Clinton: Lots of jobs, not enough skill

Yep, I should have gone into HVAC back in high school.

Amplify’d from crooksandliars.com

Bill Clinton appeared on Meet the Press this morning to talk about the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and our current unemployment and jobs situation. He argued that there were millions of jobs available for immediate hire, but for two limiters: People upside-down on their mortgages and mismatched skills.

His argument has merit, but it seems to me that there's some hyperbole here. First of all, I'm not seeing a tremendous number of jobs where one can "go to work on Monday" here in California. As to the skills issues, it was instructive to review Susie's post from 2009 about what happens when there are too many applicants and not enough jobs.

The other annoying thing that happens during a recession is that employers start demanding all sorts of unrelated skill sets in one person (figuring they'll get them to do two jobs for the price of one). I'd advise you against taking a job like that even if it's offered - no matter how bad the economy is, it's not worth the heart attack you'll probably get.

There is also the unspoken, yet very real fact of ageism in the hiring stream:

Now, as a recruiter, I would never advise a candidate to do anything unethical or misleading. But as a human being, I can tell you: Remove any dates on your resume that indicate your age. Don't list every job you ever had, it only makes you look old. And don't put down "consultant" as your present employment (unless you work for a known consulting company) because most people will assume that means unemployed.

Jobs most in demand:

1. Skilled trades (mechanics, electricians, welders) 2. Sales representatives 3. Nurses 4. Technicians 5. Drivers 6. Restaurants, hotel staff 7. Management/executives 8. Engineers 9. Doctors 10. Customer support and service

Now you'd think that customer support and service, for example, would jump at the opportunity to hire a computer-skilled, savvy person who has worked in various aspects of support and service as well as built a small business on it before times got hard, right? Not so much. They'd rather contract out than hire, and they certainly don't want to hire someone who is over the age of about 30.

So with all due respect to Bill Clinton, I submit that this alleged "jobs gap" is really a way to take corporate America off the hook for a lack of flexibility, a stranglehold on jobs and concealed ageism. Read more at crooksandliars.com

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/cD9V1R