I don’t know how old you are, but I was a hiring manager in a Fortune 50 company from the late 80s thru the 2000s, and I never had a lack of qualified applicants, and never let an open req. go unfilled. But what I did see - and see much more nowadays - are candidates who don’t seem to care all that much if they get the job, have unrealistic expectations with regard to everything from salary and benefits to the horror of having to live in a four-season climate, miles from the hip-cool urban centers favored by the elite youts. Why? Because they’ve got the option of just going back home, living in mom’s basement, where there’s cable TV, free wi-fi, and all the comforts, plus the freedom to do whatever they want to do.
I’m sure we are both right to some extent, as it’s not a monolithic problem. But don’t write off his last paragraph.
yes, though I must plead that I have no parents’ basement available (never did), and I also have a very positive work ethic.
I do see many more people in the last few years who have an “entitlement” attitude ... which I would certainly never hire! Its amazing just how pernicious or destructive that attitude is ... I know I was never willing to even consider hiring anyone with that poisonous attitude... (but again, I have a very positive view about work...)
.....
What I learned in college though was “never beg for a job.” In order to get the job, you have to act like you don’t really need one.....if you start begging they will humiliate you royally - they will go down your resume and essentially tell you that a trained monkey could have done the jobs you have done (which, at the time I graduated from college, was true).
It’s not just high school dropouts and drug users that have a tough time getting jobs....the brainy, nerdy types have especially difficult times answering “what was your most satisfying experience/biggest disappointment/and (other than for the money), why do you want this job?”
Yep.