Paul Krugman-The fake skills shortage (letters, job openings, interviewed, visa)
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I agree as a free market guy the fact is capital doesn't want to pay for labor and talent. This is a troubling new idea since Henry Ford realized early on that if he paid his workers enough to buy his cars they would be his best marketers.
It makes sense. If I can start persuading the top talent that they aren't worth much anymore, they will be willing to accept any low ball salary. That will help my bottom line, and that's why I'm in business after all. Why wouldn't all businesses want in on this? It works heavily in their favor.
Easier said than done You must never have worked for a corporation where that sort of thing is out of your control. I do know for a fact that my position pays more than a couple of the competitors that are hiring right now, so it's not a compensation if you are on the open market. Is it high enough to entice you away from another job? Apparently not.
Doesn't change the fact that some people just apply to stuff they have no business applying to. This morning, I asked HR to send me all applicants we've received this week, just to see. I had a lawyer apply to what is a technical job requiring hands on skills, with zero of the background I requested, but he provided a 15 page resume on his legal background. The difference between the two industries would be equivalent to a refrigerator repairman deciding that even though he has no formal education, perhaps teaching school would be fun.... I'm all for career changes, but sometimes people just shoot their resumes out to a million places hoping for something to stick. This guy is just wasting his time.
He also listed his salary requirements as $250,000 a year. I pay well, but not that well. He wants a lawyer salary but a day job that he finds fun. Can't have your cake and eat it to.
The original point I was trying to make is bozos like Mr. Lawyer above is what may create a perception of a job shortage. Who knows if I may have missed a qualified candidate because I was busy shuffling through crap like this?
Here's the thing though and that is so many jobs now require two unrelated skills. For example a local company was hiring a marketing specialist with forklift certification and another an admin with a mechanical background. Those don't go together at all then they complain they can't find anyone. For me I apply to things I think I have the skills for (mostly marketing and training jobs)and perhaps a few are above my level but I still apply because I have had more luck getting interviews where I had most of the skills but maybe not as much compared to jobs where I am overqualified. For example if they say must have 4 years and I have 3 I will still apply.
Last edited by Idon'tdateyou; 03-01-2013 at 11:28 AM..
Yep in my field especially everyone knows the science shortage is absolute nonsense. Of course people in the top 10% of inteligence who are able to pass quantum mechanics and organic chemistry are not interested in working for $15 per hour no benefits.
the brightest American students aren’t going into science and engineering careers nearly as often as they used to.
But the reason is not, as some people say, that young Americans lack the smarts or the skills to succeed in those fields. Instead, it appears that longstanding U.S. policies have destroyed the incentives that used to attract many of the nation’s best young minds into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (the so-called STEM fields)....
many of our most able college graduates are now opting out of the pipeline that the nation used to count on to carry gifted students into STEM careers...
“It’s a labor market story,” ...
The new findings contradict the argument that some high-tech employers have been putting forward for a decade now: that American education doesn’t produce enough high-quality science and math graduates...
They show no such deficit...
These results “strongly suggest that students are not leaving STEM pathways because of lack of preparation or ability,” ...
Higher salaries and more stable career tracks have lured these grads away from scientific jobs...
But the new study reveals an ominous trend among the scientifically gifted. Although the numbers of young Americans studying STEM in high school and college are as strong as ever, the very best of those students, as indicated by their SAT scores and college grade point averages, are less likely than in decades past to stay in STEM when they leave college...
Like most things in life, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I think there is a shortage of skills, somewhat, let me explain. I have been trying to break out of my specialty of high tech sales into a related industry and because I don't have as much experience selling in that specific industry I get passed over. So in that sense, some may say I am lacking that skill, IE experience. The other thing I have noticed is that with so many candidates employers can demand you have certain skill sets, not related like I have, and if you don't have it they find someone that does, supply and demand.
And I do believe the like of Bill Gates likes to tout that statement about shortage of skilled workers because he wants for HB1 visa workers that will work for less $$ and are indentured workers. They lose their job and they have to leave.
I remember Bill Gates complaining about the lack of American programmers and the need for more H1B in front of Congress while at the same time they were laying off hundreds of American programmers
H1b's are cheap third world slaves who companies can abuse the heck out of because if they lose their jobs they get sent home.
Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948
they dont have a skills shortgage illegal mexican will snap up those jobs with just a little training. subtract the 20 million illegals that are here from the equation and force the wages up to living and we dont have problems in our country. the problem is archie bunker and his kids do not undestand that america does not need 20 million more managers with a PhD in liberal arts. our grandfathers were plumbers and electricians, we need to get back to reality.
sarkozy gave almost this same speech in state of france message, they promptly kicked him out. france is a place where the guy who cleans your toilet and fixes your meals has a PhD in gen education.
like grass cutting, field working, hard manual labor and random construction?
Big difference in having some of the qualifications and not a single qualification. I'm looking for 1. a specific degree; 2. certain industry certifications; 3. 3-5 years of job experience; 4. experience with certain technologies (hands on preferable, but if it's classroom based, that's fine). If I got people applying who had 2 of the four, and perhaps were lacking the education, I would still want to interview them and would overlook the missing qualifications if they were a good fit. Or if you had the degree and certifications, but not the experience, I would consider. Put it in a cover letter, put it in a mission statement on the resume, do SOMETHING to get this across. But I'm getting people who have not one of these attributes applying. What I'm complaining about is that I am getting people applying who don't have any of the skills, any of the experience, and zero explanation as to why they think they are a fit.
As far as HR, some of them do just keyword search (I've asked my department not to, because you can miss good people this way). But applicants should taylor their resumes/application to the job they are posting for expecting that. It is completely acceptable to put an "Objective" statement at the top of the resume - put your desires in there, and it will be caught by most automated search tools HR uses to find skills. If you are applying for a technical job in an engineering field, don't send me a resume full of your adventures as a lawyer, and then be surprised when I don't call you.
There's a good chance some people are applying simply because they're desperate and probably hoping that even if they're not qualified for Job X perhaps you have something else available where you can go, "Aha! This person is no good for my vacancy but I know Joe in Accounting needs someone asap."
On another note, if they slammed the door shut on all H1-B visas and forced employers to only hire locally, would they actually get the workforce they need? I do wonder how many Americans would be willing to work for the lower wages most H1-Bs get?
Big difference in having some of the qualifications and not a single qualification. I'm looking for 1. a specific degree; 2. certain industry certifications; 3. 3-5 years of job experience; 4. experience with certain technologies (hands on preferable, but if it's classroom based, that's fine). .
I've noticed too many tech job posting that have unrealistic, bizarre, or flat out impossible job requirements. For example, I was looking at a System Analyst job posting for a friend the other day. This at a large Fortune 100 company. It listed 2 years of experience in their internal Helpdesk system. Now it never says what type of Helpdesk system it is, whether it was an off the shelf product or some homebrewed system. How is someone suppose to satisfy that requirement? Apply and hope they meet the requirement? Then there are the classics, like "Must have 10 years experience in iOS programming experience". Unfortunately I think most of these postings are simply BS that companies use to try and claim they "searched" for domestic worker, so they can then go an hire an H1B for $30k below the going rate.
On another note, if they slammed the door shut on all H1-B visas and forced employers to only hire locally, would they actually get the workforce they need? I do wonder how many Americans would be willing to work for the lower wages most H1-Bs get?
But if foreign workers weren't available supply would decrease demand may stay the same and they would be forced to pay more $$$.
I went back to work in the same high tech sales knowing I would make less money, I expect it in the worst recession, but I am not willing to work more than I did before for a 50% pay cut.
What I found is now a lot of employers truly want you do 2-3 jobs for the price of 3/4 of what you used to get paid. I was expected to do product marketing, market research, and still keep the same sales quota ( which is impossible ) at 60-70% of what I made in the good years. Previously I just had a sales quota.
Very weak article, to the point of just being a random blurb with nothing supporting the statement presented. But at any rate, I believe it largely depends on the field and skilled required. STEM related, well, you can study for that stuff, but people need additional training and OTJ experience. If companies are unwilling to provide that, because it boosts the bottom line, they are creating a skills shortage. They can do this because of H1B visa programs. Much cheaper to pay more for the visa than to actually train an American to do the work.
I work in skilled trades, and I can tell you there is a critical shortage of skilled machinists. There are plenty of machine operators who can babysit machines. They are easy to train, and I guess some people are happy with $10/hr. Trying to find a full fledged, journeyman level machinist with more than $500 in tools in another story entirely. While companies whine about their inability to find these skilled workers, they ignore the reasons. Wages have been stagnant/declining for over a decade. Skilled guys were getting $24/hr in 1994, and companies expect to pay $20/hr TOPS for a guy who can walk into a shop, run every machine, beat deadlines, train workers for various jobs... Sorry, those guys left the trade years ago, and they aren't coming back until you offer a dignified wage.
Some companies whine that they can't find young people to learn these skills. No crap! Why would you invest 10 years of your life and $1000's in tools for a burger flipping wage! All the while, all the major companies can think about is how to offshore anything not bolted to the ground. They've completely shelled out this occupation and ruined yet another once middle class income earning profession. It takes smarts to do these jobs right. Anyone can blast tools into metal. Hitting all the dimensions, doing all the math correctly, and getting the job done in the quoted space of time is another matter entirely. Those smart enough to do the work, and consistently, are smart enough to know better.
China didn't gut our manufacturing sector. The backroom bandits did that. There is a shortage of skilled workers. They also created it be eliminating the motive to learn the skills. Now it's next to impossible to find the skills we need, no matter what the employers offer. Go ahead and try to "import" talent. Those guys in Switzerland, Canada and Germany all know better. There goes your high end manufacturing sector...
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You must never have worked for a corporation where that sort of thing is out of your control. I do know for a fact that my position pays more than a couple of the competitors that are hiring right now, so it's not a compensation if you are on the open market. Is it high enough to entice you away from another job? Apparently not.
