Three million open jobs in U.S., but who's qualified?

[BigRedChief]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_16...hos-qualified/

The video of the 60 minutes piece.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134943n

The balance of power in Washington didn't change this week as President Obama and most members of Congress kept their jobs. They'll go back to work and face an unemployment problem that also hasn't changed very much.



Every month since January 2009, more than 20 million Americans have been either out of work or underemployed. Yet despite that staggering number, there are more than three million job openings in the U.S. Just in manufacturing, there are as many as 500,000 jobs that aren't being filled because employers say they can't find qualified workers.



It's called "the skills gap." How could that be, we wondered, at a time like this with so many people out of work? No place is the question more pressing than in Nevada. The state with the highest unemployment rate in the country. A place where there are jobs waiting to be filled.



Karl Hutter: Yeah, we hear way too much about the United States manufacturing, we don't manufacture anything anymore. Not true. Not true.
Byron Pitts: Sure, it's Mexico, it's in China--
Karl Hutter: Yeah, yeah, that all went to China, that all went to Mexico. Not true, whatsoever.
Karl Hutter is the new chief operating officer of Click Bond in Carson City, Nev., a company his parents started in 1969.
Karl Hutter: We're still technically a small business, but we're growing quickly.
Byron Pitts: So, you're hiring?
Karl Hutter: We are hiring. We're hiring and we need to find good people. And that's really what the challenge is these days.

[Brock]

Just from what I've observed lately, you need to be in your twenties and willing to work for mediocre to low pay. Hence the lack of qualifications.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Brock

Just from what I've observed lately, you need to be in your twenties and willing to work for mediocre to low pay. Hence the lack of qualifications.

Yep in the piece, the guys in the factory trained for a year. Worked for free. At the end of the year, they got a full time job at $12 an hour.

[BucEyedPea]

I remember in the 1990s when employment was high it was hard to get skilled or responsible workers. One business owner told me he was just going to take in less work because he couldn't get what he needed.

[Pawnmower]

awesome i want to train for a year at zero pay then get 12 bucks an hour

LOL

[jiveturkey]

I'm a corporate recruiter in healthcare and we consistently have a shit pile of high-end RN openings across the nation with approximately 30% of those jobs being open for more than 90 days.

It's been like this for the 4 years that I've been here though. There's just a lack of nurses that have the skills to move up.

[HonestChieffan]

You would be amazed how many fail the drug screen

[Direckshun]

Beveridge curve. It's real.

1/3rd of unemployment is due to mismatches in employment and the unemployed.

Soon as that rectifies itself (I'd say around 2014...), unemployment drops like a rock.

[Trivers]

28 IT and marketing openings paying $14/hr to $30/hr. We get 100+ resumes per week.

3 senior management openings paying $25/hr to $40/hr. Can't find qualified talent willing to move to WI.

[Trivers]

From WI manufacturing perspective:

According to my buddies....

THey can't find enough people to work CNC machines. Alot of candidates don't want to train, fail drug tests, or think the wages are too low to be worth their time. $15/hr is considered very good money in rural WI.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

I'm a corporate recruiter in healthcare and we consistently have a shit pile of high-end RN openings across the nation with approximately 30% of those jobs being open for more than 90 days.

It's been like this for the 4 years that I've been here though. There's just a lack of nurses that have the skills to move up.

I'm sure I know the reason for those opening.

I worked as a Respiratory Therapist for 9 years. Mostly ICU and a level 1 trauma ER. By the time you get to that level where you can deal with those high end life and death issues, the clock has been ticking. You have to care to do the job, but you have to leave work at work. After a while you start to bring work home with you. At that point you are through in that part of the health care field. You just want to go work at some Dr. Office 9-5 M-F.

Those high end RN's take some time to get there and then they burn out. Not a long life span at the top end. A lot of turnover.

[MagicHef]

I was unemployed/underemployed for about 21 out of the last 33 months in Colorado. I would apply to a job and hear back that these companies were receiving 500-1000 applications per position.

I decided to look elsewhere and got a job pretty much immediately in Houston. I got a call for an interview literally 20 minutes after submitting my resume online to one job.There are a lot of openings in my field (engineering) down here, and it feels pretty good knowing that if anything were to happen to the company I work for, a new job would be relatively easy to find.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by HonestChieffan

You would be amazed how many fail the drug screen

You'd be amazed at what poor attitudes some of the young workers have. Sense of entitlement, not showing up. You know those millennials. Anecdotal from my own experience in hiring but also per two HR people I know.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by MagicHef

I was unemployed/underemployed for about 21 out of the last 33 months in Colorado. I would apply to a job and hear back that these companies were receiving 500-1000 applications per position.

I decided to look elsewhere and got a job pretty much immediately in Houston. I got a call for an interview literally 20 minutes after submitting my resume online to one job.There are a lot of openings in my field (engineering) down here, and it feels pretty good knowing that if anything were to happen to the company I work for, a new job would be relatively easy to find.

It works better to work through people you know if you can. That's how I found my two part-time jobs during this recession quickly. I've a great part-time gig while I update my skills now with courses. Other places were inundated with applications. But that's usually true. When I've advertised for help, I'd get a lot. I wouldn't even open all of them. Probably were more during this period.

[Trivers]

I still see a lot of entitlement where people are not willing to change or adapt to the new work environment where you have to justify why you should be hired, make the same or even money that before, and learn new skills via self training.

The job market competition is fierce.

But being a business owner also sucks as increased global competition, lack of market opportunity, and decreased access to capital. Due to a acquisition that went south, I am paying myself less than anyone else in the company.