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U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

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Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#61

Post by ghaff »

maxsilver wrote: post #47
kartickv wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But maybe the job isn't economically worth it at the higher salary? You seem to be assuming it's worth doing at any price, as does the article, and that's untrue. Besides, I don't know about others, but I've recently put out multiple job ads for one vacancy. Our app, Noctacam, uses computational photography to take great photos at night. I was looking for someone with computational photography knowledge and/or iOS. A…

> I found it convenient to post three job ads, so that I can clearly organise the dozens of applicants based on their skills. Two of them went unfulfilled. Which is exactly as was intended. I always wondered why 50% of job listings were totally fake. "Selfish hiring practices" being the reason makes a lot more sense than "appearance of growth" that usually gets stated.

It's also pretty common that the job is already basically filled internally or (less commonly at the moment) by H1B but for various legal or procedural reasons there has to be a job posting.

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#62

Post by [deleted] »

notyourday wrote: post #39
kartickv wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But maybe the job isn't economically worth it at the higher salary? You seem to be assuming it's worth doing at any price, as does the article, and that's untrue. Besides, I don't know about others, but I've recently put out multiple job ads for one vacancy. Our app, Noctacam, uses computational photography to take great photos at night. I was looking for someone with computational photography knowledge and/or iOS. A…

If they need to fill this job and it is not worth the higher salary and it cannot be filled at this salary or lower then this job should not exist as a job: the owner of the company, the manager of the company, the HR person of the company can either do that job themselves or that job should be eliminated.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#63

Post by TuringNYC »

jdhn wrote: post #22

"They're just asking for the moon, and not expecting to pay very much for it," Cappelli says. "And as a result they [can't] find those people. Now that [doesn't] mean there was nobody to do the job; it just [means] that there was nobody at the price they were willing to pay." In my opinion, this is the key paragraph in the article. I see this all the time when recruiters send me job postings, and they want someone wi…

There is a shortage of workers in as much as there is a shortage of BMW 7-series sedans for under $30k. I looked everywhere at that price. Massive shortage.

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#64

Post by Bartweiss »

havetocharge wrote: post #43
kartickv wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But maybe the job isn't economically worth it at the higher salary? You seem to be assuming it's worth doing at any price, as does the article, and that's untrue. Besides, I don't know about others, but I've recently put out multiple job ads for one vacancy. Our app, Noctacam, uses computational photography to take great photos at night. I was looking for someone with computational photography knowledge and/or iOS. A…

This is a great point. One can think of a job posting as a bid on the market. Not every bid results in trade. Similarly, not every job posting is a job, like your example demonstrated.

But I don't think that's how job openings are calculated - they're mostly derived by asking employers, not just counting up postings.

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#65

Post by RobertoG »

havetocharge wrote: post #52
notalaser wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But maybe the job isn't economically worth it at the higher salary? As in, their business doesn't even generate enough revenue to afford hiring the kind of people who can keep it running?

The task that they are hiring for does not generate enough revenue to be worth at price X. The business may not stop from operating if these tasks are not done, or not done on a priority basis.

But, in the standard perfect markets interpretation, that would mean that the task shouldn’t be done. Right?

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#66

Post by existencebox »

pgwhalen wrote: post #57
avoutthere wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well said. I've been telling people for years that tech sector interviews select for the wrong skill sets.

What skill sets should they select for?

Having done a good handful of interviews, I tend to look for "generic problem solving" (not in the sense of trick questions, but in the sense of running through ambiguous engineering and mixed social/engineering scenarios to see how they'd move forward) communication skills (the ability to communicate the above effectively, talk about past work, problems, successes) and frankly track record. (this is obviously harder for new hires so you look for things like coursework, projects, even successes in other lines of work can demonstrate someone's professionalism and capability)

You may note that these are all primarily "soft skills" and I would hope this is the takeaway from my ramble. My experience has been that it's often easier for a hire to pick up the technical rather than the nontechnical side of things. Depending on the level of the job, of course you have to filter for a certain level of competency as well, but I can usually get a good sense of that within the questions I ask above. When I get someone to really start talking about "what have I succeeded/failed at; why; what would I do different" I tend to find I can get a decent read on if they're bullshitting me or not.

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#67

Post by UnpossibleJim »

pgwhalen wrote: post #57
avoutthere wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well said. I've been telling people for years that tech sector interviews select for the wrong skill sets.

What skill sets should they select for?

In my experience, a lot of skill tests in the tech sector look for a specific set of skills that a CEO has read about, that are the new skills du jour, and not the skill set they actually need. It comes down to money people coming in the tech sector because there is money there and putting their trust in other money peoples, while treating the people that make the tech sector run like an inexhaustible, cheap resource. People have heard that there is a "gold rush" in the tech sector without actually understanding the product. It's an obvious money grab and isulting when you go into a job interview that needs a small subset of programming skills and they "require" a math degree, programming experience, design experience and are willing to pay a junior developer salary (even though you are managing a team of two or three) because you "get resume cred for working at our big name company/get in on the ground floor of tgis awesome start up"...... well, that's the west coast anyway. The ego over here is truly amazing.

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#68

Post by gaius »

Nursie wrote: post #46
jdhn wrote: post #22

"They're just asking for the moon, and not expecting to pay very much for it," Cappelli says. "And as a result they [can't] find those people. Now that [doesn't] mean there was nobody to do the job; it just [means] that there was nobody at the price they were willing to pay." In my opinion, this is the key paragraph in the article. I see this all the time when recruiters send me job postings, and they want someone wi…

Yup, see this all the time in the UK. Businesses complain they can't find the skills they need, but what they mean is they can't the skills they need for a derisory price. Particularly in the UK there seems little appteciation that software is a valuable thing, created by professionals. Too often the MBA types consider it just another form of generic office work, and seek to pay in line with that. Then they wonder wh…

Technical staff, even those with multiple degrees from Russell Group universities will always be treated as blue-collar by the management class, in the UK. Private or public sector is the same.

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#69

Post by Bartweiss »

tim333 wrote: post #42
notyourday wrote: post #32

Pay. More. Money. There, I solved it for every single one of the "struggling" employers. Money is a proxy for everything .

Though with unemployment around 4.3% you may be paying up for mediocre employees you are then stuck with for a long time.

> you are then stuck with for a long time

Not in the US? I've heard this cited as a reason for very slow recovery in countries like France with strict firing/closure laws, yeah. But in an at-will state in the US, it's not so tough. Sure, firing 20% of your workforce will make the news, but if you're just firing bad employees you can do it on a rolling basis or otherwise avoid the issue.

Re: U.S. Employers Struggle to Match Workers with Open Jobs

#70

Post by icebraining »

notyourday wrote: post #39
kartickv wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But maybe the job isn't economically worth it at the higher salary? You seem to be assuming it's worth doing at any price, as does the article, and that's untrue. Besides, I don't know about others, but I've recently put out multiple job ads for one vacancy. Our app, Noctacam, uses computational photography to take great photos at night. I was looking for someone with computational photography knowledge and/or iOS. A…

If they need to fill this job and it is not worth the higher salary and it cannot be filled at this salary or lower then this job should not exist as a job: the owner of the company, the manager of the company, the HR person of the company can either do that job themselves or that job should be eliminated.

But why? Does having the position open harm anyone?
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