It Is An Employers Market

Just as there are ebbs and flows in the housing market that change from buyers market to sellers market, I am finding out so goes the employment market. 

Right now it is definitely an employers market.  First of all, they have so many more applicants to choose from that they are usually overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applicants.  My last job had over 300 applicants in February and the company hired 5 of us in September. 

With fewer jobs on the market, employers are cutting wages, benefits and even hours employees are allowed to work.  This makes taking a hard look at your job skills and deciding do I brush up on computer skills for a few months, or do I rush out and take the first job offered in the hopes something better will come up? With so many employers stating they won't hire those of us who do not currenly have jobs, is it fair to take a job knowing you won't stay?

My quandry is trying to find a job that will help me pay my bills, child care, gas in the tank and still say it is worth working outside of the home.  Maybe the mostly male job owners want women to stay home, I am not sure, but I do know that with my skills, knowledge and abilities I am seriously insulted at being offered minimum wage.

Before you get all up in my face, let me explain.  Normally, I will not apply for a minimum wage job for many reasons:

• They usually require manual labor of sorts and I am not physically able to perform that type of work
• The bosses are usually narcicisstic jerks who think they are doing you a favor
• The bosses are less than half my age and trying to tell me how much life experience they have
• There is no hope in these jobs

Today however, I was very interested in a position listed by our local employment agency and the only way you can get a referral is to go into said agencies office and talk to someone which I proceeded to do.  The job placement counselor knows me well, I have been  looking for work for a very long time and he knows my education, my work history, etc.

So, he opens the job and immediately becomes indignant.  This has to be a joke as these people cannot be serious at all.  Why?

1. It requires you to dress professionally as in legal professional and those clothes cost money. Not to mention you wouldn't be wearing tennis shoes.
2. It requires you have expertise in MS Office/Excel/Access and Powerpoint, not just knowledge
3. It required you have worked in their office specific data entry program that neither the counselor nor I had heard of
4. Perform Administrative Assistant duties to an entire sales department
5. Type 45 WPM (I can type 57)
6. Process contracts
7. ETC.

The real kick in the teeth here is that they are a multi-million dollar company in our area and they are going to pay the person they hire $9.50 per hour.  You read that right. They are looking for a professional administrative assistant and they are going to pay them 46 cents an hour above minimum wage which works out to a whopping $18.40 per week.

Don't get me wrong here, I want to work and I miss working, however....by the time I have my taxes taken out, pay for child care and gas, I am making actually less than I am receiving on unemployment.  They do not want to hire a professional, they are looking to hire a young girl out of high school who will be very excited to have such a great job.

I have not been called in for an interview and with my education, skills, knowledge and abilities, I do not expect they will call me. Face it, they know with a Masters Degree I will remain with them until I can get something better. After all, my last job was two hours away from home, so they know I am NOT afraid to leave home to find work.

This goes back to what my wonderful first college counselor Dr. John Bradley taught me...some people want the title and don't care about the money. Others need the money and to hell with the title!  I fit the latter.  I could never support my family on these wages and frankly, I am blessed at this time in my life to not have to.

I will, in the meantime keep looking!