Man applied to 60 entry-level jobs in September and got one interview

[bullwinkle428]

On September 1, he sent job applications to a pair of restaurants that had been particularly public about their staffing challenges.

Then, he widened the test and spent the remainder of the month applying to jobs — mostly at employers vocal about a lack of workers — and tracking his journey in a spreadsheet.

Two weeks and 28 applications later, he had just nine email responses, one follow-up phone call, and one interview with a construction company that advertised a full-time job focused on site cleanup paying $10 an hour.

In a Facebook post on September 29, which went viral on Twitter and Reddit as well, Holz said, "58 applications says y'all aren't desperate for workers, you just miss your slaves."

https://www.businessinsider.com/worker-applied-to-60-jobs-got-one-interview-labor-shortage-2021-10

"WORKER SHORTAGE" MY ASS.

[niyad]

1. Exactly.

[Celerity]

2. a construction company that advertised a full-time job focused on site cleanup paying $10 an hour

But Holz said the construction company instead tried to offer Florida's minimum wage of $8.65 to start, even though the wage was scheduled to increase to $10 an hour on September 30. He added that it wanted full-time availability, while scheduling only part time until Holz gained seniority.

what a joke, you have to be brain dead to take that deal, no wonder they cannot find workers

[underpants]

3. I've wondered how many of these jobs were people's second or third jobs

The stimulus for really low wage earners cleared a lot of debt.
Other factors that will take years to unravel
At least 700,000 people have died from COVID. let’s not skip over that. There are also long haulers and caregivers who used to work.
What roles did the victims fulfill? We’re the older folks day care for family or neighborhoods?
Mental health pre or developed/exposed during the pandemic.
Substance abuse (which follows mental health) - someone is drinking an s load of booze at least in Virginia for sure.
Immigration was at a halt and they usually start at the lower end.
Retirements and resignations almost disappeared in 2020. They’ve come roaring back in 2021 and those positions can be filled by people who weathered the Great Recession 13 years ago which opens up their current job.

Just a short list I’ve been thinking about.

[spooky3]

9. Good list nt

[wnylib]

28. I've been wondering, too, about

the people you pointed out, who died of covid, are long haulers unable to work, or even currently sick and hospitalized.

Also, what about their friends, family, and co-workers who saw them get sick and die from working without adequate protection, exposed to the public in service jobs, or to sick people who came to work because they needed the money or feared getting fired for being sick. After seeing that, people decided that it was not worth risking their lives for low pay and dangerous work conditions, often in part time jobs with no benefits.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Interesting.

In 2008 I moved to Santa Fe, NM, after a divorce. I was already 60 years old and needed to work a few more years to improve my eventual Social Security payout. I found little difficulty in getting an entry level job. I did have basic computer skills, which might have made a difference. I also, on the advice of a cousin who is a nurse, applied to my local hospital. She pointed out that hospitals need lots of people who are not medical professionals. I got a job doing inpatient registration, meaning I did the paperwork for people who were there for things like blood tests, or MRIs, or x-rays, or various other tests but who were not being admitted as inpatients.

A decent job that paid decent money.

Oh, and shall I remind you I was already 60 years old at the time?

[ck4829]

5. K&R

[IronLionZion]

6. Some workers probably found better jobs and left

online training exploded during quarantine. There have been articles published about the "Great Resignation" as quits are at the highest in decades.

[Tommymac]

7. Great Article. Bookmarked. Thanks! nt

[SergeStorms]

8. "They just miss their slaves".

And that's it in a nutshell. Everyone wants to get rich off the labor that makes their businesses successful.

Pay them a living wage with benefits? I hope they go bankrupt. Fascist assholes.

[Demobrat]

10. Why hire help

when you can just put up a sign complaining that nobody wants to work and expect your customers to accept long waits and lousy service.

[Jedi Guy]

32. That's not always the case, though.

Where I work, we're getting hammered with calls from customers every day to the point where we simply can't keep up, let alone return the missed calls and voicemails. We simply don't have the staffing to manage it. And yep, our customers are pissed about it, believe me. I'm one of the folks they talk to when they want to complain to a supervisor.

Our starting rate is higher than the minimum wage, plus the incentive structure is pretty generous, IMO. If you sell a protection plan, you get a bonus that's dependent on how many items are covered ($10 for one item, $20 for two, etc.) and you get the bonus again on the anniversary of the agreement. I know of some employees who are pulling in $800-$1000 monthly just on those agreement anniversaries because I'm the one doing payroll.

It's a strong union environment (not always a good thing, IMO), so the pay scale is clearly spelled out, and after a few years people are pulling in 50% more than the minimum wage. The benefits are excellent, and since it's an HVAC company, if your AC/furnace breaks you get a 25% discount on everything. And to top it all off, it's 100% work from home and will remain so even after Covid.

And in spite of all that, we have people ghost us on interviews all the time. Or we get their resume and we reach out in response and... crickets.

[Mr.Bill]

11. Here's something else to consider about the "labor shortage".

Especially in the fast food industry. My nephew was in high school when the pandemic hit. He was a Senior. He worked part time at the movie theater for minimum wage. When the theater shut down, he got a job at the AT&T phone store. Again, minimum wage, with a chance for some commission. After he graduated, things changed. Mainly, he was now available for full-time work. His grandfather owns an automotive repair business, and he went to work there as a tow truck driver. He not only can work full-time, he could also be on call. He's making much more money. He will never work at either of those other two jobs again.

Now you can call that anecdotal, but how many kids graduated from high school and did something similar? I know I immediately changed jobs and made more money as soon as I graduated.

And maybe now that guy who owns the theater is wondering where his people went to.

[AllaN01Bear]

12. slave wages. they would love us to service them for free.

[AllaN01Bear]

13. love your screen nick bullwinkle428

big fan of rockey and bullwinkle.

[AllaN01Bear]

14. if one has to work 4 jobs in order to afford a crappy 620 sq ft apt . you r

a poverty enabler.

[SunSeeker]

15. My 17 year old was unable to find even a fast food job this summer.

They all want experience, but pay minimum wage. And he's an A student, clean cut, presentable, courteous. He applied to over 20 fast food and retail shops near our house who had help wanted signs. He got nothing, not even an an interview.

[Sgent]

18. IDK

but I assume they wanted 18 due to wage and safety regs about operating certain types of machinery. When I worked in a restaurant in my 20's we had some 15-17 yo work, and except for the hosts/hostesses, it was always a pain to make sure they were at the right job. In my state it could be done if they were 16, but there are still a lot of restrictions especially if school is in session (which their should be).

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. It took my 20 year old nine weeks to get a part-time job in retail or food service.

He is a junior in college with straight As, worked in a retail store over the summer, and has done internships related to his major.

He just wanted a part-time job to bring in some extra spending money. He figured with all of the places in his college town whining about needing labor and all the help wanted signs on the doors saying no experience necessary, he'd have a job in a matter of days.

He applied to over 30 places as soon as he moved back to college for the fall semester and finally got a job with the Starbucks in the campus library just this past week. Of the 30+ applications, only four bothered to contact him for a phone screening or interview. Of the four, only two called him back for another interview and one of the two pulled the bait and switch crap on him. All for part-time entry-level no experience necessary jobs.

He told me last night his experience is exactly what all of his peers are seeing as well.

[druidity33]

24. My 19 yo daughter

got calls from 2 former employers BEGGING her to come back this past summer. Both offered raises (one from $14-16 and the other from $13-$15 an hour) and her pick of schedule. Anyone want a job? Come to Western Mass. Absolutely EVERYONE is hiring. I have heard of restaurant owners doing battle for workers around here...

[Jon King]

16. There is no labor shortage, its an orchestrated plan by big business.

This has been their plan for a while now. Constant stories about how the Biden recovery package caused people not to work. It was always nonsense.

The entire goal is to fool the American people into thinking the 'others' were just sitting home while they worked. It was designed to drive a wedge between working class voters.

[raging moderate]

20. There is that novel by Ayn Rand, called Atlas Shrugged.

I think I have it straight. I read it many years ago. The novel suggests that all of us lower class people are lucky to have rich people working so hard for us to make jobs for us. It depicts a group of these rich corporation owners deciding to sort of go on strike themselves, and then their workers are so sorry they complained. I thought if it when the news reported the international shipping problems with the threat of upcoming shortages (and just in time to screw up Christmas, too).

[bullwinkle428]

21. I was wondering if I was alone, out on an island as a crazy conspiracy theorist,

but I'm starting to believe it's a form of collusion on the part of many businesses to just declare that they're in desperate shape. They figure if they can create enough of an atmosphere of economic turmoil and uncertainty, they can help resurrect their precious Republicans and bring them back into power.

[misanthrope]

38. It's not collusion, it's human nature

and the odds of who falls on what side of the issue.

[mathematic]

25. Wouldn't this be a plan orchestrated by SMALL business?

All the places shutting down and putting up signs complaining are small businesses: restaurants, retail, construction, etc

Big businesses say things like, "it's been tough finding people so we've had to raise our wages and that increases our costs" and so on. Big businesses are efficient enough to actually hire when wages are increasing rapidly.

Is it just reflexive to let small businesses off the hook for their shitty politics because they're our shitty neighbors?

[misanthrope]

39. Bingo

Because most small businesses exist on a slim, slim margin and end up falling prey to American mythology about economics, that they are persecuted millionaires-in-waiting.

[vercetti2021]

17. It's all a bunch of bullshit

There is no labor shortage. Nobody wants to work for fucking pennies anymore. Sadly that is probably one of the better things that came out of this pandemic was that people know their worth and can do much bette. And all these piece of shit employers are angry that people can think for themselves and find better options now instead of getting rich off of somebody's $2.50 fucking paycheck and one hopeful tip from a disgruntled Karen. My friend owns a restaurant and he pays all his staff livable Wages that's why his business is booming and he makes pretty goddamn great food

[Hortensis]

19. He applied to assholes who claimed publcly that they couldn't get workers because of

the stimulus checks, people didn't want to work, etc. Mostly trolling the bottom and then reporting that all that was out there was scum. And claims 58 trollings show employers just want their slaves back?!

"Holz acknowledged that his results may not be representative of the larger labor challenges in the country, since his search was local and targeted the most vocal critics of stimulus spending."

No kidding.

[druidity33]

23. Huh...

I work in a Union grocery store. We have had 2 kitchen jobs posted for over 6 months. 2 applicants in that entire time. One was a no show for the interview and the other had never done kitchen work before. This is for an $17.50 an hour starting pay job. With GOOD benefits. So forgive me if i don't really believe this post.

[Lisa0825]

26. I need QUALIFIED applicants.

I recruit for allied health professions for a major hospital/health system. In this field, "minimum qualifications" are mandatory, or we could get shut down by regulatory agencies.

I have people every day applying for Medical Lab Scientist (the ones who run the lab tests your doctor ordered) and Pharmacy tech and PT/OT assistant, and Poison Information Specialist jobs and a dozen other titles that are not REMOTELY qualified based on specific training and/or license/cert requirements.

I am very happy that I convinced my Pharmacy department to start hiring more Pharmacy Tech Trainees (also requires a state license, but no training or exp) so we can "grow our own techs." But most of my titles don't have that option. I have also successfully petitioned for market adjustments on our salary ranges so we can at least compete in this rapidly changing market.

I am not defending the jackasses who discard admin assistant applicants for not having a master's degree or not being willing to manage an office for $9/hour, but in many fields the minimum qualifications are non-negotiable.

[BobTheSubgenius]

27. $10 an hour?

$400 a week. Who can live on that??? Even living in a dump and eating PB & J twice a day.

[Equomba]

29. Two people making $10/hour take home around what, $36K/year?

$34K? Not going to take the time to do the math, but let's say they take home $2,800/month.

In Wichita KS they could rent this place for $950/month.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/610-S-Eastridge-Dr-Wichita-KS-67207/77319572_zpid/

This would give them more $1,800/month left for other expenses. So tell me, do you consider this house to be a dump? And after paying for other expenses do you think they'll be forced to eat PB & J twice a day?

[BobTheSubgenius]

30. I live in a medium-sized city on the W Coast.

Here, that house would easily be $2200-2500. A 1BR would have a range of about $1200 (and you'd be lucky) to $1800.

Not everyone is lucky enough to live in Wichita, but I take your larger point. Most people don't deserve to make more than $10 an hour.

[Jimbo S]

33. That wasn't his larger point

False Flag.

In most of the country, rents are not what they are on the West Coast.

[Torchlight]

34. Does 'most' refer to population or geographical mass?

"In most of the country..."

[Jimbo S]

41. "Most" as in most people

[Equomba]

37. Please point to where I said anything would suggest that my larger point

is that "most people don't deserve to make more than $10 an hour".

I was merely pointing out that two people living together making $10/hour in many parts of the country do not have to live in a dump and exist on PB & J twice a day. Disagree?

[BobTheSubgenius]

40. You're right, you didn't.

I was just being over-sensitive to what I perceived to be RW "bootstrap", situational arguments. My apologies.

[Equomba]

42. Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

For better or worse, I've noticed there often is not much back and forth around here when members have what I would consider to be an honest disagreement.

So again, thanks!

[BobTheSubgenius]

43. We are all ostensibly of one mind when it comes to the core values.

I think the least we can do is be civil. You're going to do well here. Welcome to DU!

[Elessar Zappa]

31. 36k or 10$/hr for two people

are shit wages anywhere in this country. Even McDonalds pays $14/hr and I live in one of the lowest cost of living areas in the country.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

35. $10/hr $20K/y

The basic rule of thumb is that you double the hourly wage to get the full-time (40hr/week x 50wks) annual equivalent.

So $10/hr ~ $20k/year. $36k/y ~ $18/hr.

Just a good mental shortcut.

[Equomba]

36. Yes, we use the same shortcut,

2,000 hours x hourly wage or double the hourly rate x 1,000. I used TWO people, i.e. as in a roommate or married situation, which would be $40K.

I didn't want to take the time to compute taxes so I rounded down to a take-home of $36K then, anticipating feedback, went down again to $2,800/mo trying to be on the 'safe' side. I also used a more 'expensive home', pretty easy to find "not a dump" for $800/mo both there and in many cities not on the coast.

Thanks!