So, here's an issue I've noticed happening a lot. Many companies list on their job offerings "experience XXX, or years ????" Is this they're way of shutting out the college kids who haven't worked beyond entry-level jobs if that. Its fairly common to hear in our age group the sentence "So, i wasn't chosen for the job because i don't have any experience" or "its been filled by someone with experience". To me, that just smacks of Ageism.
They claim that our parents generation were the ones who stayed loyal and true to their companies and upheld the loyalty code. BS. It was our grandparents who did so. Our parents job-hopped more than a whore at a flea-bitten motel. And we have suffered because of it. Now that our parents generation is getting up there in years, their looking for the stability they remember their parents having. Well....that has us displaced and scrambling. Most of our parents still job hop when they can. Better hours, more pay, that sort of thing. And because of them, we were taught that company loyalty means nada and that we can always do better. Well this economy has killed that.
We have smacked in the back of the head with our parents job ideology and those same companies want our parents or grandparents because guess what....THEY HAVE EXPERIENCE. Plus i think the retirement thing is playing majorly too. I mean, what company in their right mind wants to pay pension benefits to someone who's worked at a place for 30/40years vs hiring them for less than 30 years...say hit em out the door at 20 to 25yrs. Then they don't have to pay the pension! Its a grand idea for them. But that's fucking us all out of jobs.
Many of us have gone to college and gotten degrees to do those same jobs. But, and here's where i get mad, we get told me we need experience to work in the same field. HOW DO WE DO THAT WITHOUT A JOB? That's what confuses me so. Kat, Isaac, our friends....case in point... Kat's friend's husband got told today that the job had been filled with someone who had the experience and that they would see if any other openings came up in any department, they'd toss his name into it. That's a boatload of bs. Kat herself hasn't heard back from a really good sales job opening. Though I'm calling her out on this because she didn't push hard enough. She's got a decent job but she wants one with more security and health benefits.
But seriously. All these companies are dicks about this. Honestly, i am having a hard time holding my temper on this. I'm also being polite. I want to say $#$%#$%@ to them, but at the same time i'm not doing that because I don't need to. WE ALL NEED TO TELL THEM OFF. Move over Occupy...its time for "FU EXPERIENCE". I'd love to see a ton of young people just sit at companies with signs saying "FU and the experience required!" or "Screw Experience, we want to learn!" "Teach us, and we'll be loyal!"...things like that. So yeah, its not like we don't get the experience but seriously, how much more do we have to say "we want jobs too" before we finally get something?
Regarding the pension, you're right. It's screwing a lot of good people out of jobs. I have yet to see a pension plan that's sustainable in the long run. It takes several employees to pay off one employee's lifelong pension, so it's like a Ponzi scheme.
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem with work too. Everyone wants to hire someone with a load of experience. And it's the type of experience that a college graduate in the entry level positions can never hope to attain on their own. I received most of my knowledge and experience from starting at the bottom of the totem pole for most companies and working my way up... My college degree has been almost useless for the most part. I even discourage most people from getting one now, since it's more like an expensive library card than anything else.
That's it right there! I haven't felt having a degree has done any of us any good. We need to go back to the apprenticeship style of working, because in all honesty, its the only thing that worked. Learn on your own time outside of work if you wish to better yourself. Benjamin Franklin did it...and look where it got him! So yes, i think we all got some very expensive library cards.
DeletePlus one thing i think that stands out is that if you go to one of those Ivy League schools your automatically guaranteed a job because its the school name that sells it. Case in point, my lil bro is going to Penn State (mont alto, satellite campus) and the incoming freshmen class has literally been cut down by the recent scandal. Last year before the scandal, the local campus was crawling in new students. Thankfully the degree my bro is getting is in nursing so at least his degree will be useful.
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson lived that way, and those are two of my heroes. The apprentice style of working was effective. I haven't really learned that much useful material in college that could be applied in the real world. In fact, I learned more about the real world from self-study and first hand experience than from academia. I'm sure you had the same results, right?
ReplyDeleteNursing should be great for your brother since the world will always need nurses.
Mine too! It is more useful to have experience and learn in the field than to sit in a classroom and theorize everything.
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