Posted on 01/02/2012 7:51:59 AM PST by MosesKnows
Before we know it, fall will be here and a lot of high school graduates who have been having fun swimming, bicycling, sunning and loafing will be out looking for jobs.
Some of them will go to 10, 15 or 20 places and get turned down. They will tell you the world is against them and that life is mean and unfair. They will swear they tried their darnedest to find something, walked their feet off and “there just aren’t any jobs out there.”
Please, Ann, print this little essay that I found in an old book in our family library. It was handwritten and I have no idea who wrote it. It could be a member of the family or some well-known person. No matter who the author is, this piece deserves to be seen by large numbers of young people who will be job hunting soon.
Go get ‘em.—A Reader in Elmira, N.Y.
Dear Reader:
Thanks for sending this excellent piece my way. Here it is:
An Open Letter to a Discouraged Teenager
Dear Kid:
Today you came to me for a job. From the look of your shoulders when you walked out, I suspect you’ve been turned down before. Or maybe you believe nobody wants to hire a kid just out of high school.
Well, it happens that I did hire a teenager today. He had a big smile on his face and he wore a necktie. What was so special about that kid? Experience? Not really. He didn’t have any. It was his attitude that put him on the payroll instead of you. Attitude, son. A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E.
He wanted that job bad enough to put on a clean shirt and take the time to find out something about our company before he came down here. He did his best to impress me. That’s where he edged you out. You see, kid, folks who do hiring look for young people who have a spark. They want someone around who looks energetic, eager and rarin’ to go. Your first questions were, “What are the hours? How many vacations would I get?” and “How much do you pay?” I knew when you asked those questions that you weren’t going to get a job here.
I couldn’t care less that you’re behind in your car payments. That’s your problem. What I needed was someone with enthusiasm who’d keep his eyes open and work for me like he’d work for himself If you have even the vaguest idea of what I’m trying to say, let it show the next time you go looking for a job. If you do, you’ll be head and shoulders above the rest.
You know, kid, men have always gotten jobs the same way they get girls. They case the situation, wear a clean shirt, put their best foot forward and appear interested. Maybe jobs aren’t plentiful right now, but a lot of us can remember when master craftsmen walked the streets. By comparison, kids today don’t know the meaning of the word “scarce.”
You may not believe this, but all around you there are employers who are looking like crazy for smart, alert, energetic young people. When they find one, they can’t wait to get him or her on their payroll. If you paid a dime’s worth of attention to what I’ve said today you’ll land a job pretty darned soon. Good luck. You’re going to need it.
© 1990. Creators Syndicate
oh yeah, blame the victim
Yeah, that’s been around for years. Why people think they can just walk into a business with purple hair, tatooes and piercings all over, ripped jeans, and otherwise nasty is beyond me. A friend’s kid got a recent job because she was the first applicant who took pride in her appearance.
ROFLMAO!
Bump.
well you know around these parts, the retirees whose accounts were decimated by the 2008 crash have taken all the jobs the teens would normally get.
>>You know, kid, men have always gotten jobs the same way they get girls.
Today, they don’t even bother to “get” girls. They hook-up randomly or have friends with benefits. When they get one pregnant, they wish her well and move on. If they’re “kinda into each other”, they marry for a while but get bored and move on.
Far too many teens and young adults sport neck tattoos and face piercings. Is this the outward appearance you want for your business?
If you do hire them, they are instantly unhappy about their “dead-end” job and treat customers like crap because they aren’t store manager after two weeks on the fry station.
They blame the unfairness of society because their 50 year old parents have lots of cool stuff, but they can’t afford it. So, as soon as they can lose this job, they can move back in with mom and dad and “start living the life” again.
Even if the economy wasn’t in the tank, today’s crop of over-entitled, self-important little brats wouldn’t be good employees.
This is why I don’t watch those ‘talent’ shows on television.
Everyone thinks they are the best, no one has ever told them the truth, that they are not the best, the brightest or the most beautiful. They are the ‘everyone gets a trophy’ kid, the one who has never lost anything.
I saw one girl screech out a song and was not promoted to the next round. She screamed and cried in the room with her family, saying, I know they can use equipment to make me sound as good as everyone, that is what they do for everyone else.
See. She knew she sucked but had been told she deserved things she didn’t deserve her entire life. Kids applying for jobs feel that they are entitled- our veterinarian told us that she has kids come in who are in school to be vets. They think that they will walk out of graduation into a paid for clinic with all the perks instead of having to work their way up- which is what she has done.
Blood, swear and tears. This concept is completely foreign to the yutes today.
Exactly. They put in one-hundred-thousand applications on the off chance someone is foolish enough not to see through their bull****.
Being a dreg of society seems to be a plus in my corner of the world. More places I go in I see piercings,tats, bling, torn up and dishevled clothes and these are beyond little entry level jobs.
I have to agree.
I did some hiring for junior-level positions at one of my old companies...recent college grads are horrible applicants. Most of them feel as if having a degree “promises” them a job.
One young woman’s first question was about our policy on “snow days.” Nope, she didn’t get the job. A young man came in and I wanted to go over some items on his resume. He had not brought a copy with him and asked me, “Can’t you just run over to the copier and make one?” Nope, he didn’t get the job. Another young woman told the waiter to box up the leftovers (mine as well as hers) at the end of a luncheon interview. Nope, she didn’t get the job. A young man sent us a thank-you note after we interviewed him and offered to supply us with any other information we might need in making our decision. He got the job.
I must say, my most bizarre experience was talking to a woman who called me to find out why I didn’t hire her daughter. I did not have a clue big enought to impart to her.
I’m happily farming now, glad to be out of the corporate limelight and not dealing with the “self-esteem” generation.
1990.. back when Ann Landers was written by Esther Lederer...aka “Dear Abby’s” sister... sense like that is not common anymore.
I consider that a wise observation.
Rich people are rich for the exact same reason that poor people are poor. They each keep doing that which made them rich or made them poor.
I begin repeating this to my grandchildren even before they comprehend the depth and wisdom of the advice.
Do not exchange what you want most from life with what you want now.
I admire her thriftiness.
Regards,
What about attending a trade school or go to college and get a marketable degree like engineering, accounting or nursing? And if you can’t afford those options then join the military and learn a trade like diesel mechanic or get money to go to college after your enlistment is up.
I, too, would have admired her thriftiness if it had only been her own lunch...but you don’t take home your future potential boss’s half-eaten sandwich. That just ain’t sanitary.
Dr. Charles Stanley, First Baptist pastor for Atlanta, Ga., yesterday morning on television, remarked that before his children were old enough to talk, he was telling them that God had a plan for their life, God made them and loved them. So before they had any idea of critical thinking he had saturated them with the belief of God. He wanted them to have complete trust in God.
Now that is wise.
It would have been thrifty if she had paid for it... but typically on luncheon interviews you don't go "dutch." The interviewer pays. The applicant was having the waiter box up food that wasn't hers.
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