Catch 22 on the Job Front.

[Kyrieath]

The joys of the job hunt.

No one wants to hire you if you don't have the experience they're looking for.

No one wants to train so they can have employees who have the necessary skills.

There's tons of jobs available but only to experienced people of whom there's very few of; thus the majority of job seekers in my area will never get them and they will remained unfilled because these job seekers have been forced to take cashiering or burger flipping jobs for years and were never given the opportunity to acquire higher end job skills.

End result? A near generation's worth of job seekers in my area who's main claim to fame is being the meanest burger flipper in town in an area where all the burger flipper jobs are taken and no one's willing to teach them higher skills, nor can they afford the schooling that would otherwise give them those skills.

Wake up, employers- you're losing that oh so lovely, ready-made babyboomer employee pool. They're getting older, moving on to well earned retirement and guess what? All you're getting left for the majority of the generation after them is a group of people you've refused to train and that honestly only a very small percentage of HAVE been able to find alternative sources of training due to lack of funds from being stuck in the low end racket while you kept calling on the babyboomer pool.

Go to college? Sure, hire us so we can afford to PAY for it and we will! Get training? Hire us and GIVE it to us and we'll happily do it! If you won't give us a chance, what do you intend to do when the last of the babyboomers goes off to the golf courses?

This is the majority of Generation X who haven't been able to live up to the starlet poster boys and girls signing off, saying "thank you so much for sticking it to us; would you like fries with that?"

[Steelclaw]

Heh. I'll agree with you there.

Back when I was job hunting, I'd find postings like that. "3 years experience minimum" ... for an entry-level position. ENTRY LEVEL. Then there's stupidity, like "4 years experience with Windows 2003 Server" and it's only been out for 18 months.

For what it's worth, I say go ahead and apply if you like the job description and think you'll stick with the job on a long-term basis. (Nobody wants to train you then have you wander off before they get their investment back.) Some times the applicant pool really sucks, you end up sucking less than everyone else and you get an interview even if you don't meet all the requirements.

Oh yeah, no matter your qualifications, write a cover letter. One written for each position you apply to -- no boilerplate/fill-in-the-blank stuff. Sell yourself, sound like you have your fuvg together. It's not the place to be modest (but don't brag either!). Sometimes you can make up for a lack of experience or official skill by showing a strong interest and briefly mentioning your unofficial uses of the lacking skill (hobbies).

If you want the job, apply anyway, it's not going to hurt. If they reject you, oh well, at least you tried.

The good people to work for are the ones who know exactly what they want from a candidate and don't have their heads up their arse.

[Tcei]

I can sympathize with you Kyrieath, I had two years vocational experience of graphic art/design right out of high school, figured it'd be enought to get my foot in the door with an entry level position as a printshop or something and then go to college for a degree in it but noooo! Most places at the time were wanting a veteran with 4-5 years experience :| Here it is almost 6 years down the road my skills have pretty much wasted away to nothing and Im working at wally world.

[gopher65]

Back when I was job hunting, I'd find postings like that. "3 years experience minimum" ... for an entry-level position. ENTRY LEVEL. Then there's stupidity, like "4 years experience with Windows 2003 Server" and it's only been out for 18 months.

For what it's worth, I say go ahead and apply if you like the job description

Yeah, that's what my dad said when I was looking for a job. He does hiring for projects now and he says that those requirements are usually just suggestions, and that the companies don't expect to find people that fill all (or in some cases, any) of the job requirements.

I remember about 15 years ago when my dad applied for a job and he didn't meet any of the requirements for it, and he ended up getting it. He later found out through office gossip that several people had applied that had the necessary experience, extra training, and grad school (he only had an undergraduate degree), and that they hadn't been hired for the position because that company felt they would be too expensive. Heh. So they hired him instead, figuring that they could pay him less (and they did) and that he'd be less likely to just run off after a couple years for a better job.

[Spirit]

No one wants to hire you if you don't have the experience they're looking for.

No one wants to train so they can have employees who have the necessary skills.

Welcome to the new Millenium and it's new style of work... I don't expect it'll ever change. Precious few employers seem to be bothered with training for initial jobs these days; they want it done fast, cheap (no training) with no effort on their part. They just want it done, and you may find that only as a last resort will most employers look at so-called 'fresh meat'.

Big shame... but I'm sure the climax of this daft situation is on the way and perhaps it'll then improve.

Rakku

[Kyrieath]

Steelclaw: Heheh..I've been trying that too. *shakes her head* Folks in this area are stubborn. Bunch of old timers who want to just hire other old timers. -_-; But I've hit the same 'experience required' bit for entry level jobs. Good god, people- why's it entry level if they already have to know how to do it? O_o; That makes absolutely NO sense.

Tcei: Ugh..way to cripple the job market on their part. One of these days they're going to get a really rude awakening, I swear. -_-; They're spoiled these days, having so many ready-made employees to choose from.

Spirit: I'm guessing it won't improve until the whole thing caves in on itself and they realize they royally screwed up. -_-; The next generation after X is all revved up with skills, sure- but there's not nearly enough of them to fill the gap the babyboomers are leaving and they wouldn't let X fill. Daft is definitely a good description for this mess.

[Kala]

Yeah, I'd been looking for entry level work in a different field since I can't stand doing what I've been doing. Sadly, no luck...they all want experience.

What's even worse is... I'd been having problems finding work in my field. With 7 years experience and glowing references.

Only advice I can offer is keep trying. You should find something eventually.

[GalemThawn]

I'm an IT professional.
I'm self employed and doing well now. However, about 5 years ago, I was unemployed for nine months. I couldn't even get a job at restaurants or fastfood joints.

The restaurants wanted experienced servers.

The fastfood places wouldn't hire me because I had too much experience and they felt I would leave too quick.

[Dracana]

I completely understand where you are on the job front. I have been looking for a job in graphic/web design or production for well over a year and though I have had some interviews I am not any closer to finding a job at this time. Right now I am taking some city college courses to enhance my job skills to look better to employers and to open up networking avenues but even that is no guarantee in this market of overly expectant employers