November 23, 2005
Conflicting trends
Okay, so we've got two fairly contradictory trends going on in hiring practices. On one side, you've got GM slashing 30,000 jobs and shuttering 12 plants. We've got unemployment numbers still riding high. Those two would seem to go together. Employers are predicting severe shortages of skilled labor in the immediate near future.
Then we've got corporations like Google, which is in the middle of a massive hiring binge, saying things like "I'd rather lose an entire graduating class than one top-notch engineer". Which on one level makes sense, but it just continues the trend of employers putting out incredibly detailed requirements as to what they're looking for.
But there are more engineering and B. Science graduates than there have ever been. What kind of shortage is this? What seems to be happening is that the boomers are starting to retire, and as companies haven't really spent any time or money in the last 10 years working to replace these people, when they have an opening it's for someone with five to ten years of experience with a particular piece of software. Look on Monster for just a few minutes, and you'll see what I mean. You'll see things like "Highway Engineer II", "Rail Design Engineer III", or "Manager of Engineering". There don't really seem to be any entry level positions worth having. Microsoft receives about 100,000 applications for their entry level positions every year. They screen 15,000, interview 3,500, and hire 1,000. That's 100:1 odds for getting a job. Raytheon recently tried to fill two positions and received 158 applications. That's 80:1.
Which means that if you're a 20-something right out of college, you may as well go work in the service industry or in direct sales, because there really isn't any point to your degree. The hotel I work for is hiring, and will be happy to pay you $8.00/hr for a menial white-collar job. The school district in which I live is also hiring, but please have 3-5 years of experience.
Unless employers start rationalizing their demands and offering more entry-level positions, we're going to start having some real problems here, as an entire generation of educated people are unable to find jobs.
