The job market is so good, new hires aren't showing up for their first day of work

[RandySF]

Steve Lindner, CEO of employment firm the WorkPlace Group, was ghosted recently by a new hire. The applicant accepted an offer and passed the background check.

"We had already shared the name with our support team and had a training program in place. Everything was ready to go," said Lindner.

And then no one showed up.

But at least this candidate called the next day to explain what happened. Another new hire failed to show on the first day 18 months ago and Lindner still has no idea what happened. "They just never arrived. It was complete job abandonment."

The company called, emailed, texted and eventually had to send a formal letter terminating the employment.

Flaking on the first day of work isn't completely new. The move tends to flare up in hot job markets when job seekers have more power.





https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/success/ghosting-first-day-of-work/index.html

[MontanaMama]

1. There are so many jobs available

here in Missoula it’s crazy. I could land 10 jobs tomorrow...no exaggeration. I’ve lived here since 1977 and I have never seen anything like this. I have no idea what it means but it’s very strange.

[RandySF]

2. What kinds of jobs?

I keep hearing about white working class voters whose jobs were taken away by imigrants.

[MontanaMama]

4. Everything from

convenience stores to veterinary clinics, nursing positions, construction in particular because the community is growing by leaps and bounds, both hospitals desperately need internists and gastrointestinal specialists...my sister got a job at a dental office as an insurance biller two months ago...she hated it and had two other jobs in that field within two weeks. Regarding immigrants? Well, Montana is still pretty white but we are noticeably becoming more diverse which is wonderful. If immigrants are accepting jobs here and folks are grumpy about it, they aren’t paying attention because jobs are everywhere. That said, the cost of living here is quite high in terms of food, gas and housing. The median home price in the city is $305K. I live in a 3 bedroom 2 bath house built in 1954 in a “desirable” neighborhood that just appraised for $495K.

[cwydro]

7. It's the same where I live in NC.

I see help wanted signs everywhere, which is something I didn’t think people even used anymore.

County and city jobs from maintenance up to top gov’t positions taking up three pages on their web sites.

It’s really remarkable.

[msongs]

3. plenty jobs in honolulu - min wage part time ime no bennies, service jobs nt

[applegrove]

5. I got a job in a gift shop. A week later i got a job in a union run liquor store.

Pay would have been triple. I thought this gift shop boss was nice to me and i didn't want to abandon her. So i stayed. A few months later, with my mind elsewhere, i closed the store and left a rack of some product outside. Don't know how i missed it. The owners were notified and before i could relax at home they called. I went back. The husband fired me. I was not surprised. I already had another job at another gift shop. They gave me shifts at a third. The owner of the second gift shop and the first were immigrants with a geopolitical beef with each other. I've never seen someone so happy that i got fired from the first job when i told the owner of the second. Nice people one and all. I ended up working for my parents. They were going to hire somebody to help them and i said well why not me. I was making minimum wage in the gift shops of grand hotels and my bosses loved me. But this was my chance to take care of others. My parents were both mobile then. But they had done so much for me as a kid and family is everything to me. So i changed my life and hung with them. They both got older and sicker. They hired health care aides. And still i was there. 1/2 being paid by them 1/2 being paid by disability. I'm so glad to have had those years with them and all the wonderful people who care(d) for them. I still visit my dad 4 times a week most often. If i had taken the job that paid $27.00 an hour at the liquor store i would have been on a different track in life. I'm so gratefull i chose the road less traveled by and got (get) to spend time with family. Of course i don't have kids and live in canada so my healthcare was paid for. I ate at my parents'. I could afford it. I was lucky. My brothers yelled at me when i told them the story but they know i ended up taking the right path.

My experience aside employers should be offering the staff more money. That is how markets work. Usually. They are being very disingenuous by acting all bewildered. Wages should be rising. That is what always happens. Surely they don't think employees are going to be passive with them when they go to all out war with employees every day and blame it on shareholders.

[MANative]

6. Haven't had any new hires not show up yet, but...

People blow off interviews all the time. Some jobs are very difficult to fill, especially in finance and logistics.

[Tracer]

8. If the job market is so good...

... why has my daughter been out of work for 3 years?

She has sent out hundreds of resumes and gets ZERO replies. Has gone to a state agency that teaches applicants to "beat" the algorithms every company seems to use. And nothing.

She actually has a job -- for poverty wages -- that, in desperation, she had to take. And this is a college-educated, attractive, smart woman.

[cbdo2007]

10. Could be location or she's applying for the wrong jobs or not following up...

or her resume needs work, or any number of other reasons.

If she is getting zero replies on hundreds of resumes, I'm guessing either she has a terrible resume format with misspellings and bad punctuation, or she's applying for the wrong jobs for her skill set.

[Liberal In Texas]

9. Maybe they should pay enough that new hires might be tempted to actually show up.

A lot of employers are still expecting their employees to work for peanuts, while the owners and managers rake it in.

[Wounded Bear]

11. A reflection of...

sending out hundreds of inquiries and resumes and hearing nothing back.

[Apollo Zeus]

12. Lots of "Help Wanted" signs here in the Hudson Valley

I have had trouble hiring for years. Gave up on filling some positions and just kept my business a little smaller.

My tax consultant told me 9 year ago "Oh you can't hire anyone HERE." Why not? "Because everyone is either already working 50+ hrs per week or they are on benefits." I used to have people make appointments for interviews and not show up then they would tell their case worker that "these are all the places I applied..."