Job seeking from a hunters perspective Blog

New College Grads What are they to do? December 11, 2010

We have been taught all our live that to get a good job you need a good education. So after we graduate high school we go right off to college. The jobs they have held during high school and college are not even related to what they are studying.  It is just the jobs they can get to make some cash.

Now they have hustled to earn that degree and graduate hopefully in the top of their class only to be told now that they need the experience to get the job.

Oh to be stuck in the Catch 22 syndrome I can’t get the experience without the job and I can’t get the job with out the experience.

I tell my clients and my children who are in college to get the summer internships to get the experience. I suggest that if the college or University has a coop program that they take that extra year to get the experience. This way they are in a better position than those that didn’t because they will have both the education and the experience.

I guess those that came up with this policy have forgotten what it was like when they started. I guess they have forgotten that they want the latest techniques and subject knowledge which you get from school. They forget that as they move people up they need the new people to train to become part of their succession program.  Or have they abandon that train of thought?

I guess that I am too logical and forward thinking to get a grasp on the idea of not hiring new grads because they lack experience. I guess in my head it comes across as ignorance and incompetence. A lack of ethics and morales. I feel that I should compel a list of these companies so I know where to tell my clients not to apply to because it would not be conducive to their future plans. That their future will more likely be stifled by the mind set controlling these companies and that their future will more than likely be in jeopardy.

To date I have not had one person who could provide a good rational or business explanation to this practice. Why is that? What does that tell you?

IT tell me that it is based on some irrational thought process and what does that tell me. Red Flags!

The economy is getting better but unemployment is up 9.8% December 3, 2010

This post is going to cover 2 topics; 1.) rise in unemployment and 2.) the uneducated statements of Cathrine Rampell of the New York Times.

We keep hearing that the economy is getting better yet despite that the unemployment figure is not declining at the same pace or is even rising despite the fact that some companies are claiming better numbers.

There are a number of ways companies can make it appear they are doing better while actually they are flat or in decline. Look at the news for Toll Brothers they claim a good 4th quarter but that is based on a tax write off.

An article the other day says that credit card use is down significantly. Then they go on to say that it is mainly due to banks cancelling cards or people being overdrawn on the cards they have. The only credit a few people in actually cutting up the cards or just not using them.

So if banks are not lending and credit card companies are not giving credit then how do they expect the economy to recover any time soon?

It appears that business has forgotten the basic economic rules of business.  What I see going on is not going to help matters either. Larger companies are buying up smaller companies they see as a future threat or a way to help build themselves up against the other competitors. While this is good for the business it usually means more unemployed as there is always a reduction due to eliminating redundancies in the two companies.

So pardon me for not believing the hype that the economy is improving based on some roller coaster numbers. I will stick to the reality of what is going on based on real economics not voodoo economics.

Second topic:

I read this on Yahoo this morning it is titled “Unemployed, and likely to stay that way” by Cathrine Rampell of the New York Times.

Here is a reporter that needs to get out of the office and talk to the 9.8% unemployed to get to the truth not just based on her conjecture.

She starts out by claiming that Europe has already come to grips with the long term unemployment situation while America is only just starting.  Well Cathrine you are dead wrong! We have come to grips along time ago. We saw the handwriting on the wall well over a year ago. Organizations like WIND Networking for Unemployed Professionals here in Massachusetts and a myriad of job hunt groups on LinkedIn have been all over that topic for well over a year.

The fact that you like many other uninformed employed workers look down on us is atrocious and perpetuates the misconceptions about us. Shame on you!

Yes in past recessions the layoffs were companies dumping their dead wood that I agree but this recession the major number of unemployed are highly qualified people, who have been deemed over qualified as an excuse not to hire them. Companies are looking to save cost by hiring younger cheaper labor. This of course costs more money in the short term as they have to pay for repeated mistakes that we already knew to avoid.

To infer that we just sit around waiting for the next job while doing nothing to improve ourselves is another perpetuation of a big business lie to not hire us. Now we are dealing with big business blatantly saying in post unemployed need not apply.

Cathrine the old saying goes if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem.  I am sure business thanks you for perpetuating their myths about us so that they can sleep better at night.

As far as the people I represent, thanks for nothing. We do not think that highly of you either!