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Another reason businesses can't fill their jobs
CNBC ^ | 7/16/2014 | Mark Koba

Posted on 07/16/2014 10:48:49 AM PDT by Night Hides Not

While many businesses contend that a "skills gap" is a major reason that they're not filling jobs, a new survey says the companies themselves may be a big reason they can't hire anyone.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; News/Current Events
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Must be a slow day for news...

Reasons jobs aren't being filled:

1. Interview process takes too long/too many interviews.

2. "Disappointing" compensation.

3. Applicants turn down jobs at companies experiencing layoffs and retirements (i.e. jump into the frying pan).

Those of us who are "seasoned" are used to the grind. On too many occasions, though, I was advised 45 minutes into the interview that my resume was "too strong for the position." HR couldn't determine that before bringing me in for the interview?

I'm looking forward to comments from FReepers.

1 posted on 07/16/2014 10:48:49 AM PDT by Night Hides Not
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To: Night Hides Not

Tell them you can work down to their expectations.


2 posted on 07/16/2014 10:49:52 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Night Hides Not

HR is where most large companies bury the Affirmative Action hires. Asking them to use reasoned thought is sometimes too much of a heavy lift.


3 posted on 07/16/2014 10:52:16 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Night Hides Not

A company that has government contracts of any kind, must interview at least three people for a position.
According to some HR people I have talked with, they must show that they interviewed minorities, women and occasionally veterans for that job. I would assume that today’s list must also include homosexuals and transgendered as well. All candidates must also pass a drug screening that the company must pay for.
It’s difficult to find people with the ordinate skills required in the first place, much less with all the other qualifications that are imposed by the imperial government..................


4 posted on 07/16/2014 10:55:20 AM PDT by Red Badger (I've posted a total of 2,763 threads and 85,286 replies. ...............)
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Tell them you can work down to their expectations.

Thanks for the tip! lol

I was stuck on "can you help me dumb down my resume to better qualify for the position?" When I saw the look on their faces, I got up, thanked them for their time, and ended the interview.

5 posted on 07/16/2014 10:57:22 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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To: Red Badger

Sounds logical, but I was just offered a job at a federal agency after a phone interview. It took over six months to land the interview, though.


6 posted on 07/16/2014 10:59:09 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Then there was the 16 year old high school intern from the local creme de la creme charter school, the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, who put on his application that he’d never had a job before and under his skills he listed he could “count money real good, dancing and cooking”. Nothing pertaining to academics, extra-curriculurar, computers or even lawn mowing jobs. This one made it through HR, I was wondering what the rejected applications looked like.


7 posted on 07/16/2014 11:00:31 AM PDT by FrdmLvr ("WE ARE ALL OSAMA, 0BAMA!" al-Qaeda terrorists who breached the American compound in Benghazi)
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To: Night Hides Not

What these companies need are children from Guatamala who can’t speak English.


8 posted on 07/16/2014 11:01:47 AM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" means something different to 0bama.)
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To: Night Hides Not

That just means “I don’t want to hire someone smarter or more ambitious than I am.”


9 posted on 07/16/2014 11:03:04 AM PDT by PatrioticRose
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To: Night Hides Not

Although I’m out of the workforce I keep in touch via consulting and former colleagues who would confirm these factors exist. But dig a little deeper into the “long interview process” issue and I think you’ll find there is still a strong reluctance to hire, especially in “high cost regions” like the US. And especially in public companies, where the total cost of an employee is ever-increasing and surrounded by uncertainty at this time. The safest course of action is the delay, drag feet, hope for that “perfect candidate” that will erase any doubts, etc.

Not the complete answer, but the one option that always exists and usually has low risk is to “do nothing”.


10 posted on 07/16/2014 11:04:03 AM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: Night Hides Not

“too strong”

“don’t be gunning for MY job”
“billionaire CEO who is calling for more visas for Indian workers thinks your skills cost too much”

The third scenario (which I’ve also encountered) is “older than the coworkers” (and I’m not even 50). But age discrimination doesn’t go on these days. Not with employment acts...


11 posted on 07/16/2014 11:04:08 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (The new witchhunt: "Do you NOW, . . . or have you EVER , . . supported traditional marriage?")
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To: Night Hides Not
Can't tell you about other places, but I can tell you the key reasons for our plant:

  1. Applicant can't start here for what they was paid in their last union job. Helllooooo! There's a reason those union jobs are gone.
  2. They still have xx number of weeks left on their unemployment.
  3. They can't pass a drug test.

12 posted on 07/16/2014 11:08:27 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Night Hides Not

It really depends on the situation. If companies need somebody right away to get vital work done, they usually sing a different tune. I have seen situations where lots of candidates were interviewed quickly, trying to find someone qualified who could be brought on board immediately.


13 posted on 07/16/2014 11:09:14 AM PDT by proxy_user
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To: Night Hides Not

Number One reason why companies can’t fill positions: The HR people tend to be idiots who don’t know how to interview. They have a job description with boxes that need to be checked off. The interviewer has no understanding of the job or of the interviewee’s true ability to do the job. HR people don’t bother thinking and the companies don’t want to spend a nickel providing any training to someone who may be a terrific employee, but doesn’t have experience with one lousy piece of software.


14 posted on 07/16/2014 11:10:25 AM PDT by Dr. Thorne ("Don't be afraid. Just believe." - Mark 5:36)
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To: Vigilanteman

#3 will be a challenge for companies in WA & CO.


15 posted on 07/16/2014 11:10:56 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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To: bigbob

It’s a tremendous legal and financial obligation to hire a worker.

Imagine you want to hire somebody. Now imagine standing right next to them during the interview a passel of slip-and-fall lawyers, sexual harassment lawyers, safety bureaucrats, etc.

Now imagine next to them a pile of medical bills, extended leave applications, late and absentee records, etc.

Then imagine what it would cost you to fire or layoff that person, if the need arose.


16 posted on 07/16/2014 11:11:19 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

So true—Yet, an incompetent HR department can bring a viable company to its knees, if not kill it outright.

One of my former employers lost a number of integral, highly competent professionals (myself included) when they assigned us to a newly-graduated, minority HR type who didn’t have the slightest idea what we did but decided we were overpaid.


17 posted on 07/16/2014 11:12:53 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Rope. Tree. Politician. Some assembly required.)
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To: Night Hides Not

I was advised 45 minutes into the interview that my resume was “too strong for the position.

They would rather tell you that than tell you the truth.


18 posted on 07/16/2014 11:15:09 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Moonman62

So, what is the truth?


19 posted on 07/16/2014 11:20:00 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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To: Night Hides Not

That they had already decided to hire someone younger, with less experience, and for less money.


20 posted on 07/16/2014 11:29:38 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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