I remain amazed, we keep getting these articles in our major newspapers as well as our business periodicals - "Where are the jobs?" and "they" keep responding with the same answers, over and over again. Ever wonder what goes through the minds of those who are actually having problems, finding a job? Try - desperation!
I thought I was done with such questions. After all, I started in that "business" in 1947 when a Sergeant in what is now known as the U.S. Air Force asked me if I knew the alphabet. Seriously! Seems as if the clerk who preceded me in the office to which I was about to be assigned had no idea. "W"s could be found where the "A"s were supposed to be and on and on it went, all of which would establish my credentials for the job. I will never forget his response, "Keep doing what you are doing and when I leave, you will have my job and some of these", pointing to the six stripes on his sleeve. I heard what he was saying, loud and clear, and sure, enough his job became my own.
LESSON #1 - about finding a job, you have to "show up".
I served in the Air Force for almost seven years, graduated from college (now, Georgia State University) with a BBA degree in Personnel Management and wound up working for an employment agency, in fact, a few of them before I turned to recruiting, civilians, for existing jobs. Along the way I became intimately acquainted with the problems involved on both sides of the desk
To me, it all began with the problem, of corporations assigning people to the task of employment "management" who really had very few personal skills. They might know about the requirements of the available jobs; they knew far too little about the skills in matching the applicant to the available tasks.
Those days are long gone. Today's professionals in this area are often far more qualified at their jobs than the top executives. The most important task of the applicant is to "read" the skills of those who are doing the initial interviews.
LESSON #2 - now becomes, "show up - understanding all that you know about the skills required and making certain, your first interview is not your last.."
Therein is the greater problem. A lack of job opportunities may be the condition that appears in your community, but be careful not to fall under the delusions suggested in a recent (April 6) article in the USA Today newspaper - "Where are the jobs?"
It all depends on a person's age and job kills. There are hundreds of available jobs in almost every city and town across our land. They are almost everywhere - McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc., etc., and the "curse" seems to be, they are "only" part time jobs. So? Basic reasoning ought to be applied to this condition. There are after all, 168 hours in every week, time enough to hold almost three other 40 hour jobs - and many do!. Working part-time for just two of them will mark a person as dependable, eager to learn and more often than not, promotable.
I understand that there are personal problems with such an approach, but the fact is, we do not live in an age where there are constant demands for employees; the demands in the age into which we are rapidly advancing are for people who will recognize such demands and qualify themselves. And there are thousands of such jobs and they are increasing every month.
Another example, there are "knowledge" jobs everywhere - advisers, aides, clerks counselors, drivers, farmers, instructors, janitors, mechanics, outdoors men (and women), religion, sports related, tailors, warehouse personnel, writers, etc., etc., ad infinitum, and they do not always require advanced education. The main qualification is the willingness to "show up" regularly and be attentive to instructions.
One of the most interesting entries to such jobs can be found in the magazine counters of the local grocery stores by looking in the last pages where you see ads for franchises, most of which tell the prospective franchisee what is involved. Now, look in the telephone book and see if such companies are located in your community and stop by, asking if they could use help.
Many years ago, when I first was hired by an employment agency, I was handed a local telephone book and starting on the first pages, I was to call each listing and merely ask, "Are you hiring anyone?" If I was desperately seeking a job today, I would start all over again. And when they said, No!" I would do as I used to do, ask: "Do you know anyone who might be hiring?"
The real problem with regard to jobs is the fact that those in government - on BOTH sides of the political aisle, are too involved in their hopes and plans for their version of a better America seem to forget to recall that our beloved Constitution was written to provide for "We, the people".
If you cannot understand that, go to your local government sanctioned employment office and ask for help in guiding your employment search. I did that recently and their advice was simple, "Move".
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Monday, April 7, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
February 19, 2014
The last post left you at a bus station in Tulsa, OK, hanging up from a phone call where I learned that the man I had come to see, hoping that he could help me get past the experiences of my life in California, was not available and would not be available for at least two more weeks.
What was I to do? I knew no one in Tulsa to help and I was nearly broke. It was then I remembered that we had passed a "labor pool" as the bus was headed for the station. I decided I would try working on the "wrong" side of the desk. I knew it was late, most of the available jobs were filled. I would have to wait and so I took a seat after filling out their brief application card, It was 9:30 AM, I would wait until almost 2PM before the dispatcher asked me if I could count. It turned out that he needed someone to help with an inventory at a nearby company. Thank you, Lord.
The job was rather simple but there were hundreds of items to be counted. I went to work. At 5PM the "boss" asked if I would like to work overtime. Sure! And so I worked until 8PM and was told they wanted me back tomorrow. The boss asked me where I lived and I had to confess I would be looking for a place. He told me of a downtown motel that was cheap; he seemed to understand my dilemma and handed by a $20 bill to pay for my rent.
That was Monday and as it turned out, I worked all week - 40 hours, and when I got paid by the labor office, I tried to repay the $20 the boss had loaned me and he smiled and said, "Forget it, that was the best investment we have ever made" and then he handled me a company check for $50, claiming that I had earned it.
I walked up the street feeling good about myself and as I passed a cocktail lounge, I thought I would stop and have a beer. "After all," I thought to myself, "a laborer is entitled to relax after working all week." Funny, as I tried to open the door, it appeared to be locked. I tried again, and tried again. I had heard voices within and was puzzled but just as I started to walk away, two couples walked up and opened the door I thought had been locked. I started for follow then and then I remembered my question about my need to repent. Maybe, the door just seemed to be locked to me for a reason.
I walked on to the YMCA and paid a week's rent and when I got to my room, I opened my Bible again to see if I could find an explanation, but there was none. The next morning, Saturday, after eating my breakfast at a nearby diner, I decided to ride a bus out to the ORU campus. It was as beautiful as I had thought it would be. Just sitting on a park bench, I felt better thanI had felt for months. I noticed there was a book store nearby and decided to see if Oral might have written something related to my recent experience or, the experiences in my past. I did not find one, but glancing at a jewelry display I saw an item I liked and picked it up and noticed the card to which it had been attached. It was a Bible verse, Acts 1:8, ..."you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses.." I had already picked out a church I would attend the next day, so I bought the item and put the card in my pocket as a reminder to ask someone what that verse might possibly mean to me.
Would you believe, the text the Pastor had chosen for his sermon was the one I had noticed the day before. I sat in my pew hanging on his every word. I knew that I knew I had found a church home as it would be for the next two years. But I was about to have my world turned upside down.
I had left instructions with the CA State people in the office that monitored the homes in which we had placed the children temporarily, that I would let them know when I would be returning. I was about to be shocked beyond my comprehension. My wife had been released from prison and regained custody of our children. I hired a lawyer to investigate the reasons for that decision by the State and he had to tell me there was nothing we could do from Oklahoma. I decided to wait until after I had accomplished the purpose of my journey.
As it turned, that would never happen. I began to speak with elders in my new church home and it was their counsel that I stay in Tulsa, work if I could find a job, and wait to see what happened with our children. It would be a long wait.
Meanwhile, it seemed, I had new power as every place I turned to for employment, I was hired and it went from good to opportunities beyond anything I had experienced in California. Eventually, I would find an even better opportunity in Dallas, TX, and so I moved there. Unfortunately, it would not turn out to be as good as it had sounded, but while there, I met a number of good friends, some of whom had other opportunities and so it went on and on. Finally, I made a deal that paid me a lot of money and I had a plan. I would sell my equity in a business I had helped to establish and send the receipts to the State of California to maintain my obligations for child support until there was no further responsibility.
By this time, I considered myself to be an authority on what the Bible had to say and I had been looking for the possibility of joining an established training company or similar organization. I prayed and asked God, what He would have me to do. A word of advice to those reading these words, don't ever ask God for such counsel unless you are prepared to do what He asks you to do or go where He asks you to go.
Clearly I heard Him say, :"Go, be with my people."
The only interpretation I could make was to consider my thoughts in years past. As a Manager of a "labor" office in Los Angeles, I used to wonder why grown men, many well educated, would get in such a situation in life where they had to work for minimum wage, paid daily. It has always troubled me that in a nation as prosperous as we have become could ignore the circumstances of such people and worse, those without sufficient educational preparation to find a better job for themselves. I knew what I had to do, I knew where He wanted me to go.
With that I literally walked out of Dallas on a blazing hot July afternoon, wearing nothing more than a shirt, jeans and a pair of "penny" loafers, no hat, carrying nothing but my Bible. I was heading North to be with His people.
I really had given no thought to money, what I might need, what a reasonable person would have taken with him or her. I just had a confidence that God would provide and He did, for over two and half years and it would have continued, but then there was this lady who dared to declare, long before she knew anything about me, that she loved me and wanted to marry me. But that is another story for yet another day.
The last post left you at a bus station in Tulsa, OK, hanging up from a phone call where I learned that the man I had come to see, hoping that he could help me get past the experiences of my life in California, was not available and would not be available for at least two more weeks.
What was I to do? I knew no one in Tulsa to help and I was nearly broke. It was then I remembered that we had passed a "labor pool" as the bus was headed for the station. I decided I would try working on the "wrong" side of the desk. I knew it was late, most of the available jobs were filled. I would have to wait and so I took a seat after filling out their brief application card, It was 9:30 AM, I would wait until almost 2PM before the dispatcher asked me if I could count. It turned out that he needed someone to help with an inventory at a nearby company. Thank you, Lord.
The job was rather simple but there were hundreds of items to be counted. I went to work. At 5PM the "boss" asked if I would like to work overtime. Sure! And so I worked until 8PM and was told they wanted me back tomorrow. The boss asked me where I lived and I had to confess I would be looking for a place. He told me of a downtown motel that was cheap; he seemed to understand my dilemma and handed by a $20 bill to pay for my rent.
That was Monday and as it turned out, I worked all week - 40 hours, and when I got paid by the labor office, I tried to repay the $20 the boss had loaned me and he smiled and said, "Forget it, that was the best investment we have ever made" and then he handled me a company check for $50, claiming that I had earned it.
I walked up the street feeling good about myself and as I passed a cocktail lounge, I thought I would stop and have a beer. "After all," I thought to myself, "a laborer is entitled to relax after working all week." Funny, as I tried to open the door, it appeared to be locked. I tried again, and tried again. I had heard voices within and was puzzled but just as I started to walk away, two couples walked up and opened the door I thought had been locked. I started for follow then and then I remembered my question about my need to repent. Maybe, the door just seemed to be locked to me for a reason.
I walked on to the YMCA and paid a week's rent and when I got to my room, I opened my Bible again to see if I could find an explanation, but there was none. The next morning, Saturday, after eating my breakfast at a nearby diner, I decided to ride a bus out to the ORU campus. It was as beautiful as I had thought it would be. Just sitting on a park bench, I felt better thanI had felt for months. I noticed there was a book store nearby and decided to see if Oral might have written something related to my recent experience or, the experiences in my past. I did not find one, but glancing at a jewelry display I saw an item I liked and picked it up and noticed the card to which it had been attached. It was a Bible verse, Acts 1:8, ..."you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses.." I had already picked out a church I would attend the next day, so I bought the item and put the card in my pocket as a reminder to ask someone what that verse might possibly mean to me.
Would you believe, the text the Pastor had chosen for his sermon was the one I had noticed the day before. I sat in my pew hanging on his every word. I knew that I knew I had found a church home as it would be for the next two years. But I was about to have my world turned upside down.
I had left instructions with the CA State people in the office that monitored the homes in which we had placed the children temporarily, that I would let them know when I would be returning. I was about to be shocked beyond my comprehension. My wife had been released from prison and regained custody of our children. I hired a lawyer to investigate the reasons for that decision by the State and he had to tell me there was nothing we could do from Oklahoma. I decided to wait until after I had accomplished the purpose of my journey.
As it turned, that would never happen. I began to speak with elders in my new church home and it was their counsel that I stay in Tulsa, work if I could find a job, and wait to see what happened with our children. It would be a long wait.
Meanwhile, it seemed, I had new power as every place I turned to for employment, I was hired and it went from good to opportunities beyond anything I had experienced in California. Eventually, I would find an even better opportunity in Dallas, TX, and so I moved there. Unfortunately, it would not turn out to be as good as it had sounded, but while there, I met a number of good friends, some of whom had other opportunities and so it went on and on. Finally, I made a deal that paid me a lot of money and I had a plan. I would sell my equity in a business I had helped to establish and send the receipts to the State of California to maintain my obligations for child support until there was no further responsibility.
By this time, I considered myself to be an authority on what the Bible had to say and I had been looking for the possibility of joining an established training company or similar organization. I prayed and asked God, what He would have me to do. A word of advice to those reading these words, don't ever ask God for such counsel unless you are prepared to do what He asks you to do or go where He asks you to go.
Clearly I heard Him say, :"Go, be with my people."
The only interpretation I could make was to consider my thoughts in years past. As a Manager of a "labor" office in Los Angeles, I used to wonder why grown men, many well educated, would get in such a situation in life where they had to work for minimum wage, paid daily. It has always troubled me that in a nation as prosperous as we have become could ignore the circumstances of such people and worse, those without sufficient educational preparation to find a better job for themselves. I knew what I had to do, I knew where He wanted me to go.
With that I literally walked out of Dallas on a blazing hot July afternoon, wearing nothing more than a shirt, jeans and a pair of "penny" loafers, no hat, carrying nothing but my Bible. I was heading North to be with His people.
I really had given no thought to money, what I might need, what a reasonable person would have taken with him or her. I just had a confidence that God would provide and He did, for over two and half years and it would have continued, but then there was this lady who dared to declare, long before she knew anything about me, that she loved me and wanted to marry me. But that is another story for yet another day.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
January 29, 2014
I had a hunch I would regret mentioning the President’s State of the Union address in my “inaugural” blog as I have been sensing for quite a while, the political enemies were just laying in wait to dismiss everything he would have to say - and my hunch was even more accurate than I had expected.
I have a copy of his speech, so if you would like to join in the outrage that has been expressed by the so-called “professionals”, by all means do so - as long as you stick to one of the several points he made in his speech. I chuckled that one of his critics was so enamored with his own sense of importance that he listed five, the last of which was “the disappearing act” regarding gun control.
It is difficult for me to imagine another President who would have done more to bring our nation to its senses regarding gun “control” and although it saddens me that any idiot can find access to a gun, I have to believe the President didn’t pursue the need for legislation because it would be a waste of our time, given the more critical issues we face.
I have been around for a long time so I have heard lots of speeches by the resident President; this one get a 98.9 rating in my opinion. Another reason I have a bumper ticker on my car that reads - “I’ve got his back”
And would you believe - you ought to because it is the truth, just as I went to my car to make sure I had the correct wording, I stopped by the mail box and there was a letter from him. Form letter to be sure and you probably could guess at it’s content. You would be right, he is urging me to support a Democrat in our Senate race. So you know, I will be supporting whoever is the Democratic candidate as his opponent, Lamar Alexander, has been in Washington, wasting away our time pretending to know what we need in the way of positive action to correct the wrongs we hear about, almost daily. And to think, I used to like the guy. He did a lot for Tennessee; he has done nothing for Tennesseans since going to Washington.
Enough of this. Politics is for the most part, a waste of time.
Yesterday, I visited the local office of what we used to call, the U.S. Employment Service. I can vividly recall visiting a USES office in Norwalk, CA in the 60’s and met with people who knew about every job possibility in their immediate area - every one. They knew because they had copies of the form all employers were required to submit to Washington transmitting the taxes they had collected from their employees - by name. And in a column opposite the name and Social Security number was another number, this one representing the Dictionary of Occupational Term’s code for their skill.
These folks took time to collate these forms and manually file them so if a person came to their office looking for a job as a Fork Lift operator - as an example, they merely pulled their file and made another list advising the applicant of the places where he (she) needed to make an application.
Would you be surprised to learn, their area had the lowest un-employment rate in the State? It should not. Their applicants received guidance. Today, given the fact these offices use computers, they get information. Looks good, but here is the catch. Yesterday, I was provided with a list of nearly 5,000 potential job openings in the State of Tennessee. I took time to see if there might even be a job for me. Guess what. I found three. But I also discovered there wasn’t a “new” job listed. Most of the listings were for employers that anyone with skills should have already contacted.
Therein is the problem. The other three applicants sitting in the office during my visit were not prepared to apply for a job. Unfortunately, they looked like their only qualification would be a farm hand or laborer - and that might be true. The problem is, they probably would not be qualified for any of those 5,000 jobs and they would be added to the lists of the un-employed.
What they needed more than anything else was a counselor who could explain the details of how a person - especially those with real needs, went about actually locating a job that would provide a pay check.
I hope I didn’t lose you with such a discussion, but the fact is, we have an under-class in our nation, people who have no skills, school drop-outs, most of them, and whether we want to agree or not, they will be living off of the taxes we pay - unless we have the courage to identify them and plan to help them find their way in our complex society.
I wonder, I have to ask, does this bother you? When was the last time you had to search for an employment opportunity?
I had a hunch I would regret mentioning the President’s State of the Union address in my “inaugural” blog as I have been sensing for quite a while, the political enemies were just laying in wait to dismiss everything he would have to say - and my hunch was even more accurate than I had expected.
I have a copy of his speech, so if you would like to join in the outrage that has been expressed by the so-called “professionals”, by all means do so - as long as you stick to one of the several points he made in his speech. I chuckled that one of his critics was so enamored with his own sense of importance that he listed five, the last of which was “the disappearing act” regarding gun control.
It is difficult for me to imagine another President who would have done more to bring our nation to its senses regarding gun “control” and although it saddens me that any idiot can find access to a gun, I have to believe the President didn’t pursue the need for legislation because it would be a waste of our time, given the more critical issues we face.
I have been around for a long time so I have heard lots of speeches by the resident President; this one get a 98.9 rating in my opinion. Another reason I have a bumper ticker on my car that reads - “I’ve got his back”
And would you believe - you ought to because it is the truth, just as I went to my car to make sure I had the correct wording, I stopped by the mail box and there was a letter from him. Form letter to be sure and you probably could guess at it’s content. You would be right, he is urging me to support a Democrat in our Senate race. So you know, I will be supporting whoever is the Democratic candidate as his opponent, Lamar Alexander, has been in Washington, wasting away our time pretending to know what we need in the way of positive action to correct the wrongs we hear about, almost daily. And to think, I used to like the guy. He did a lot for Tennessee; he has done nothing for Tennesseans since going to Washington.
Enough of this. Politics is for the most part, a waste of time.
Yesterday, I visited the local office of what we used to call, the U.S. Employment Service. I can vividly recall visiting a USES office in Norwalk, CA in the 60’s and met with people who knew about every job possibility in their immediate area - every one. They knew because they had copies of the form all employers were required to submit to Washington transmitting the taxes they had collected from their employees - by name. And in a column opposite the name and Social Security number was another number, this one representing the Dictionary of Occupational Term’s code for their skill.
These folks took time to collate these forms and manually file them so if a person came to their office looking for a job as a Fork Lift operator - as an example, they merely pulled their file and made another list advising the applicant of the places where he (she) needed to make an application.
Would you be surprised to learn, their area had the lowest un-employment rate in the State? It should not. Their applicants received guidance. Today, given the fact these offices use computers, they get information. Looks good, but here is the catch. Yesterday, I was provided with a list of nearly 5,000 potential job openings in the State of Tennessee. I took time to see if there might even be a job for me. Guess what. I found three. But I also discovered there wasn’t a “new” job listed. Most of the listings were for employers that anyone with skills should have already contacted.
Therein is the problem. The other three applicants sitting in the office during my visit were not prepared to apply for a job. Unfortunately, they looked like their only qualification would be a farm hand or laborer - and that might be true. The problem is, they probably would not be qualified for any of those 5,000 jobs and they would be added to the lists of the un-employed.
What they needed more than anything else was a counselor who could explain the details of how a person - especially those with real needs, went about actually locating a job that would provide a pay check.
I hope I didn’t lose you with such a discussion, but the fact is, we have an under-class in our nation, people who have no skills, school drop-outs, most of them, and whether we want to agree or not, they will be living off of the taxes we pay - unless we have the courage to identify them and plan to help them find their way in our complex society.
I wonder, I have to ask, does this bother you? When was the last time you had to search for an employment opportunity?
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