Diminishing quality of the labor pool

originally posted by: DBCowboy

So what I'm seeing, is if you want someone who will work overtime and on weekends, be clean, smart, educated. . .

I should start them out, start them out . . at 100K.

Oh crap, the nation is screwed.

Corner office also?

How about a secretary and a foot rub when the tootsies get tired.

Can I have Sundays off?

Religious thing, don't discriminate.

I sold one of my business to my employees for pennies on the dollar. It took them less than a year to run that business into the ground. They gave it back to me and went to work for county.
I reestablished the old client base and have it up an running again. I see fantastic opportunities everywhere i look.

Retail....free coffee, and just give me a few minutes to work my Dale Carnegie mojo.

a reply to: NthOther

Nope.

24/7

a reply to: DBCowboy

I'm gonna sue.

Yes and no. I'm in an upper middle class area, and around here a lot of people are at least above average intellects, or have a knack for something and find a good position or start up their own company.

I can take this so many different ways, my expectations of the standard for college didn't remotely match what I witnessed and it freaked me the hell out. Now I get that colleges are all about the monies and watered down to take on just about anyone. If I were to expose myself to crap-job environments I'd probably tell of a lot of people who were stupid that didn't deserve a job as you describe, but honestly I think this depends on the area.

If I were to travel to an area where (yes Kali, I'm calling you out here) the socioeconomics and demographics were shifted... that is where people earned less and minorities were more represented, you can totally feel the stupidity in the environment, and witness it all around you. People drive worse, they make more mistakes in everyday tasks, they take longer to process the basics, and you can see pure incompetence even at low/no -skill jobs.

I work around the clock, regardless of what day of the week it is, holidays don't phase me, but I have to know I'm working for a company that has a competent leader, and a vision to grow with me in it. I got all but the hygiene down, and really it boils down to half the mornings I'd rather get on the job site ready to roll, with knowledge that I'm going to sweat my ass off and get dirty anyways, so might as well wait until I get off to take a shower.

Oh, I should disclose that I DO work construction as my day job and I DO NOT witness stupidity on the job site nearly as often as I would from say... a fast food job. We take on high-end new commercial work, and you have to have a certain attitude and aptitude to work this level of new construction. If you can't cut it, the GCs will not take your bids in the future.

originally posted by: NthOther
a reply to: DBCowboy

I'm gonna sue.

You're fired.

Have skills, work hard, produce, get a good salary then you get canned. The money is meant to go to CEOs and/or stock owners.

Skilled trades are big around here. A welder with 3-4 years doesn't have a hard time making $100k plus. Roofers $30 an hour with experience. Building trades manager $60 an hour easy. Lots of work.

originally posted by: DBCowboy

You're fired.

a reply to: AssiduousSpook

Funny I've notice a diminished quality of employers.

It was once the case that you could expect a high school graduate to be able to craft a decent, grammatical business letter. Today you can't expect that of college graduates. The educational process has been dumbed down so much that a typical liberal arts college graduate has few marketable skills. No wonder they work at McDonalds. The assumption is that they are underemployed, but they are not. They are working at their skill level.

I have seen people with Masters degrees who cannot write. How could they possibly have graduated? well, if they don't graduate, they might feel badly, so they are passed on to get them out of the way. When you add motivation to this mix, or the lack of it, the state of the labor pool is utterly dismal.

a reply to: schuyler

I'm cruel.

I typically have applicants write out their applications.

I can weed out many that way.

There's a guy at work who is so fat he is unable to reach around and wipe his own ass.

I'll let your imagination run wild with what he smells like after going number two during office hours. People that sit anywhere near him just up and leave for the day. On top of that, he doesn't shower regularly and his clothes might get washed after a wear or two (not entirely sure about his brown slacks though).

I kind'a like having him around though. He soaks up all the petty hatred ... and he'll take the first round if anyone decides to go postal.

a reply to: AssiduousSpook

Work Ethics isn't like it used to be. Many companies are having a hard time finding good competent workers today.

originally posted by: DBCowboy


I'd have better luck finding Elvis humping Bigfoot in a UFO.

It was at the Hyatt Regency, not a UFO.

FYI

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: AssiduousSpook

Funny I've notice a diminished quality of employers.

I know a certain "Pastry Company" that requires their store shelf stockers Reps to have a min Bachelors degree to just stock shelves at stores....

Yeah so. If that's their requirements to simply have a shelf stocker then by that standard the work force available quality has diminished...

a reply to: SLAYER69

That's where Bigfoot and I always went!

*sob*

a reply to: Kali74

Anyway, the labor force is actually over qualified and probably you're running into people that stopped GAF out of frustration.

How many people work for your business? How many people have you hired over the years? I am positive it isn't as many as me and trust me...finding good help is near impossible these days. I pay above average wages IF I can find someone qualified and skilled.

If you think the workforce is 'over qualified' then you have been listening to too many liberal news channels (actually that is highly likely).

A few points here. First off, us productivity has soared the last 5 decades. So I'm not sure where you get your statistics. But, I will also point out, minimum wage provides less than it used to. So maybe this race to the bottom in wages is having the end logical result. Those whose time is worth more are not taking the low wage jobs, and you're getting what you pay for. Second, I'd like to second what the other poster stated. Jobs aren't holding up their end like they used to. Used to be, if you staid with a company a long time they would take care of you. We had pensions, that paid a salary until you died. We retired at an earlier age and had time to enjoy that pension. Benefits covered everything. You could depend on noticeably wage increases. We haven't had wage increases in 7 years. Insurance is a joke. 401k is a bad joke. And like another person said..... We're not being asked to take a promotion, were asked to do more work without more pay. So maybe the bad workers you complain about are the results of the bad business paradigm that manages our nation.

a reply to: AssiduousSpook

I'm the youngest guy in my shop by nearly 20 years.

Cnc machine shop