Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

urlahmed.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 502 posts

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#181

Post by lisbbb »

nradov wrote: post #171
gedy wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my limited world view and 35 year career, the big shift I see (which I view is a problem) is that companies seem to lean way more on young HR types to recruit and filter than in the past. I can’t speak for everyone, but to me it seems it used to be a lot more common for the skilled hiring manager to be responsible for looking for new hires.

That happened because online job sites made it so easy for candidates to apply that hiring managers could no longer personally keep up with the flood. It's a bad situation for both employers and candidates but there doesn't seem to be any practical alternative.

There has to be a way to limit the flood--someone has to pay a fee someplace.

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#182

Post by Terr_ »

struct wrote: post #16

First, I'm sorry you're having problems finding a job -- that sucks. Second: consider that sometimes, the cost-benefit of automation depends on perspective. An example that I like to give is Ocado's automated grocery warehouses in the UK: impressive technology, very efficient, but during the COVID-19 pandemic - when everybody wanted online groceries - Ocado had to stop accepting new customers. They didn't have the ca…

Or perhaps: Efficiency tends to be inversely-correlated to flexibility. Not just for companies, but but also in the natural world of living creatures.

It's a complex gamble on how the environment will (or won't) change. Both are important... but "efficiency" is way easier to measure/market in a spreadsheet.

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#183

Post by saithound »

gruez wrote: post #152
alyxya wrote: post #42

To the people at the top, the job market is a statistic. They can't feel empathy on an issue they're so disconnected from, so they just think it's not their problem, or there isn't much they can do about it. Technological innovation is supposed to mean society can produce more with less work, so in theory everyone's lives could end up better off over time where we could all work less and get more, but in practice, I…

>To the people at the top, the job market is a statistic. They can't feel empathy on an issue they're so disconnected from, so they just think it's not their problem, or there isn't much they can do about it. Who are the "people at the top" you speak of? Are they just an amorphous blob of executives and politicians? >Technological innovation is supposed to mean society can produce more with less work, so in theory ev…

> Who are the "people at the top" you speak of? Are they just an amorphous blob of executives and politicians?

I don't think you're asking a serious question.

What kind of answer would you accept? It's not like you're going to change your mind if they say that e.g. the Cyvorefrx family from Palm Beach is one of the people on the top, right?

Nor is this question an effecive rhetorical device to convince onlookers: they'll rightfully ignore it just like people ignord "Who are these Guantanamo Bay torturers you speak of? Are they just an amorphous blob of guards and soldiers?"

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#184

Post by lisbbb »

cube00 wrote: post #9
margorczynski wrote: post #8

The most baffling thing is that even now the H1Bs, etc. are still pouring in. How can you say there is a shortage of IT talent and you need to import them where most grads can't find any work?

My company had an onshore hiring freeze, while still hiring offshore. C-suite had the nerve in an all hands to say they were expanding offshore because there was a "local talent shortage", all while an onshore hiring freeze was still in effect. This wasn't even a secret; in our stand ups our immediate manager said that they were blocked from hiring onshore and only had offshore quota available if they wanted any more…

The MBA pyschopaths have always had it in for the far more intelligent and ethics driven CS types. It's always been an envy situation where people lacking talent are envious of those with real talents and real brain power. CS people should not allow themselves to be managed by non-CS people, much like how physicians used to operate.

Everyone thinks socialism or communism is going to fix things, but those were already tried and failed with horrifying consequences. I think maybe instead what we need to do is sort out the management and who is in it.

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#185

Post by brailsafe »

cuttothechase wrote: post #123
DivingForGold wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame has a piece circulating now on Fox Business that says classic trade jobs are the best bet in the age of AI. So called "white collar workers" are being laid off by the hundreds of thousands - - - but blue collar jobs are actually HIRING. I am retiring at 71 yrs. from my own "blue collar" company I started 15 years ago, I created and manage both my websites without a lick of javascript, I h…

What kind of blue collar work gets you $335K? What would be a 10 - 20 year average wage / year look like?

I read it as they run a scuba business during the viable months for it, but idk that I'd call that blue collar as much as just "not an office job"

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#186

Post by socalgal2 »

calepayson wrote: post #137
windowshopping wrote: post #62

Two initial thoughts: 1. This author's writing is extremely, uncommonly good. Good enough to write a book and have it sell. "Competing with the past of the economy," "residual behaviour of a world that treated labour as sacred," "immigration without immigrants" -- there are many elegant turns of phrase here. This is a very skilled writer. 2. His resume is designed poorly. Have a look. I'm not surprised his job search…

> 1. This author’s writing is extremely, uncommonly good. > 2. His resume is designed poorly… This is the world of TikTok and Instagram reels Imo this is exactly the problem. We’ve constructed a system where brilliance doesn’t shine through. The idea that someone as thoughtful as OP needs to tiktokify their resume to even have a chance at getting hired is ridiculous. I’m young, so I have no clue, but surely the job m…

No idea about small companies but FAANG companies get > 1 million resume submission a year. You need to take that into account, the recruiters and other people in the chain do not have time to read your essay.

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#187

Post by lisbbb »

gdulli wrote: post #54
margorczynski wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The allure for companies of exploiting H1Bs for cheaper and more effective labor I understand. But it is not companies who (at least officially) set the rules and laws regarding immigration. So the questions is why the government is not turning off the outside supply when there is an internal oversupply.

They stoke fear of immigrants to win elections, but to the extent that their donors want that labor, it will be allowed to continue.

Immigrants are one thing, but opening the floodgates to 20 million non-citizens by abusing an asylum law meant to grant relief to tens or hundreds was a huge problem.

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#188

Post by Terr_ »

asdfman123 wrote: post #44
GianFabien wrote: post #2

When you look beyond office jobs, you see many real opportunities. For example, there is a housing crisis. Not enough trades persons, building supplies, capital to solve that problem. The unemployment statistics aren't detailed enough to show IBM, MS, Facebook, Amazon, etc laying off tens of thousands of employees a year, each. Last I read, over 500,000 staff have been laid off in the past couple of years.

> Not enough trades persons, building supplies, capital to solve that problem No, "not enough people" is corporate speak for "the public should train our workers for us"

Yeah, it's frustrating how they [0] deploy the phrase "worker shortage" as a sneaky euphemism, when it's equally (or more) valid to present the problem as a wages shortage.

Similarly, the world has a terrible megayacht shortage! This is obvious, because I can't find any selling for the $20k in my budget. I demand to know what the government is going to do to fix this existential threat to the nation and our very way of life!

[0] https://locusmag.com/feature/cory-doctorow-capitalists-hate-...

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#189

Post by burnt-resistor »

windowshopping wrote: post #62

Two initial thoughts: 1. This author's writing is extremely, uncommonly good. Good enough to write a book and have it sell. "Competing with the past of the economy," "residual behaviour of a world that treated labour as sacred," "immigration without immigrants" -- there are many elegant turns of phrase here. This is a very skilled writer. 2. His resume is designed poorly. Have a look. I'm not surprised his job search…

In the US-centric perspective: Most forms of higher-education leave out fundamental job skills graduates need to be successful in the business world. Résumé writing, project management, time management, and team leadership should be covered.

Moreover In terms of compulsory education like K-12, it should also include public service and life-work skills like customer service modeling behavior, personal financial management, civics, and media critical thinking skills because Common Core and NCLBA succeeded only at creating greater mass ignorance.

Re: Work after work: Notes from an unemployed new grad watching the job market break

#190

Post by blackjack_ »

brailsafe wrote: post #167
lacker wrote: post #28

What jumped out at me is that the author had three internships. Those are essentially "entry-level positions". If you do well at an internship, you typically get a job offer. If you don't do well, usually you can at least get some useful feedback. I'm not saying that everything is perfectly fine in the job market right now, it's just a lot more productive to focus on "what skill do I need to work on, that would have…

I believe they addressed this implicitly as a familiar explanation without actually needing to say it. Despite it being extremely rare to be able to pinpoint via external feedback mechanisms which areas conceivably provide tangible roi, it's just always relevant work on your weak spots. The reality of the situation (which varies a bit depending on region and discipline) is that many people and economies are indeed co…

My partner also has good qualifications and skills has been out of full time work for bordering on 2 years now. Similarly she has become depressed / nihilistic about the job market after hundreds and hundreds of applications and dozens of interviews (and this was after a job she had to resign from after only a couple of months due to the company being incredibly incompetent). She has multiple part time gigs now to stem the bleeding, but it's wild and crazy how bad the job market is in places, and how much the older generations seem to generally just not care.
Post reply on HN