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Are companies *really* hiring?

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
We all see signs all over from businesses saying they're hiring. But I wonder if they really are and it's not just a crock of ****. Hear me out.

At the beginning of the pandemic so many jobs were eliminated, so many companies closed and laid off people, so many companies never called people back. Yet after a while every storefront, window, courtesy desk, had signs We're Hiring! Yet virtually any store or business you go into is shorthanded. You hear "people don't want to work". So what are they living on? Unemployment benefits and the federal supplements ended almost a year and a half ago.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think companies realized they could still do business with a reduced work force. This happened over 30 years ago in the corporate world. Jobs were eliminated, the remaining employees were now expected to forgo their comp time (usually the new policy was "we don't have comp time"), we were expected to put in no less than 45-50 hours/week. My own former company, for example, eliminated my job but not the work. What I did was parceled out to at least several other people, with their workloads increasing. The company saved my salary, which was at the top of the scale after 23 years, saved my insurance premiums which were going up because of my age. They saved my four weeks vacation time ... almost $8,000 a year for no work in that time.

Oh sure, there is a new employee here and there. It looks good. When I went back to Macy*s before Christmas, I was about the only person hired all through the Christmas rush. And there were a lot of customers. But I have to wonder why businesses are so shorthanded, yet they say they're hiring. Not to mention that they send you to online application sites that go around in circles. They ask what year you graduated high school. That's illegal because they're actually asking for your age. If you try to skip that field you cannot proceed. I've submitted my resumè to Indeed, ZipRecruiter, LinedIn, and others. I do the online applications. I get "offers" that have absolutely nothing to do with my background.

So what is going on?
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
Several months ago, a friend and I applied for a software-related job after seeing vacancies on the company's website. We both knew a chief engineer in the company. We didn't hear back weeks later, so we asked him what was up. He said the company listed job vacancies to improve their image as an active workplace but didn't actually need or hire anyone.

A relative who works in IT (for a different company) told me the same thing about his company when I was thinking of applying to one of their listed vacancies: they put them up to improve PR and brand image but didn't need or hire anyone.

This wasn't in the US, though, so I can't say much about the job market over there.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
We all see signs all over from businesses saying they're hiring. But I wonder if they really are and it's not just a crock of ****. Hear me out.

At the beginning of the pandemic so many jobs were eliminated, so many companies closed and laid off people, so many companies never called people back. Yet after a while every storefront, window, courtesy desk, had signs We're Hiring! Yet virtually any store or business you go into is shorthanded. You hear "people don't want to work". So what are they living on? Unemployment benefits and the federal supplements ended almost a year and a half ago.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I think companies realized they could still do business with a reduced work force. This happened over 30 years ago in the corporate world. Jobs were eliminated, the remaining employees were now expected to forgo their comp time (usually the new policy was "we don't have comp time"), we were expected to put in no less than 45-50 hours/week. My own former company, for example, eliminated my job but not the work. What I did was parceled out to at least several other people, with their workloads increasing. The company saved my salary, which was at the top of the scale after 23 years, saved my insurance premiums which were going up because of my age. They saved my four weeks vacation time ... almost $8,000 a year for no work in that time.

Oh sure, there is a new employee here and there. It looks good. When I went back to Macy*s before Christmas, I was about the only person hired all through the Christmas rush. And there were a lot of customers. But I have to wonder why businesses are so shorthanded, yet they say they're hiring. Not to mention that they send you to online application sites that go around in circles. They ask what year you graduated high school. That's illegal because they're actually asking for your age. If you try to skip that field you cannot proceed. I've submitted my resumè to Indeed, ZipRecruiter, LinedIn, and others. I do the online applications. I get "offers" that have absolutely nothing to do with my background.

So what is going on?
Companies are hiring in my area.

I'd say people quit more than companies hire if my local is any indication.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
So are they bouncing from job to job? Or just giving up? I don't know how people can live.
That's my question. They come, stay for a few weeks or months and just up and leave.

Either mommy and daddy pays all their bills or they just got another job.
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
We are hiring!
Must be not older than 25 and have 10 years of experience.
Qualifications in multiple special fields, entrance payment like that of a secretary.

I've seen such ads and I've seen "Hiring" signs up for months.

But that is not true for all fields. Some are really searching and can't find applicants. Some professions are really not worth the hassle for many and raising the salary isn't always an option for the employer since they couldn't raise their prices. Almost nobody wants to do a nurses job now for a nurses pay.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
I’m currently understaffed by about 20 drivers.

I’m *really* hiring.

Are people applying? Are qualified people applying? You're probably one of the ones genuinely hiring, and there are some like that. But I wonder about others and especially why people aren't applying if that's the case. The whole thing is confusing me. I applied to a local bank as a teller. I have experience as a teller, proof and transit, correspondent and fed reserve transactions. I got a letter back saying while my background is impressive I didn't fit the criteria they were looking for in a teller and were pursuing other candidates. What qualifications are you looking for in a teller that I don't have? o_O
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
That's my question. They come, stay for a few weeks or months and just up and leave.

Either mommy and daddy pays all their bills or they just got another job.

If they're young I can see being supported by mommy and daddy. I have to admit that when I was at the deli I saw people in their late teens and 20s leave after two to three weeks, if they stayed that long. They simply no-call-no-showed.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
If they're young I can see being supported by mommy and daddy. I have to admit that when I was at the deli I saw people in their late teens and 20s leave after two to three weeks, if they stayed that long. They simply no-call-no-showed.
Yep. Same here.

The pay usually isn't great but it's not entirely bad either.

Most start at 15 in my area.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Are people applying? Are qualified people applying? You're probably one of the ones genuinely hiring, and there are some like that. But I wonder about others and especially why people aren't applying if that's the case. The whole thing is confusing me. I applied to a local bank as a teller. I have experience as a teller, proof and transit, correspondent and fed reserve transactions. I got a letter back saying while my background is impressive I didn't fit the criteria they were looking for in a teller and were pursuing other candidates. What qualifications are you looking for in a teller that I don't have? o_O

Yes, people are applying, and it’s a mix between qualified people and people that can’t pass a background check or a drivers license verification.

If you completed an assessment, often these letters are auto-generated if you didn’t answer ‘yes’ to qualifying criteria.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Yep. Same here.

The pay usually isn't great but it's not entirely bad either.

Most start at 15 in my area.

Yes, $15 is about the starting rate here too. And after losing the equivalent of $45-50/hour as IT Systems Admin. I can't say I was thrilled with $15/hour, but it was a paycheck.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Yes, people are applying, and it’s a mix between qualified people and people that can’t pass a background check or a drivers license verification.

If you completed an assessment, often these letters are auto-generated if you didn’t answer ‘yes’ to qualifying criteria.

So it sounds like there are a couple of things going on that factor into all this.
 

The Kilted Heathen

Crow FreyjasmaðR
My spouse recently applied for somewhere in the range of 19-20 jobs. She heard back from two of them. One interview was more an interrogation as to why she left her past jobs, nothing more. The second was a normal interview in which she got to share her not-insignificant qualifications.

No jobs got back to her. Neither for hiring, nor for a rejection - which is becoming more common; jobs will unprofessionally just "ghost" applicants.

Sure, they say they're desperately hiring. Some might be. Others are looking for brain surgeons for entry-level positions. Others just aren't hiring at all, and are collecting a list of applicants for "future reference".
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
My spouse recently applied for somewhere in the range of 19-20 jobs. She heard back from two of them. One interview was more an interrogation as to why she left her past jobs, nothing more. The second was a normal interview in which she got to share her not-insignificant qualifications.

No jobs got back to her. Neither for hiring, nor for a rejection - which is becoming more common; jobs will unprofessionally just "ghost" applicants.

Sure, they say they're desperately hiring. Some might be. Others are looking for brain surgeons for entry-level positions. Others just aren't hiring at all, and are collecting a list of applicants for "future reference".

If you don't mind my asking, what field was that? Reading such things worries me a bit, but maybe it's a field totally unrelated to mine (software).
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Are people applying? Are qualified people applying? You're probably one of the ones genuinely hiring, and there are some like that. But I wonder about others and especially why people aren't applying if that's the case. The whole thing is confusing me. I applied to a local bank as a teller. I have experience as a teller, proof and transit, correspondent and fed reserve transactions. I got a letter back saying while my background is impressive I didn't fit the criteria they were looking for in a teller and were pursuing other candidates. What qualifications are you looking for in a teller that I don't have? o_O
I think its just the work is tedious and repetitive. The company is fine in and of itself.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
I can really only speak for the university I work for, but when job postings are put up, they really are hiring for them.

However...

Because of various rules and regulations, sometimes positions have to be posted even though the intention is to hire a specific person internally for it. So while it is a real position, it isn't really. New HR systems have improved this problem a lot though, because there's now a separate board for positions intended to be internal first before going to external applicants. It's less common than it used to be. It would hardly surprise me if other places do similar stuff.
 

The Kilted Heathen

Crow FreyjasmaðR
If you don't mind my asking, what field was that? Reading such things worries me a bit, but maybe it's a field totally unrelated to mine (software).
Customer service, retail, food industry, hospitality (hotels and the like), and even travel agencies as receptionist and front-facing customer care. In our town there's really not much else without extensive, expensive qualifications.
 
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