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Growing almost all of those my parents knew were small business people... barber, beautician, shoe repair shop, accountant, dry cleaner, corner market owner, plumber, photographer, glazier, mechanic, butcher, baker and Jim the Real Estate man... there was even the Mr. Spainhower that sold Electrolux Vacuums and Augie the painter...
These were all self employed and knowing someone like an executive that worked for a big company was foreign except for my Godfather who was an engineer for Lockheed... and that was held in very high esteem... he traveled for work and went to places like Washington for defense contracts...
It seems like the Mayberry of small mom and pop local businesses is fast becoming the anomaly...
Growing up I never thought of working for someone... the first 10 years after college I was self employed as are all my siblings...
Maybe we as a country have lost the entrepreneur gene except for recent emigrants?
Growing almost all of those my parents knew were small business people... barber, beautician, shoe repair shop, accountant, dry cleaner, corner market owner, plumber, photographer, glazier, mechanic, butcher, baker and Jim the Real Estate man... there was even the Mr. Spainhower that sold Electrolux Vacuums and Augie the painter...
These were all self employed and knowing someone like an executive that worked for a big company was foreign except for my Godfather who was an engineer for Lockheed... and that was held in very high esteem... he traveled for work and went to places like Washington for defense contracts...
It seems like the Mayberry of small mom and pop local businesses is fast becoming the anomaly...
Growing up I never thought of working for someone... the first 10 years after college I was self employed as are all my siblings...
Maybe we as a country have lost the entrepreneur gene except for recent emigrants?
Plenty of research shows that younger people are much mmore entrepreneurial and risk takers than older generations.
The problem when you put a job on the market looking for a qualified person.
1: Those applicants that put in resumes/applications for any job that comes on the market, and are completely not qualified to fill the job requirements. Just because the applicant thinks the job would be something they would be interested in, does not mean they have the qualifications to fill the job. This is the majority of all applications.
2: Employees, that look at mid career salaries for a position, and simply refuse to accept the fact that there is such a thing as a beginning salary, and a mid career salary. They demand that they be given what they would receive after 10 years, even though they are entering at a entry level position. They say it is the company is too cheap to pay what they are worth, when the company sees someone that has no idea of what the job is all about and will a low production worker for a considerable period of time.
3: Applicants that want Silicon Valley starting wages, and live in Casper Wyoming. They simply cannot accept the fact that the Casper Wyoming wage due to the tremendous difference in living cost between the two areas, that the Casper wages in Casper Wyoming will give the employ a higher standard of living in Casper than they would earn in the Silicon Valley due to the greater cost of living in the SV.
The only problem with #3 is that once you accept that Casper Wyoming job at Casper Wyoming pay, unless you are a wunderkind, all of your subsequent employers look at those wages and use them to determine their offer, regardless of the COL in the new employer's area. Makes it very difficult to get out of a low COL area, and impossible to retire in a higher COL area without tons of luck in the market.
Plenty of research shows that younger people are much mmore entrepreneurial and risk takers than older generations.
Idealize the past much....
Could very well be the pendulum swinging back...
It also could be there simply was not enough of those employers to hire everyone... unless you had factory work or defense work the options were limited.
I look around today and find few small business or shop owners... heck... not a single trades person around in my Oakland California neighborhood.
What I see is the neighborhood is now most government workers in all areas... from teachers, to building inspector, BART and Muni workers, government administrators, etc...
The difference is everyone I mentioned above has a pension and medical... none of those in my parents day had a pension... except for my Godfather that worked for Lockheed...
No intention to idealize anything... only a comment how things have changed in my little corner of America...
Taking your post at face value would seem younger people are better equipped as they are not as dependent as their risk adverse parents and are in fact more like their grandparents when it comes to entrepreneurial gene...
The one thing the grandparents I think of had in common is WWII and when the war was over they were more than eager to make their way and maybe their kids lost it and now the next generation has recaptured it.
Pay has a lot to do with it. I see a lot of jobs postings that pay $12 an hour with a bachelors degree required. Who is going to spend 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars just to make Walmart wages.
Recent poll found a third of employers responding reported large percentage of college grads could not read nor do basic math. FWIW.
^^^
This!
To many have gone off to college thinking a degree, any degree in any field, is the key to success and it is to late when they discover this advice is pure BS.
Try doing anything with someone having a BA in social psychology... I would rather higher a bright high school kid and teach him myself.
What do I consider bright?
B's in high school Algebra I and II along with geometry and trigonometry. High school biology, chemistry and physics is nice.
I could care less what social studies, history or English literature classes taken. I figure if you have taken the math and science courses above then it is safe to say you know how to read and write.
Seriously, how bright do you have to be to run up $75,000 in student loans to get a degree in history or psychology anyway?
We're talking about motivated, hard-working people that actually majored in something useful. Sorry, but the people who coasted through college and got a worthless degree (most graduates) aren't the kind of people that top companies are looking for.
With that attitude about the public I'm surprised they aren't breaking down your doors.
Does your business by any chance involve cold-calling, door-to-door sales, or other direct sales of undisclosed products or services? Lots of those around my area always "looking to expand" and hiring for fictitious management-track or marketing jobs that REALLY require direct sales to unwilling buyers.
What happens is that job seekers send a resume to a vaguely worded ad from a company they never heard of, then when they get contacted to set up an interview (and they always get that interview) THEN they do their research into the company and either find out it's a sales or pyramid scam or that it is in a crummy low-rent part of town and has zero real information online about the company.
No. We're not in sales at all. We're a mostly commercial cleaning company. We have really good reviews from both past employees and customers. Most people in our town have heard of us.
I write all the ads personally for whatever we may be looking for at the time. We just finished getting enough night people and now we're just looking for one, maybe two more day shift.
We have gotten a really good reputation from commercial and residential clients, but it seems like the past 9 months have really taken off with commercial clients. We got one very successful local restaurant chain and it seems since then we get calls all the time from other places to do business with them. It's great. Just don't have enough people to do it.
I understand though, not many people want to clean I guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 49erfan916
*I want to vent too.
This is what pisses me the F off. Those candidates that you described are very lazy and ungrateful. I'm a candidate looking for a job in accounting. I'm actually pursing my CPA license within the next 3 or 4 years. I had my resume looked over by professionals, I have had some interviews, but no one hired me as of yet. I feel like I'm being overlooked by sooooooo many companies that it makes me sick. I guess I'm doing something wrong, but I feel like they would rather hire "joe dumbass" over someone who actually has interest in accounting but need "some coaching."
At the end of the day, those companies did not see me as a good fit, for whatever reason. BUT I was NEVER late for an interview, I always showed up to a scheduled interview "over dressed", and grateful for an opportunity. It's just frustrating for me, as a job seeker, that there's companies like yours, are looking for good, hard-working candidates, who would show some sort of courtesy, willingness to learn and take some initiative. I actually gave up job searching because I was just too frustrated; however, i just recently looking for jobs again.
I am so sorry to hear that. I hope your second job search turns out for the better.
I too have been a frustrated job seeker and have definitely been in your shoes.
I don't expect every candidate to want to work for us, just as candidates don't expect us to hire them just because of the job interview, but a little decency goes a long way sometimes.
The comparison under discussion is between generations of Americans. You've brought up a comparison between all Americans and immigrants with no consideration of age/generation.
"Side hustle" and "multiple income streams" are guidewords for Millennials these days.
And, no, they're generally not engaging in brick-and-mortar businesses.
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