Experience required...

[Tazicket]

So, a question. Why on earth should a company hire someone without any real work experience when there are people out there who know how to do the job? It sounds to me like a risk, and a poor choice financially, also.

So what are the people with degrees and little to no experience because no one will hire them supposed to do? Just chalk it up to not having experience and never being able to get it? More people would know how to do the job by gaining valuabe experience if they were given half a chance.

 

[noodleknitter]

I agree. But that doesn't answer the question. If a company can hire someone with experience, and references for real work, it saves them money and they have at least a 1/2 chance of the candidate having some sense of work ethic.

When I moved back to this area I had 3 degrees under my belt, and the goal to work at a specific treatment facility. They had minimal openings and always hire from within. So I took the first job as a part-time Rehab aide, making minimum wage. It took a year to work into the original position I wanted and another 5 years to reach director. But do you know what i had to deal with as an aide. Not a pretty sight. And, as director, I knew exactly what was going on in the place becasue of my experience. I will say that lots of little newbie PhDs applied for that postition. Glad that I had the experience, because I didn't have mine yet.

So, while I feel bad that people are having a difficult time finding a good job, I rather think...deal with it. So is everyone else.

 

[MushyMushy]

Apparently (and many for good reason), those fancy college degrees don't mean squat once you get out in the "real world.


"Can you really explain to a fish what it’s like to walk on land? One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one day running a business has exactly the same kind of value."
- Warren Buffet

That certainly hasn't been my experience, or my DH's.

I worked in store management (barely squeaked by with my foot in the door) and I was passed over for promotion after promotion in favor of college grads, even though I had way more experience and excellent reviews and feedback on job performance. Same with DH. He's a brilliant man with a good solid computer programming base, but no degree. He couldn't even get his foot in the door for the longest time until someone finally hired him without the degree. When he goes on job interviews, that's always the first thing he's asked about -- "Why don't you have a degree?" (thankfully he has one now... he just graduated. YAY)

 

[Golf4food]

So, a question. Why on earth should a company hire someone without any real work experience when there are people out there who know how to do the job? It sounds to me like a risk, and a poor choice financially, also.

For the same reason you (or a company) invest in the stock market - buy low and make money when the value of the stock increases. If you buy a big blue chip stock that is already maxed out in earnings potential you are retaining value but never making more money via capital gains. If you buy a smaller stock and its value appreciates, you increase your capital gains greatly. If you have a potential employee that is obviously smart and willing to learn, you hire them as investment in your company because you can then teach them your way of doing things right from the start and then as they grow they become more valuable to your company - you make money on them because you invested in them when they were cheap and allowed them to grow in value.

Is the initial expense higher? Yes, because initial production will be lower as the person learns, but that will be true for almost any position - even people with some related experience have to learn YOUR way of doing things and unlearn their former employers way of doing things. But the potential return might be higher, who knows. And if the person is smart and personable enough, you don't lose anything except the initial training time, which probably isn't as extensive as employers want to make it out to be (heck, in our company - a big time, major company, one of the top in our industry - training is often one day of intensive indoctrination followed by, "And if you have any other questions, I'm right over there..." and off they go on their own...)

 

[Kitty 34]

NOTHING DRIVES ME CRAZIER THAN READING A CLASSIFIED WITH THESE WORDS "...MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE, $6.50 TO START!"

I feel bad for many of the younger people today, it's crazy out there!

Good Luck!

I agree. Most people who have experience at the $6.50 job are probably looking for a higher paying job!

 

[noodleknitter]

Golf4food, i don't know what industry you are in, but in both the mental health, and higher education fields that I dabble in, you can get experience cheap. Sad but true. There are good people out there with training that are in need/want of jobs.

eta: And the potential is just as high.

DH works in the computer field, and it is a bit easier for the young grads, but in an area like ours (2 hours to any big city) even they are limited.

 

[hlbtimes2]

I'm also having problems finding a job. Here is my road block- Over qualified for entry level, under qualified for everything above entry level. I have no degree and no experience using quick books for accounting. I've been at my job for 9 years. 7 of those years at a full charge bookkeeper. I have experience, and am stable. But, because the lack of degree and quick books I can't find anyone to hire me. Doesnt matter that I can do the job. It drives me crazy! I'm going to take a 4 day quick book class this fall, hopefully it will fill in at least part of the gap.

 

[mickeyboat]

I'm also having problems finding a job. Here is my road block- Over qualified for entry level, under qualified for everything above entry level. I have no degree and no experience using quick books for accounting. I've been at my job for 9 years. 7 of those years at a full charge bookkeeper. I have experience, and am stable. But, because the lack of degree and quick books I can't find anyone to hire me. Doesnt matter that I can do the job. It drives me crazy! I'm going to take a 4 day quick book class this fall, hopefully it will fill in at least part of the gap.

I was just hired as a Treasurer / Controller at an upstart engineering firm. I had some, but not a lot of Quickbooks experience, and 10 years as HR/Office Manager/Bookkeeper. I have a law degree, but not an accounting degree.

Quickbooks is VERY easy to navigate, especially if you have experience in ANY general accounting software. My experience was with a manufacturing-specific software, and QB was easy to pick up because I understood the concept.

Have you ever worked closely with an outside accounting firm - like to prepare year end financial statements and tax returns, or for an audit or review. Find out if they know anyone looking for someone. That's how I got this job.

Good luck.

Denae

 

[Golf4food]

Golf4food, i don't know what industry you are in, but in both the mental health, and higher education fields that I dabble in, you can get experience cheap. Sad but true. There are good people out there with training that are in need/want of jobs.

eta: And the potential is just as high.

So we should automatically discriminate against the new college grads in favor of the other people with equal potential because they can also be had for cheap?

Discrimating againts potential solely in the name of experience is still discrimination. But evidently it is only illegal if the potential candidate is a minority...

 

[noodleknitter]

It isn't (illegal) discrimination to hire someone based on whether they know what they are doing. That is foolishness.

 

[twinklebug]

So we should automatically discriminate against the new college grads in favor of the other people with equal potential because they can also be had for cheap?

Discrimating againts potential solely in the name of experience is still discrimination. But evidently it is only illegal if the potential candidate is a minority...

Going back to my first post in this thread:
US citizens, both experienced and new graduates are being descriminated against as many employers have found it more ... benficial to their needs... to hire foreigners with little to no experience. I'm not against these folk, some of my best co-workers were from Greece, England and India, but I think it's sad that they're talking the place of a US citizen running the cashier at the local wal-mart because they're a better buy for the company.

 

[mickeyboat]

Going back to my first post in this thread:
US citizens, both experienced and new graduates are being descriminated against as many employers have found it more ... benficial to their needs... to hire foreigners with little to no experience. I'm not against these folk, some of my best co-workers were from Greece, England and India, but I think it's sad that they're talking the place of a US citizen running the cashier at the local wal-mart because they're a better buy for the company.

Hmm, we wanted to hire someone from England a few years ago, and we ran into so much red tape trying to get him over here having to justify why we couldn't find the same talent here, we had to hire an attorney. We never did close the deal because it was going to cost a fortune.

A comment on internships. With the increased cost of college, many people cannot afford to work, whether in college or afterwards, for peanuts as an intern. When you have to start paying back student loans 6 months after graduation, you need a good paying job, or you will be living with your parents.

Denae

 

[Hedy]

A lot of my coworkers at my temp job are temping for "experience." Have you tried that?

 

[Luv'sTink]

We owned espresso stands and would hire people with no experience and train them. After a few months they would quite because they would go to a larger company (Starbucks ring a bell?) and get a job, because they then had experience.

We even had one tell the person training her (at our business) that as soon as she was trained she was going to go to a competitor and get hired. That the competitor told her they didnt train but we did so come get training from us and then come back and they would hire her. Nice huh?

 

[DisneyGirl]

There are ways to get experience before graduating from college-- I did it, and I have never been without a job, never had a problem getting a job, and never was asked to leave a job (i.e., never fired/laid off/ etc.), and actually get calls from recruiters all the time. I graduated from college 7 years ago. Here are some examples of how to get experience before graduating. I hire people now, myself, and I really will only consider people who have gone to the effort to FIND someway to get experience-- there is just no excuse not to have at least tried one of the below:

1. Internships
2. Part-time jobs at places that employ people of your background-- I know a lot of people who got experience by offering to go above and beyond their "hired" job to do something in their area
3. Classes that offer some real world type experience (i.e., design classes)
4. Volunteer work where you can use your skills. This can be a non-profit, a club, a professional organization, anything.

It's all about being proactive and creative, and there are opportunities out there.

There are also a lot of majors in college that are just over-saturated-- a lot of liberal arts degrees, art degrees, etc. There just aren't a lot of positions in these areas. Another proactive way to get experience here is to freelance while job searching-- looks a lot better if you can show me a couple people you did some work for instead of just sitting around...

 

[DISUNC]

I grew up in NYC. I Graduated HS in 77.

Back then Fortune 500 companies came to the High Schools and recruited MANY High School seniors.
These jobs offered were always low rung. However they did offer decent pay and BENEFITS (health, dental, vacation), including paying for college!

This was very much the norm.

Was this the "cheapest" way to go for the companies? Not always. However they did it for Social responsibility!

Things have changed very much, and NOT for the better. Todays corporations "bottom line" and "Live for the current Fiscal Quarter' mentality is starting to snap this country.

There are no long terms goals for the good of the Whole. Very sad and self destructive.

 

[MareQ]

Businesses don't want to take the time, energy and money to train people extensively. You can't blame them for that.

I wouldn't hire someone just out of school, because more likely than not, they have an education, but not actual knowledge about the workplace. These kids graduate with all of the college propaganda re. their degrees, etc., and think they are going to trot right into that v.p. position.

I believe in companies hiring from within, and giving knowledge/experience precedence over a degree. And, no one in the workworld cares that you were valedictorian.

Yup - we want experience for most things - no harm in that. It's not a company's responsibility to provide training if they don't want to. Also - when we do have openings for Entry Level positions, the applicants are asking for FAR more money than an Entry Level position deserves. We're not going to pay big bucks for nothing more than a degree.

It goes both ways.