if you've watched "Mad Men" you know what I mean. Same with minorities - many with an education would only get hired as janitors, cleaning ladies, elevator operators, or cafeteria workers.
I think the contrast is, if you didn't have a nursing degree in the 70s, 80s, 90s you could still find a good job. So it wasn't like "if you go to college you better only major in X,Y,Z and anything else you are screwed". You could still find work if you went English, Business, History etc...
Fast forward to today, yes the nursing degrees, the accounting, the computer programming etc... are still doing well but for the people who don't have the nursing degree, the engineering degree etc... those "good" jobs are harder to come by. Not impossible by any means- I want to be clear I am not saying "If you go LA then enjoy working at Burger King forever !" , what I mean is the "good" job is more difficult to get than before, the 70s,80s, 90s etc... From more people going to and graduating college, to a changing economy, to more senior or mid level people willing to settle for the entry level stuff because they can't find work-success post grad is a great deal dependent on what you graduated with not merely if you graduated.
A few more things one must bear in mind from today in contrast to before:
1) Employer is much more willing to hold out for the better or ideal candidate as opposed to training someone from the ground up.
2) Entry level is not really entry level. Write down all the times you have come across an "entry level position" that requires 2-3 years of previous experience and or a degree in X-go ahead I will wait.
3) Internship is not guaranteed. Yes internships are a great way to get a foot in the door, to build connections to slowly climb that corporate ladder. The problem is Scholastic is only bringing in 10 interns for the summer and you have 60+ students applying for those internships. Well I am sure the other 50 will be able to find something.
Again success is not impossible if you didn't go the Accounting route in college- but it will most likely be harder to achieve. That is the English majors of today will have to work harder, apply to more, write more cover letters and resumes than the English majors of the 80s.
Last edited by dazeddude8; 12-05-2016 at 05:00 PM..
Reason: addition.
It was much easier to find a job in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s.
There were more jobs. Fewer people applying for those jobs (before the internet). Many companies thatwere thriving back then have gone out of business.
Also, employers didn't have access to criminal/background checks. People lied on their resumes and even invented degrees they didn't have.
Technology has replaced a lot of humans and eliminated a lot of jobs.
These days employers are slow to create a new position. And they often spread the work around when someone quits, retires, or dies. They combine jobs. That way they save paying a salary/benefits for another person.
It certainly is not a political issue - for the past 40 yrs both Republicans and Democrats have been in the White House.
I think all the points you make are good ones. I bolded the ones I think are among the primary reasons we aren't seeing as many opportunities as in past decades.
At 16 I walked to the grocery store where my mother and relatives shopped, filled out an application, and a couple days later was hired as a cashier. A family friend had worked there as a carry out/stock boy. At 18 I got a summer job at electric company .....uncle worked as a meter reader and I got an office job for 2 summers. The next couple jobs were via employment agencies and they charged a fee.
Many relatives got jobs at factories via networking and word of mouth. Back then the pay was very good w/benefits, moved up the ranks and many stayed 20 - 30+ yrs. This was in a smaller town, and changing jobs wasn't common.
Quote:
what I mean is the "good" job is more difficult to get than before, the 70s,80s, 90s etc... From more people going to and graduating college, to a changing economy, to more senior or mid level people willing to settle for the entry level stuff because they can't find work-success post grad is a great deal dependent on what you graduated with not merely if you graduated.
Yeah, a general Business degree or Business Administration degree used to be valueable. Not anymore. And a degree in Liberal Arts is almost worthless.
IT/Computer Science degrees were rare in the 70s, started getting more popular in the 80s.
One area where people seem to be able to find good jobs is nursing.....RNs can usually find a job. That seems to have remained consistent.
Something else........women used to have to start as secretaries/clerical workers unless they had a degree to teach or unless someone wanted to take a chance and let them have a professional job. I know of 2 women who had degrees in Journalism and Communications in the early 70s. They applied at large corporations for jobs in their field but had to start out as secretaries! This was very common ........."the girls in the office"........if you've watched "Mad Men" you know what I mean. Same with minorities - many with an education would only get hired as janitors, cleaning ladies, elevator operators, or cafeteria workers.
Yes, except that in the 70's, nurses were not well paid like they are now. That was the little white dress and little white cap era, very different deliberately from the serious "man" jobs, like the doctors, x-ray people, etc. etc. In terms of dress, they made nurses look much more similar to candy stripers than to health care professionals, and salaries reflected that. When men start joining the ranks of an occupation, whether nursing or teaching, salaries tend to rise.
I graduated from High School at 17 years old June 8, 1972. Had a full time job with our local paper four days later. I don't think I even interviewed. My grandfather knew somebody in the advertising department.It's not like that now.
Sure it is, knowing someone in a company will always be a way past the competition.
While it's certainly true that the 2008 recession (which had been looming for a long time) changed things, there was a tightening up way before that.....I'd say in late 2001 after the WTC attack on 9/11. Potential new hires and existing employees waiting for raises/promotions were often told "we're going to hold off for awhile". Employers didn't care if malcontents quit - they knew there was a very long line of people just waiting to get hired, and they knew those people would jump thru hoops and allow themselves to be overworked and stressed. Hey, it was a job. Things would probably ease up 'on down the line'. um hmm.
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Things would probably ease up 'on down the line'. um hmm.
