The more things change, the more they stay the same. When it comes to getting a job in our tenuous economy, the real answer is not to find some new unusual approach. Instead, it means getting back to the basics of getting a job.
Jobs Are Available
The proof of this in in the fact that even though we are experiencing unusual levels of unemployment, there are tens of thousands of jobs going unfilled. In fact, I heard yesterday about a business near to me that has around twenty-five jobs available, good paying jobs for the most part, and no qualified applicants. Wow!
Why Many Jobs Go Unfilled
There are many explanations for such situations. In many cases it is simply that people do not want entry level jobs with the relatively low levels of income associated with them. This is understandable, but often this is the way to get established and then move ahead depending on the business.
More often, though, the explanation is that the requisite skills are not in hand for the jobs that are available. I doubt that this comes as a surprise to many folks, but the reality is that very few people (including those who are without jobs and need them) are taking any meaningful steps to do anything about it.
Why Job Training is Inadequate
There are two problems that complicate and add to the persistence of this problem. In normal times they do not leave people in quite the dilemma they do in bad times, but they have long been a serious problem.
First, our educational system, being dominated by universities and schools that are influenced more by the existing educators who are focused more on maintaining their own future than that of the students, continue to perpetuate courses of study that do not prepare students for a career that really exists.
And second, students predominantly focus on fields of study they are personally attracted to without regard to whether they will prepare them for a future career. They just assume that if they get a degree they should be able to get a job in that field.
Taking Steps toward Job Training
Many who either didn't attend college or who have been working and become unemployed don't even consider getting the education they need to get one of the available jobs. They only look for jobs they are already qualified for. Unfortunately, they often do not exist! The jobs that have been eliminated in recent years are largely jobs that businesses decided were unnecessary and will never be reinstated.
None of these problems can be solved for the general public overnight, but you and I can do something about our individual situation. If we need a job we can look into the available jobs, then get the training to secure one of the jobs that are actually available.
