America’s hiring paralysis

Washington Post ^ | 06/17/2015 | By Catherine Rampell

[SeekAndFind]

Last week the Labor Department offered some seemingly very good news: U.S. employers now have more job openings than ever previously recorded. There is a bounty of opportunities to be had.

And yet to unemployed workers, it may not feel that way.

That’s because many companies are acting like big teases. They say they want to hire, then drag their feet. In fact, the average time required to fill a job opening has also just reached an all-time high: 27.3 days, or almost a month, according to an important and underappreciated monthly data release called the DHI-DFH Mean Vacancy Duration Measure. Firms took about half as long to make a hire in mid-2009. Among the largest firms, this hiring paralysis lasts an almost comical 64 days.

It’s hard to know exactly what explains firms’ seemingly interminable indecision.

One possible explanation relates to so-called “skills mismatch,” the idea that today’s workers simply don’t possess the qualifications necessary for the jobs available. Absent additional training, a recently laid-off construction worker can’t easily fill a nursing slot; a newly idle travel agent is unlikely to pass muster as a software engineer.

Companies themselves are indeed reporting difficulty acquiring talent. Nearly half of small and medium-size businesses with recent vacancies say they could find few or no “qualified applicants,” according to the latest monthly survey of the National Federation of Independent Business. Over the past couple of years, firms have also become increasingly likely to say that “quality of labor” is the “single most important problem” facing their businesses.

[headstamp 2]

Must be all those new 10 hour per week jobs.

[bert]

a highschool graduate that learned cosmetology can’t weld

[txrefugee]

No, if companies claim they can’t find U.S. workers, they can apply to our anti-American government and get H1B foreign workers. If your Congressman or Senator supports hundreds of thousands of these visas, they are sending your children and grandchildren to the unemployment line.
VOTE THEM OUT!

[fulltlt]

I quit my 6 figure job at the end of Feb this year because
the owner asked me to do something illegal. Since then I
have applied for many jobs. I’ve had a few interviews but
no job offers so far. Then I see the same jobs posted as
available. I am willing to work for a lot less than I
was making but no one wants to hire an old guy.

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

From my experience over the past 15 years, here is the typical job announcement:

Now Hiring!

Entry level _________ position

Requirements: 10+ years experience in the field

Masters Degree

Proficiency in ________, _______, ______, and _______ software packages

Starting pay: $24K per year

[Dilbert San Diego]

You are probably a victim of age discrimination, but proving that would be very difficult.

I know from experience that, you can go on job interviews, but you never find out who was hired, how their qualifications contrast with yours, or whether you were screened out due to age or other reasons.

[Zathras]

Here is the best suggestion I have.

First, EVERYONE looking for quality people uses Linkedin.
Get an account and polish...polish...polish it.
DON’T just throw something together quickly.

Second, you might have to move.
Lots of workers refuse to leave their home town.
Being flexible offers options others don’t have.

[wally_bert]

Desired qualifications for a state job or a technician for an electronic recycling company. Been both.