The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people • Hacker News Board

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#221

Post by VLM » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:45 PM UTC

SilasX wrote: post #105

jonathanjaeger wrote: post #5

Disclaimer: This is purely anecdotal, and not backed by any data. I'm in my mid-twenties and just recently started interviewing people for the team I work on. It's amazing how little effort many seemingly qualified people put in to secure an entry-level job. Whether it be hustle to learn more about a business, the specifics about the company you might work at, or finding someone to give a second set of eyes on a cove…

The problem with this explanation is that, for every such person, you can probably find another one that does all of that stuff correctly but still never hears back. That's exactly what we see with the Fizzbuzz phenomenon, with every interviewer complaining that no applicant can do it, but everyone tripping over each other (including hobbyists and beginners) to say how easy it is, so "where's my job?" I saw it too wi…

"every interviewer complaining that no applicant can do it"

I've noticed a correlation between that and insanely low pay or horrific working conditions, or a crazy disconnect between demands and the requirements.

"I don't understand why none of the applicants can explain the details of why one BGP route is preferred over the other" -- says the guy trying to hire a CCIE for $50K at a dying utility company.

"Well, sure we pivot every month and require 80 hour super high pressure work weeks and the runway ends in six months but aren't all companies, everywhere, on a perpetual death march?" -- says the guy who doesn't get any fizzbuzz-able applicants

"I can't find any applicants with PHD level programming skills and encyclopedic knowledge of algorithms who have written a widely used LISP and/or hold a Fields math medal and/or a Nobel" -- says the guy complaining about getting no serious applicants when trying to hire for an entry level CRUD shoveler, upon being told everyone's unemployed so he should aim high.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#222

Post by AnimalMuppet » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:46 PM UTC

lujim wrote: post #94

astrodust wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We lived for at least fifty thousand years without any money at all, for around three thousand with some form of money, and the last two hundred years with the idea of hourly wages and bills and rent. It's entirely possible we'll find a better way to do this. Maybe we'll have to "undertake dramatic changes" to avoid an even bigger disaster.

Life before money was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". In fact I wouldn't choose to live anytime before the last 100 or 200 years. 1950 or later would have been my preference had I been given a choice. For how much we all like to armchair quarterback our current system (yes.. capitalism), it's easy to forget how bad 99.9 percent of the human experience on this planet would have sucked comparatively. That's…

> In fact I wouldn't choose to live anytime before the last 100 or 200 years. 1950 or later would have been my preference had I been given a choice.

1950 is the earliest that would be OK for me - I had cataracts. In a world before cataract surgery, I would be blind.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#223

Post by bduerst » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:47 PM UTC

fecak wrote: post #10

jonathanjaeger wrote: post #5

Disclaimer: This is purely anecdotal, and not backed by any data. I'm in my mid-twenties and just recently started interviewing people for the team I work on. It's amazing how little effort many seemingly qualified people put in to secure an entry-level job. Whether it be hustle to learn more about a business, the specifics about the company you might work at, or finding someone to give a second set of eyes on a cove…

Recruiter and resume-writer-on-the-side here, and it's become so easy to apply for jobs that most people put zero effort into anything but pressing send and shotgunning a resume to hundreds of companies. If there was even a small cost (time or money) to applying, you can be sure that resumes and cover letters would be much more common and of higher quality. I'm not suggesting that we charge applicants, but years ago…

What do you think about the "project" interview?

Do you think that if companies had 2-4 hr projects for applicants to complete, that there would be a better interview process for both parties?

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#224

Post by FilterSweep » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:47 PM UTC

caskance wrote: post #199

FilterSweep wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That candidates aren't obsessed enough with a potential "false positive" hire where they end up working somewhere they don't actually want to work. You can't tell me that someone applying for 40 positions a week truly wants to work at all 40 of those places. This sounds like a whole lot of blaming the candidate. It also assumes that the candidate could even land one of those 40 positions in the first place. I appli…

I have real trouble believing a competent developer can't find a job developing native iOS apps in this job market.

Why would I do something I truly love for someone elses dream?

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#225

Post by AnimalMuppet » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:47 PM UTC

VLM wrote: post #179

lujim wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life before money was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". In fact I wouldn't choose to live anytime before the last 100 or 200 years. 1950 or later would have been my preference had I been given a choice. For how much we all like to armchair quarterback our current system (yes.. capitalism), it's easy to forget how bad 99.9 percent of the human experience on this planet would have sucked comparatively. That's…

"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short" Isn't this also our future? The future is unevenly distributed... Detroit hasn't reached you yet, but its only a matter of time.

No. Just no. The future is not Detroit. The future of a few places is Detroit, but not the future of everywhere.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#226

Post by XorNot » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:48 PM UTC

icelancer wrote: post #160

happyscrappy wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. That is clearly the trend, ups and downs aside. The current generation appears to feel they have it harder than the last few generations. Not even close.

I wouldn't say we have it "harder," because I don't believe that at all. The opportunities globalism and the Internet provide us are almost infinite. But the long-term view doesn't look too damn good from an employment perspective. There is a real mismatch of skill development and what is actually available on the market; and the labor demand is not nearly as stable as it used to be (career opportunities are changing…

I think more accurately its that, as the recent article on telematics shows - that the stable availability of work itself is being slowly eroded.

We can continue down that track for a while before you'll get a sufficient population of disaffection for something drastic to "suddenly" become a movement.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#227

Post by ju-st » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:48 PM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #164

Kalium wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I said "good resume", I did not mean "An aesthetically pleasing resume" or anything of that sort. I mean "A history containing the traits the would-be employer seeks".

I mean having a clear summary at the top regarding your desired position/goals, with a keyword mash of the technology you've used followed by details of work history, projects and the technologies used is a better place to start. Having actual paragraphs combined with the keyword jumble goes a long way. You don't have to do excessive customization for each job.

I'm not sure about the technology keywords. As a student you most propably won't have extensive knowledge of any technology. I simply don't believe that most HR persons know that somebody who has experience in Java from university courses is equally suited for a C# job.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#228

Post by andy_boot » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:48 PM UTC

FrankenPC wrote: post #162

lisper wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I can't think of a way that the bubble could actually pop. Or what it would look like if it did. It would look like a social movement. It would look like tens of millions of young people realizing that they have fallen under the yoke of life-long indentured servitude to the older generation, and either 1) getting organized enough to get the law changed or, 2) saying "fuck it, I've got nothing left to lose" and…

Makes me wonder if there's already some form of credit default swapping going on with student loans that we won't uncover until after the bubble pops.

I recall a story of a company that was analysing student loans, finding people most likely to pay the loan off and buying that debt.

So yes I expect there are already student credit default swaps somewhere.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#229

Post by DrNuke » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:49 PM UTC

The point is there will be less and less global-economy jobs (because of automation and the insane productivity it allows to very few skilled people) and more but not enough local-community jobs (caring, agriculture, menials and so on). In a fair deal of the so-called first world, too many educated people are just reverting to local-community jobs already, competing with the uneducated and migrants. This is not going to end peacefully if some sort of basic income is not introduced soon.

Re: The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

#230

Post by refurb » Tue, Oct 13, 2015, 7:51 PM UTC

icelancer wrote: post #97

downandout wrote: post #82

Most of the comments here focus on how people aren't trying hard enough to get jobs. This article indicates that the jobs don't exist and that the problem is likely to get far worse. You can try as hard as you want to get a job - if no one is hiring, you aren't going to get one. The reality is that as time goes on, the world's needs can and will be met by fewer and fewer people. This should be a good thing, but it wo…

> Most of the comments here focus on how people aren't trying hard enough to get jobs. This article indicates that the jobs don't exist and that the problem is likely to get far worse. The reality is that BOTH are true. There is no law stating that each generation of humans should have it easier and with more resources available to them. My generation is facing this crisis, and the default response is to complain. Wh…

My generation is facing this crisis, and the default response is to complain.

I'm curious how you would rate the current crisis to what people have dealt with in the past. Is now worse than the stagflation of the 1970's?