Posted on 10/01/2012 8:32:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It isn't just high tech positions in American manufacturing that aren't being filled. The consultant company Deloitte surveyed the industry and found 600,000 perfectly good jobs going unfilled because of a lack of "soft skills."
What are soft skills?
Wall Street Journal:
At a recent dinner in Washington, D.C., with representatives from major American manufacturing companies, I listened as the talk turned to how hard it is to find qualified applicants for jobs.
"What exactly are the skills you can't find?" I asked, imagining that openings for high-tech positions went begging because, as we hear so often, the training of the U.S. workforce doesn't match up well with current corporate needs.
One of the representatives looked sheepishly around the room and responded: "To be perfectly honest . . . we have a hard time finding people who can pass the drug test." Several other reps gave a knowing nod. Applicants were often so underqualified, they said, that simply finding someone who could properly answer the telephone was sometimes a challenge.
[...]
American manufacturing has become more advanced, we're told, and requires computer aptitude, intricate problem solving, and greater dexterity with complex tasks. Surely if Americans were getting STEM education, they would have the skills they need to get jobs in our modern, high-tech economy.
But considerable evidence suggests that many employers would be happy just to find job applicants who have the sort of "soft" skills that used to be almost taken for granted. In the Manpower Group's 2012 Talent Shortage Survey, nearly 20% of employers cited a lack of soft skills as a key reason they couldn't hire needed employees. "Interpersonal skills and enthusiasm/motivation" were among the most commonly identified soft skills that employers found lacking.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Agreed - no sympathy here for employers who shoot themselves in the foot with irrelevant drug testing (which is not to say that it's always irrelevant - but it often is).
I didn't make the original claim. You mentioned speeding tickets and I shared my experience which showed that speeding tickets may also be taken into account.
The reason the company distinguishes between jobs that travel and those that don't is risk. Their business guy in their rental car is their liability. The same holds true for someone who would be driving a forklift. Heaven forbid, some guy driving a forklift run over another employee and then we find out the guy's had 3 car accidents in the last year.
Amen!
I didn't make the original claim.
Sorry - my bad. I've gotten too used to being in FR 'ping-pong matches.'
You mentioned speeding tickets and I shared my experience which showed that speeding tickets may also be taken into account.
The reason the company distinguishes between jobs that travel and those that don't is risk.
Right - they do that screening when it's directly relevant ... not because "it shows a willingness to break the law." Thanks for the dose of reality.
I assume you know the difference between OPINION which I was providing and FACT which I never claimed to provide. Please feel free to form your own opinion and conduct your own research and obtain your own education.
I’m sure you also were an intelligent kid, but it doesn’t take a lot of education to rotate tires or chop wood.
In fact, the popular image of a backwards redneck is a guy who can take his tires off his truck, and carries an axe around with him. :-)
And once you have those tires off, the rotate pretty easily. :-)
I’m sure you also were an intelligent kid, but it doesn’t take a lot of education to rotate tires or chop wood.
In fact, the popular image of a backwards redneck is a guy who can take his tires off his truck, and carries an axe around with him. :-)
And once you have those tires off, they rotate pretty easily. :-)
Got multiple job offers here in Houston at age 59, and am happily working as a design engineer here, while getting paid what my previous employer paid me as Engineering Manager.
Depends on where you are I guess.
And with VASTLY improved benefits - forgot to mention that, but important to us senior citizens: 3 weeks vacation to start, a Cadillac medical plan, excellent life insurance, best 401K I’ve ever heard about, etc.
As a manager I expected HR to collect the resumes and pass them on, nothing more. Caused a bit of friction, as the larger the corporation the more grandiose (and worthless) the HR department is.
I picked the wheat from the chaff quite easily without any "professional" help, as I knew what was wanted. Not to say I didn't have brilliant help, just none of it came from "HR".
I would LOVE to be in Texas!
I very nearly got a job in Houston a few years back. Aced the interview, they loved me, I loved them.
I knew their product inside and out, having built the original prototypes, had critical design inputs, and developed all the secret sauce in the manufacturing process.
Two days after my interview their 90% of their business customer bounced their last check and blandly informed them they would be placing no new orders for a full year.
Yep. One of the striking Chicago teachers proudly informed a reporter: "I teaches English!"
‘I’m waiting for the new leads.’
—Glengarry GlenRoss
Probably has an”Obama Phoan” as well.
LOL! I was replaced by THREE H-1bs on my last job.
Your statements of opinion were indistinguishable from assertions of fact. In the future you might want to consider using a clause such as "in my opinion" - just a thought.
I told him if I saw him about to get killed I wouldn't say a word or try and pull him out of the way.
His attitude changed real fast.
Yeah, amazing that.
I would have requested that he put it in writing over his signature.
Why?
Oh, no reason, I'd just like to be able to show it to the judge should someone get killed and I didn't stop it.
I'm so sorry! /snicker
Dumber than robots!
“Its the MBA mentality to treat employees as Human Resources but then get pissed if those humans only act like resources.”
I have a M.B.A and I definitely do not subscribe to that way of thinking. You may want to re-think your broad statement there. As a whole, I am pretty aware that the pendulum swings both ways and that loyalty in good times for the employer will translate to less costs when the pendulum swings back the other way.
The reason I got my M.B.A. was to beat the rest of the competition while looking for work. You have no idea how many times I heard the “overqualified” excuse when trying to find a job, only to be offered a pittance when I insisted on at least hearing all of the options or offers. This would happen after the employer advertised that a M.B.A. was required for the job. If you do not want to pay for education and experience, then do not expect it. I have invested many years in my education and work experience. I do not come cheap. If I am willing to put all of that time, education, and experience to work for an employer, I expect to be compensated fairly. I do not think that I am entitled, but if I am not entitled, neither are they. I realize that I am to be paid what it is worth to the employer to have me do that job. In many cases, the employers are just as guilty of trying to get something for nothing. i.e. 100% commission jobs.
Then you have employers asking for a B.S., B.A., or M.B.A. to do jobs that a kid in H.S. could do.
Example: “Receptionist for growing firm needed. Excellent phone and interpersonal skills required. Bachelor’s degree preferred.”
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