So you're passing up smart, motivated employees with known work ethics because they'll leave when things get better?
That seems incredibly short-sighted. Even if you're right and they leave when the economy picks up, when exactly do you think that's going to happen? It could be another four or five years into the future... or it may not happen at all.
Grossly overqualified employees have a well-earned reputation as trouble waiting to happen. After the initial gratitude wears off, they tend to become bored easily, are hypercritical of areas completely outside their current station and do not fit in with their peers, above and beyond the virtual certainty that they’ll bail at the first opportunity to return to their former careers and rate of compensation.
It’s awful for people unemployed and trapped there in this economy, but it’s a truism that has long been demonstrated in the workforce.
That seems incredibly short-sighted. Even if you're right and they leave when the economy picks up, when exactly do you think that's going to happen? It could be another four or five years into the future... or it may not happen at all.
Completely agree. I've taken plenty of contracts and jobs that were below my usual rate not because I had no other options but because it was interesting work or I really liked the team/people.
Most folks will look at a job first as income, but also consider the work being done, the people around them, etc. Job satisfaction has a lot going for it, too, and many companies know it - they know they can pay less than normal wages and their employees will stay because of the work environment and the way the company functions as a whole.
I always say hire the best person you can for any job, and then don't give them a reason to leave!
when the economy picks up, when exactly do you think that’s going to happen? It could be another four or five years into the future... or it may not happen at all.
Middle class has probably seen it’s day. The days are over for unskilled or minimally trained in this country, a large percentage of the middle class. Voters are outraged that municipal workers in menial jobs are making high 5 and low 6 figures. That’ll soon be over also. We’re farming out some of our highest tech jobs to India and China so engineers will be harder pressed to find good paying positions here. Everywhere you look it appears to be gloom and doom in the US market. The healthy tax base is no longer there and governments no longer have a gravy train to tap at will. Soon we’ll see massive layoffs in government at all levels.
One of the things I say to all prospective employees is that we are looking for people who want a career with us, not just a job. Well without wanting to denigrate the profession I have chosen, it is not suited for those with bachelor and master degrees. The work we do here is very much blue-collar and not something that anybody with a college degree aspires to. So we would rather extend employment to qualified candidates who will be here for the long haul, not as a "temporary setback" while they look for something better.
People are dreaming if they think the economy is going to pick up. Maybe 2017 - maybe never.