The job that I am most optimistic about now is one that I applied for online, but that a former coworker recommended me for. I got an interview because of that recommendation. In fact, the interviewer tried to find my original application among the others and couldn't, but they routinely get hundred of applications.
Applying for a different job around the same time, I finally heard back from them. I was not in the eliminated group, but I was not in the group going forward either. They had so many applicants that there are many qualified applicants that they will not interview unless a large percentage of the group chosen for interviews doesn't work out.
About those signs that say no one wants to work anymore...
Yes, people want to work. They have also learned that life is short.
They have learned that some employers might furlough you, take PPE loans and put that toward management and executive pay -- because they never cared about you -- and then be very offended that you are not loyal when they want you back.
I have not blogged about this, but I did post about it on Facebook. I had applied for another job with an old employer. I did get an offer, but the pay was too low for me to live on, as well as being less than my starting wage with the same company in 2010. It was a different position, yes, but also, it has been eleven years.
I did not refuse the job. I said it would not be enough money and left an opening.
Having done the math, it was $4.05 less per hour than I need. It would take three weeks wages per month just to make the house payment.
If they offered even $2.55 more per hour, while life would still be a struggle I would have taken it. That would have shown me that they valued me and what I could bring to the position.
They said "Thank you" and ended the call.
I would not be valued, was my takeaway. They didn't even care how much more I wanted.
I believe it would have been different if I had been negotiating with the initial interviewers, whom I know really liked me. This company has all of the negotiation done by HR, and their HR is also known for being very cliquish and holding grudges. (This is why there is no point in even looking there again for at least another decade.) I understand the policy, but I think it has drawbacks.
Here is the other thing: for someone who has been working anywhere in the food industry, chances are the wage that is too low for my expenses would be a significant raise for them. And, while it would certainly be viewed as more professional, there is a good chance that a lot of waiters and cashiers and bus staff could do it. They have experience in dealing with the public and they are certainly more tech-savvy than when I entered the work force... they can do it. A lot of them probably already have.
Let us turn our attention to the following headline:
"Desperate employers in Ohio luring workers with pay, perks and pizza"
Notice that the first desperate measure mentioned is raising starting pay to $15 an hour, a wage that many have been fighting to make the new minimum wage. This is what desperation looks like in the corporate world: paying people money that they might be able to live on.
Notice this one:
"Some shareholders say they are frustrated that corporate profits went to actual workers before them"
This is a good thing. If the stock market doing well requires the working force to be doing poorly, screw the stock market.
When stocks go up, they're more expensive, right? And that's considered a good thing for the people who have stocks, but it does not automatically translate into a tangible good for the economy. We have seen many companies making profits lay off employees to try and increase stock prices. It offends me how wrong that is.
Finally, one last quote from someone I hate:
"Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate." -- Brett Kavanaugh on the NCAA antitrust case.
As it is, he is kind of wrong with assuming that's a given. If you look at the arguments against that $15 minimum wage, they often come down to the price on fast food going up, and then devolve into arguments that those are low-skilled workers who aren't worth a living wage anyway.
Well, they are moving on. They have a right to, and I am glad for them.
I really want something to work out for me too, but I don't need other people to suffer for it.
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