More job searchers just quit looking

USA TODAY ^ | 4/7/2003 | Barbara Hagenbaugh

[Willie Green]

WASHINGTON

[dfwgator]

The main problem is the fact that government over-regulates to death small businesses. Small businesses are crucial to employment in this country, and this over-regulation serves as a disincentive to start a new business, in addition to the other risks involved with starting a business.

[adx]

One bright ray in my current job search arena is that many folks are looking to hire U. S. citizens now, for security reasons... That could be our "in"...

The only calls I've received since I've started looking in November (trying to break into the EE field, entry-level) were because I'm a US citizen. General gist I'm getting is that everyone's holding their breath on hiring, as has been posted previously. Fortunately my wife's still working.

If it comes down to it, I can start slinging a rifle again, since I'm still young enough to enlist.

[Black Agnes]

Actually, now that you bring it up...Jimmah was more qualified to hammer nails. He should've stayed away from the Oval Office.

[MARTIAL MONK]

Clamper's right about this one. Overqualified people are inherently unhappy. They are doing work that they feel (or know) is beneath them. Given just half a chance they will bail with no notice.

A manager's worst nightmare is someone, or a group, walking out. When a manager working 60 or 70 or 80 hours a week in the middle of a project has key people walk out without notice it is something they will never forget. It's the manager who has to cover. Then they have to find a replacement. Then they have to bring the replacement up to speed. No thanks, this has happened to me too often. I'll take a chance on a drooler every time. You just can't fit a square peg in a round hole.

[Andrewksu]

I graduated from school last May with a five year professional architecture degree and just found a job a month ago. I looked for 4-5 months for architecture related jobs, but the few firms that were hiring were looking for 5+ years of experience and had 100+ applicants within days of posting. I gave up, a couple times, but realized that wasn't getting me anywhere, so I decided not to limit my job search to just architecture firm, I looked for any job that could use critical thinking or just a plain ol' educated kid. Didn't have much luck, so I expanded the search to decent paying labor type jobs. I was either over qualified or did not have the experience, even though I have worked construction through college and could drive a forklift. They saw the college education and looked the other way. They were sure that I would leave first opportunity, and were probably right. THat was frustrating, being rejected from UPS, SYSCO, and 20+ other grunt $8/hr jobs because I was over/under qualified. To get by, I did some freelance work and had some help from my parents (thank God, and them!), but that didn't pay all of the bills and left me feeling lost, having to rely on others.

I was about to give up for the third time and try and start my own business, but found a job that is actually better than most arch firm jobs. It pays well and offers opportunity to move up, and the boss might support me in my furniture design ventures.

The moral is that you can't give up and you just might end up in a better situation, you just have to be willing to do anything and try to keep from slipping into a funk.

Best of luck to the hunters, and remember that prosperity is driven by hope and hard work.

[FITZ]

Two years at a trade school and you'll be able to find a job. Lee308

You must be very young and not know what it's like for people who have families to support and mortgages to pay ---they don't always have the luxury of two years with no bills so they can attend trade school. Some people absolutely need a pay check because they're supporting a family. It's easy to tell a kid living at home with his parents buying his food and buying him a car to go to trade school but a little harder telling someone they can go two years without a job.

[ACAC]

I am getting my Masters in Public Administration in May and I haven't even gotten an interview yet. I can't even get an interview for an entry level job.

[Black Agnes]

I want to know what trade? All the manufacturing jobs are gone, the IT jobs are following. What trades are left? Health Care possibly till it gets nationalized, then it'll suck to be there. Service jobs only pay when people can afford 'services'. See above for manufacturing and IT jobs being gone...

[FITZ]

I dunno about New York or other high-welfare states, but here in Texas the idea of giving up on finding work means living in your mom's basement, on your friend's couch, or beneath the overpass.

Not all of Texas ---actually parts of Texas are high-welfare. In this area of Texas, many of the NAFTA displaced workers will never work another day in their life. 14,000 in just El Paso lost their jobs and no other business moved in ---many were middle aged, uneducated women with no English language skills and have joined the ever-growing welfare class.

[FITZ]

Health care is one area where there still are jobs ---but it's scary because so much of that comes from the government ----we pretty much have socialized medicine already, in parts of Texas and other places less than one out of three people is covered by private insurance ----over 2/3 expects to have free health care. The ones expecting the free care are growing at an alarming rate ----I don't know what happens when there are more on welfare than are working ---we already have that in this area ---it's propped up with massive state and federal monies ---but for how long?

[Black Agnes]

FITZ, lemme be honest with you. Move. I'm serious. Move east. Way east. It won't buy you too much time but you never know.

[giotto]

The mortgage default rate per Merky News and KGO TV is 49% in the Bay Area

Where and when did you find that statistic? Everytime I try to find out information like that, the article seems to have been written by a realtor. In other words, sales are good, million dollar houses are selling briskly, prices have leveled off but are not falling, etc. They put a lot of spin on the figures. Even so, 49% sounds unreal. Maybe in Santa Clara County they are that high, but definitely not in the East Bay.

[Tall_Texan]

Actually, now that you bring it up...Jimmah was more qualified to hammer nails. He should've stayed away from the Oval Office.

See? But let him actually apply for a job and any HR person worth their salt would reject him as being "overqualified" to hammer nails. My point, exactly.

[FITZ]

People who clean motels in this area are lucky to make $6 an hour with no benefits. That must be a rare part of the country your friend lives in where cleaning ladies can make that much money and yet the houses are that affordable. In this region now one third of the jobs pay minimum wage or less, one third pay between minimum and $10 an hour and only one third pay more than $10 an hour ---wages have been dropping for many people in the recent years.

[lawgirl]

Right there with ya. I can't even get interviews for HR jobs when I did some HR law. Overqualified for every non-legal job, but not enough experience (graduated 2000) to get any law jobs out there. It's enough to make a person want to panic.

[ezo4]

I got laid off about 7 months ago and I did ok on contract work for awhile....now Im getting a bit concerned. I hope I can find something soon other wise Ill be tapping my savings. This is not a good thing these days.

[FITZ]

I'm not out of work though ---there can be a certain advantage in living in an area where the drop out rate is very high and not many have a college degree and those that do are leaving. I've got two pretty good jobs and could get another tomorrow if I wanted. I hate to admit it ---alot of the benefit is from all the federal and state money pouring in to give people all the luxuries like free health care and free education. Plus even in third world countries there is that 10% that has life extremely well ----it seems we're getting to be all that ---and that means if you can't stop it ---get into that 10%.

[Black Agnes]

Until the revolution. The 10% is usually the first against the wall.

[meadsjn]

...the employees I see could only kindly be described as barely passable. It looks like their personnel departments were scraping the bottom of the barrel for workers...

What you describe is the prevalent situation at all levels of corporate America. Twenty+ years of aggressive affirmative action has stacked the hiring and management positions with unqualified personnel who can't afford to hire competent employees, lest their own incompetence become too obvious.

On a similar note, others have pointed out that many of the tech recruiters and outsourcing specialists are ultra-liberal sorts who never had any business getting involved in the technical realm, and are bitter at those who were making a living at it.

[Euro-American Scum]

With moving jobs to India they don't have to pay near as much and no health care costs.

They won't be going to India much longer. The Indians have been at it too long, you see, and actually want to be paid what they're worth.

Look for the next outsourcing to go to China and Russia. There's always somebody willing to work cheaper.