“Perhaps you have become your own worst enemy”

03 Mar “Perhaps you have become your own worst enemy”

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay    This is also how I feel on a daily basis!

As per usual, important information is out there if you care to see it.

“10 Types of People Who Will Have a Hard Time Getting a Job in 2023
Are you struggling to find work? Perhaps you have become your own worst enemy.”
–https://financebuzz.com/people-hard-time-getting-job

Ruh-roh.

“The employment situation in America has changed dramatically since the early days of the pandemic. Instead of mass layoffs, companies now can’t find enough workers.

There is a labor shortage, which should make it a good time to look for a job. However, there are plenty of ways people fail themselves while searching for a job.

Following are 10 types of people who will have a hard time getting a job in 2023. Avoid becoming one of these workers and it might increase your odds of finding a job that helps you move beyond living paycheck to paycheck.” -FinanceBuzz, Ibid.

Uh, wut? There are some mealymouthed contradictions in the openings lines there IMO and I’m not even sure what’s going on.

Mass layoffs but companies can’t find enough people.
Labor shortage and supposedly a good time to find work but people fail themselves.

🤷🏻‍♀️

So the TL; DR summary here:

“1. Workers with outdated skills
2. Those uninterested in working or contributing to a company
3. Workers who don’t craft a good resume
4. Workers who lack focus
5. People who act poorly on social media
6. Job candidates who don’t practice for the interview
7. Job candidates who are late for interviews
8. Workers who dress unprofessionally
9. People who exaggerate
10. People who forget basic manners”

Some of this is common sense, I would think. If you show up and act like Jon Lovitz as the Pathological Liar, yeah, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Showing up late, belching or passing gas, insulting the interviewer, etc. – yes, that’s a bad look. But let’s explore some of the other bits of info here.

“1. Workers with outdated skills”
What constitutes an outdated skill? Someone who can use a fax machine or sit in the Steno pool? Remember when coal miners were condescendingly told “just learn to code” but now we see Big Tech layoffs?

A while back, a meme went around mocking the advice of “Just learn to code” for anyone in an industry deemed obsolete or non-essential. For so long, there’s been a stereotype that the tech industry is pretty much untouchable and a clear beacon of hope for the future.

Or is it?

A few days ago, LinkedIn published the article, “Is the tech war for talent over?” and it stood in stark contrast to how hot the market was only months ago. There were people who felt the term “talent war” wasn’t strong enough and it was instead a talent apocalypse taking shape. So… what about now?

–https://medium.com/@sara_causey/maybe-just-learn-to-code-wasnt-the-answer-cc2cfe18566

You might put yourself through a daunting and expensive process of learning something new only to find in a few years’ time, it too has been deemed obsolete.

“2. Those uninterested in working or contributing to a company
There are plenty of reasons people lose interest in a job. It can be anything from feeling unchallenged to not being appreciated for their efforts. However, it’s crucial to avoid bringing a bad attitude into your job interviews. Hiring managers look for candidates who are genuinely interested in working at the company and contributing to it. Research the organization. Get excited about new opportunities. Show passion for the job.” -FinanceBuzz, Ibid.

Hmm. Showing passion for the job and avoiding a bad attitude can venture into the territory of “One of us . . . one of us . . .” as well as: show up here and agree to do anything we ask, including unpaid overtime, if that’s what it takes to impress us.

“5. People who act poorly on social media
Your social media presence can raise a lot of red flags for prospective employers if you aren’t careful. Not having a presence on social media can send the wrong message. But posting something inappropriate on social media is probably even worse. Remember, anything a person puts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, or any other app likely can be found. Do not present the company with a problematic image. Regardless of whether you’re hunting for a job or not, it’s generally good policy to avoid posting anything you wouldn’t show your parents, partner, or pastor.” -FinanceBuzz, Ibid. emphasis mine

Are you gonna be a problem, pal? Do you post stuff online that we don’t like?

This feels like playing semantics. What’s the difference between a “personality hire” and “the personality of the new hire needs to mesh well with your team as a whole” ?  He tells us that not everyone needs to have a bubbly personality and gab around the water cooler all day yet as someone who has been an introvert in highly extroverted office environments, what’s the difference? If you are the lone introvert in a company full of loud, boisterous maniacs, you’ll stick out like a sore thumb. And believe me – they’ll make sure you FEEL like a sore thumb, too. To me, the idea of “meshing well with the team as a whole” is getting pretty close to, “Look. If you wanna succeed here, you better toe the party line. Fit in. Conform. Laugh at the jokes. Go when you’re invited.”

–https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2023/02/15/hiring-the-cult-of-personality/

You vill own nozing und you vill be happy. Ve vill read your brain vaves at vork and ve vill give you a social media score. If ve don’t like it, you vill go!

“8. Workers who dress unprofessionally
How you dress for an interview — or for the job itself — speaks volumes about how seriously you take the workplace. This is all about being professional. Jeans won’t cut it unless that’s explicitly the culture the company is going for.

If you are interviewing, prepare your clothes in advance. Your entire outfit should be clean and ready for the big day. Make sure there’s no grime under your fingernails. Many experts advise keeping things low-key when it comes to jewelry, piercings, and showing tattoos.” -FinanceBuzz, Ibid.

What year is this? I’m in 2023, where are they? I remember seeing this job interview advice in the 90s. I’m not saying that you should roll in looking like you just got out of bed. I will never forget a candidate I interviewed who, to be honest, I think one of my coworkers had a crush on at the time. This guy came in reeking of cigs and alcohol and looked rumpled. It smelled like he tried to overcome the bar odors with a lot of cologne. Did he make a favorable impression? Of course not. So many people have tattoos and piercings now that I have to ask: does that matter?

“The U.S. unemployment rate is low, and companies are still having a hard time filling their payrolls. So, if you can’t find work, it might not be due to a lack of options. Knowing why you didn’t get a job can be a powerful motivating force. It can help you understand what you need to improve on as you prepare for the next stage of your search. Avoid making key mistakes, and you soon might find a good-paying job that allows you to save more and possibly even retire early.” -FinanceBuzz, Ibid.

EXTREME SIDE EYE HERE.

Yeah . . . about that . . .

Of course it’s important to troubleshoot and be introspective. If an interview didn’t go well, it’s good for you to understand why and not always rush to blame the other people. But the rest of that? 😒

IMO, NO, the US unemployment rate is not low. Let’s stop pretending that it is. Or that everyone can go work at Chipotle and things will be fine.

“The data also suggest the ‘true rate of unemployment’ is much higher in many places than national or local figures show.

That’s based on a broader labor market metric developed by researchers at the institute. The TRU (for True Rate of Unemployment) measures workers they consider ‘functionally unemployed’ — people who are looking for work but don’t have a full-time job, working part-time but want full-time work, or who earn below the poverty line. That accounted for 23.1 percent of the U.S. labor force in April.

In some metropolitan areas, such as El Paso, Texas, Augusta, Ga. and Las Vegas, that ‘true rate of unemployment’ was above 30 percent in 2021.

‘We think it misleads the American people to say, ‘Oh, we’ve got 3.6 percent of America that is unemployed, ergo, a huge percent of the population is employed,’ when in fact they can’t make above a poverty wage,’ Ludwig said.” –https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-money/2022/05/31/true-unemployment-is-a-lot-higher-than-you-think-00035922

Yet you’re supposed to think unemployment is under 4%. Puh-leeze.

“So, if you can’t find work, it might not be due to a lack of options.”
Look: it might just be your own damn fault, peon. It’s not that the open jobs are in fast food, leisure, hospitality, etc., and usually don’t offer a living wage and benefits. Nah. It’s YOUR fault. Meanwhile, those of us who are involved in the job market every day can tell you: the white collar options are not at like they were in 2021. No freakin’ way. And when you look at what is available, it’s not uncommon to see 200, 500, or 1000+ applicants! Yet you expect me to believe people are not lacking for options. Sorry, I don’t buy it.

As I said at the start: important information is out there if you care to see it. I believe this article is telegraphing certain messages to you.

If you can’t find work, you are the problem. It’s not the economy, it’s you. You are screwing up interviews and misbehaving, so if you can’t find a decent, steady job in the midst of this super low unemployment rate, you got nobody to blame but yourself. Maybe what you need to do is buy a business suit (whether you can afford it or not is irrelevant) and go to an interview ready to beg for a job on your hands and knees.

Sit down, shut up, and get back in the cube.