Back to Basics... Listening and Speaking.

Here are two barriers we may all be guilty of at one time or another, poor communications and not following directions. Being vague and mumbling are no way to impress people. If you are not even sure about the job you are applying for i.e. "anything" and know even less about the employer, expect to be looking a nice long time! Communication goes two ways listening and speaking. Listening can be interesting. How many of us only hear what we want and what we do not want to hear is somehow filtered out? It is as if we want to put what we want into the mouths of others and wait to hear it back. When that does not happen we become combative and say I do not understand you! We may hear something to only conveniently forget it later on! There are tons of examples in the unemployment office where I work. 

"Be sure and call in your claim each week to get your payment." I tell an applicant. 

Five weeks later I hear from that same person "Why have I not got anything from you? I've been waiting."     

Usually followed by "You did not tell me to call it in."

I can only guess they thought the tooth fairy would leave it under their pillow. 

This also happens a lot with people who want to apply for jobs they are not qualified for. The 65k a year looks pretty good so we can over look the degree they ask for along with the 10 years related experience required. Hey, we can learn and if given a chance to talk we will talk them into it! Unless you are a supermodel, this will likely lead to failure. To paraphrase Don Rumsfield, you go to work with the skills you have not the skills you want. Listen to what they want and go from there. When listening do not project what you want to hear, rather take in what is being said and paraphrase it back. Hopefully, that will keep everyone on the same page and reduce misunderstandings.  

Learn to speak with clearly and confidence. How you speak tells a lot about you quickly. In an interview, judgements are going to be made in just the first few minutes of the interview. It is very hard to reverse the first impression no matter how good you may be. Being positive clear and confident in the first few minutes will make for a much easier interview and increase the likelihood of success. People who can speak well for themselves do not come to the unemployment office often. Confidence goes along with success and that is what employers are looking for.        

Buzz words...

How do we get people back to work in an economy that no longer makes things? The buzz words retrain, adjust and stimulate somehow come up short in our current situation. We have gone from an industrial power house to the new FIRE (finance insurance & real estate) economy. The link gives a so so explanation of it but you will get the idea. In my state, North Carolina, what do we do with thousands of poorly educated textile and furniture workers? Back 30 or 40 years ago a job at the local plant was today's government job. You had it made! The company took care of everything. Sure. you were never going to be rich but you always had a roof and a place to be 40 plus hours a week. Down turns came and went. Draw a little unemployment until things turn back around and repeat. Now how will it work? So many of these jobs are gone for good this time. Will the stimulus plan work? Sure, with that kind of money being thrown around a lot of people will go back to work doing something but for how long?  Where is the long term answer? The business people get on TV and warn us all of not going back to "protectionism" and "isolation" but these are not the same people trying to get by on a small weekly unemployment check. Sure, we cannot go back to the world of 200 years ago where we did our own thing  but do we have to compete with places with terrible human rights records, wages measured in pennies and no environmental regulations? Somehow this is supposed to benefit our economy and help create jobs here. Immigration is a great way to keep America healthy and dynamic. The way the powerful are using it today merely to drive down the cost of labor for their own short term financial benefit is making it much harder for people here to find work paying a living wage. In typical American fashion, many here blame the poor slobs fleeing terrible living conditions in their own country. It is divide and conquer at it's finest. They would be better served to follow the money where ever it leads... We hear a lot about change, another buzz word, lately. The current system here is broken and WILL change. Will we be able to manage the real change on the way?        

A TANKING economy...

A big barrier to employment is the economy going into the head first into toilet. There are somethings that are always needed, like healthcare, plumbers police and fire fighters. So what are the rest of us to do? Unfortunately, the jobs that have gone over seas are not coming back because it would be too expensive. Some genius thought we could all get by being greeters at Wal Mart! This all has to be making OBL pretty smug right about now. War can help get the economy going for the short term but long tern it is a pretty bad investment. The Pentagon, military contractors of all shapes and sizes and a hand full of share holders do well but what has the rest of the country gained? Some less informed may say "we have not been attacked again." Simply google "The Power of Nightmares" for an alternative view. It is not a bunch of conspiracy garbage but rather an argument that Al Queada exists in the minds of politicians more than in reality. While you are waiting weeks on in for unemployment and your state is going broke the federal government is borrowing from the Chinese to fund our wars over seas. The numbers are staggering about $1.3 trillion or about $1.7 trillion for FY2001-FY2018. It is like George Carlin said to paraphrase him we may not be able to educate our children or take care of our old people but we can bomb your ass! Do we really need 700 plus bases around the world? We own more land than the Vatican! Sorry to go on a seemingly anti-military binge here. What ever happened to the idea of National DEFENSE? We could spend or money on a lot of other things and be a lot smarter about reducing acts of terrorism. A "war on terror" is an oxymoron if there ever was one! Our current path must change. If you don't think so drop by your nearest unemployment office sometime.