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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.
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.
I hate cleaning, but for the right amount of pay, I will clean. Maybe you need to up the salary.
Recent poll found a third of employers responding reported large percentage of college grads could not read nor do basic math. FWIW.
Right. I see "polls" come up with stuff like this all the time yet I have never met a person, college grad or not, who couldn't read and do basic math. Maybe they view reading as being able to read and understand the journals of Stephen Hawking and basic math as being able to verify Einstein's equations.
Surely you realize that those 'A' quality graduates are worth MULTIPLES of the going wage for a standard candidate, right? As in, the company that ended up hiring them got a bargain REGARDLESS of the wages paid.
I'm amazed that such a candidate is EVER on the open market for any price. How would they not have been recruited by the top companies while they were still a student?
Oh I agree on what A's are getting. The problem is I'm not getting B's or C's either. So many of the resumes are D and F quality. But those D's and F's are expecting A salary.
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?
In the old days you used to be able to apprentice at a trade, learn it well, then schlep off to the frontier with a few hundred dollars and hang up a shingle with an instant clientele. Most new businesses today require massive amounts of capital to open, are hobbled by government regulations requiring lawyer-level knowledge to operate, and have little to offer that isn't already available locally by established companies or through the internet for less money.
And I don't consider an immigrant coming to the USA from, let's say Pakistan, buying a pre-existing motel or convenience store with money given by previous immigrants to be an entrepreneur. They are simply businessmen. Nor is a taxi driver an entrepreneur. Take these and other similar people out of the equation and I think you will find the numbers of entrepreneurs evens out.
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.
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.
I'm glad to hear that you are in a legit business.
Yes, cleaning done well can be backbreaking work, and with the competition in the business keeping down the rates you can charge, it must be very difficult hiring and keeping good legal workers.
Oh I agree on what A's are getting. The problem is I'm not getting B's or C's either. So many of the resumes are D and F quality. But those D's and F's are expecting A salary.
Blech. You aren't going to want them at any price, so they may as well shoot for the moon.
Everyone going to college doesn't raise the competence of the general population.
It just makes college more stupid and worthless as they dumb it down for mandatory passing rates.
The graduate degree becomes the new college education.
Depends on the field.
Those with a bachelors in some form of engineering or Computer Science are doing just fine.
The problem is that we have a lot of people getting useless degrees that aren't worth the paper they are printed on.
If a degree has "Studies" at the end, it's probably worthless.
Same goes for degrees in English, history, and many of the liberal arts degrees.
We need to push more kids towards math at a younger age, and teach it correctly.
I've seen more than one student who thought they were bad at math, only to discover they had had bad teachers.
In the old days you used to be able to apprentice at a trade, learn it well, then schlep off to the frontier with a few hundred dollars and hang up a shingle with an instant clientele. Most new businesses today require massive amounts of capital to open, are hobbled by government regulations requiring lawyer-level knowledge to operate, and have little to offer that isn't already available locally by established companies or through the internet for less money.
And I don't consider an immigrant coming to the USA from, let's say Pakistan, buying a pre-existing motel or convenience store with money given by previous immigrants to be an entrepreneur. They are simply businessmen. Nor is a taxi driver an entrepreneur. Take these and other similar people out of the equation and I think you will find the numbers of entrepreneurs evens out.
Most of the examples I can cite are those in the trades or food industry along with the related occupations.
It could very well be the SF Bay Area is an anomaly and not representative.
One of my good friends came here from Ireland dirt poor... he got on as laborer and overtime he and 3 other labors had pooled enough to buy one small lot in Oakland... they pooled their resources and built a spec home and sold it... did real well and were able to pay off suppliers with the proceeds... the local lumber yard and concrete companies extended them credit.
Over the next 5 years they repeated until it was just the two of the four and then went ahead on their own having amassed enough capital.
Irish Tom as he is known lives in one of the finest streets in Piedmont in a home he built... he never graduated High School and came from dirt poor stock... he is a self made man that builds spec homes with cash... all selling in the millions. He said it is funny how the banks would show him the door and fall all over trying to lend to him today... he doesn't need them and has no use for them...
Just a man building high end custom homes on his own dime...
Another is a family from Cambodia... they were boat people and got jobs as dishwashers... the entire family pooled their money to open a 4 table take out restaurant and today are restaurateurs with several very nice establishments and can do banquets for 250...
Alex from Poland is an expert tile setter... a true artisan and in very high demand... two years after coming here got his contractor license and employs 20 people today...
I guess the most profound is a Laotian couple I know... came here with nothing... just him, his wife and infant daughter... got an old mower someone had out on the curb and started mowing lawns with his wife and toddler daughter working along side... today, he still has his landscape company with 4 trucks... the thing is his three children are are living his dream... a doctor, a lawyer and an engineer... not bad coming with nothing and the doctor daughter is foreign born... Standford, UCLA and CAL
I have many examples... even my step grandfather came here as a refugee but had learned Tool and Die in the old country... built a business with 50 employees and all Union... he died at age 84 and was still the first in the shop in the morning and the last to leave at night and Saturday went in to plan the next weeks work... HE NEVER accepted a single penny in Social Security saying he can never repay the opportunity America had given...
What do these few have in common... none are American born and all self employed... and only the tool and die maker had an apprenticeship... the other had little to no education...
In the old days you used to be able to apprentice at a trade, learn it well, then schlep off to the frontier with a few hundred dollars and hang up a shingle with an instant clientele. Most new businesses today require massive amounts of capital to open, are hobbled by government regulations requiring lawyer-level knowledge to operate, and have little to offer that isn't already available locally by established companies or through the internet for less money.
And I don't consider an immigrant coming to the USA from, let's say Pakistan, buying a pre-existing motel or convenience store with money given by previous immigrants to be an entrepreneur. They are simply businessmen. Nor is a taxi driver an entrepreneur. Take these and other similar people out of the equation and I think you will find the numbers of entrepreneurs evens out.
Right. The nature of entrepreneurship has changed. Now you can't even run a backyard lemonade stand without the government and the lawyers pouncing on you. Maybe back in the ole' west you could open up a saloon and if someone came to harass the business you'd pull the winchester from behind the counter and they would get the point.
I know a number of small business owners and most of them regret it. They continue to do it because they are the type of people who hate working for someone else and their terms. Many are putting in 100 hour weeks and pocketing far less money than they would working a regular job. Not only that, but it's hard to find good help mostly because they are a small operation and can't afford to pay the wages that attract that. Think of the all the call offs, no shows, and a general revolving door and you end up having the run the shop all by yourself.
Most of the examples I can cite are those in the trades or food industry along with the related occupations.
It could very well be the SF Bay Area is an anomaly and not representative.
One of my good friends came here from Ireland dirt poor... he got on as laborer and overtime he and 3 other labors had pooled enough to buy one small lot in Oakland... they pooled their resources and built a spec home and sold it... did real well and were able to pay off suppliers with the proceeds... the local lumber yard and concrete companies extended them credit.
Over the next 5 years they repeated until it was just the two of the four and then went ahead on their own having amassed enough capital.
Irish Tom as he is known lives in one of the finest streets in Piedmont in a home he built... he never graduated High School and came from dirt poor stock... he is a self made man that builds spec homes with cash... all selling in the millions. He said it is funny how the banks would show him the door and fall all over trying to lend to him today... he doesn't need them and has no use for them...
Just a man building high end custom homes on his own dime...
Another is a family from Cambodia... they were boat people and got jobs as dishwashers... the entire family pooled their money to open a 4 table take out restaurant and today are restaurateurs with several very nice establishments and can do banquets for 250...
Alex from Poland is an expert tile setter... a true artisan and in very high demand... two years after coming here got his contractor license and employs 20 people today...
I guess the most profound is a Laotian couple I know... came here with nothing... just him, his wife and infant daughter... got an old mower someone had out on the curb and started mowing lawns with his wife and toddler daughter working along side... today, he still has his landscape company with 4 trucks... the thing is his three children are are living his dream... a doctor, a lawyer and an engineer... not bad coming with nothing and the doctor daughter is foreign born... Standford, UCLA and CAL
I have many examples... even my step grandfather came here as a refugee but had learned Tool and Die in the old country... built a business with 50 employees and all Union... he died at age 84 and was still the first in the shop in the morning and the last to leave at night and Saturday went in to plan the next weeks work... HE NEVER accepted a single penny in Social Security saying he can never repay the opportunity America had given...
What do these few have in common... none are American born and all self employed... and only the tool and die maker had an apprenticeship... the other had little to no education...
One of the things I suspect you didn't notice (or if you did, you're just being disingenuous with us) is that those people were actually aided by their being alien.
You used the term "pooled their money" a couple of times.
Immigrants--because of their commonality with fellow immigrants--commonly pool their resources. As well, families all commonly work together (again, a pooling of resources) in a way that Americans do not do.
Moreover, the same factor of their alien-ness also makes it less likely that they can compete in the normal job market with Americans, unless they have certain specialized skills that make the competitive.
This doesn't make them any more entrepreneurial than Millennial...but it does give them impetus and resources in building brick and mortar small businesses that the average American Millennial doesn't have.
Now, if you go beyond brick and mortar, there are plenty of Millennials making money with "side hustles" on the Internet.
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