The economy ain't got no strings on me

[jackfaire]

I am curious am I the only one that has been largely unaffected by the economy?

Every single person that lost their job prior to 2008 many times being one of them as I was a Temp for 3 years was all, "Sucks okay find another job"

And shortly thereafter found another job.

Post 2008 it's been, "Economy sucks okay find another job"

and shortly thereafter found another job.

The people that I know that have been having problems finding jobs now are the same people that had problems doing so straight out of college and every time they lost a job after that.

To me and the people around me nothing has changed. In fact the company I work or has even been expanding and growing including hiring new people.

Yet everyday I hear how horrible it is.

Am I the only one that hasn't noticed a change in my quality of life?

[Rapscallion]

Am I the only one that hasn't noticed a change in my quality of life?

I'm unaffected, but I'm insulated due to my workplace. However, I'm aware that if my place crashed and burned then I'd struggle to get another job. To get a paper round over here you need a sodding degree.

It's an employer's market right now.

Rapscallion

[Andara Bledin]

Same with me an the boyfriend. If it weren't for the fact that the company we work for is in a good position for our industry, things might be very different. I know that a small number of our contemporaries have failed in the last couple of years.

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

I'm going to assume its locational in nature. Up here in Canada, where we stayed relatively stable through the shitstorm ( Omigawd, bank regulations work? WTF? ) I wasn't affected at all nor was anyone really around here. But I'm guessing its a twofold problem:

1) People that live in areas where the local economy did not endure well and the crisis pushed it over the edge. Maybe a lot of small to middle sized businesses, no larger corporations that could ride out the storm or even big ones that tanked due to their own shitty practices. So many of the small to middle employers vanished and if one big employer went down a big chunk of people would have been flushed back into the job market.

2) You have a society that's churning out college/university students in a wide variety of fields for which there are absolutely no jobs. They get sent out into society with a fuck ton of debt on them and a degree everyone's told them will land them a good job annnnnd they go straight back to flipping burgers so to speak. So everyone's competing for the same group of low end jobs instead of working in the field they're trained to work in and want to work in.

Employer's meanwhile, can indeed cherry pick whomever they want. But they're getting people with Bachelor's degrees applying for jobs at McDonalds. -.-

[Shangri-laschild]

Mostly unaffected too but I got lucky. My best friend worked where I now work and got me a part time job on second shift. My job was the part time equivalent of a 1st shift full time position. That person got fired and as a result of me covering for that position for about a month till they could do interview I was basically a shoe in for the full time union job. I know some unions have issues but mine's not too bad and having that job security has been nice. Plus as a community college, with the push for people to get more schooling and us being so cheap, things are only expanding where I work so it's a safer environment job wise.

While most of the people I know who are out of work are the types that you were mentioning, my roommate had a hard time finding a job as well. He's got a college degree and is a very hard worker. Not only that, he's nice and very personable. He's worked at at least one bank and as a lead customer service desk person at a grocery store. He worked for a video game company for a while as a "temp" (they stay on for the video game but after release, they are let go) and afterwards he had a lot of trouble getting hired. He was trying for several months straight with the threat of me not resigning a lease with him after ours was up. He lucked out and the video game company started hiring for their next video game again and he got back on just in time. No one else was interested in hiring him though and I know he searched a lot of places. Thank god he recently got one of the full time slots that opened. He's a great roommate, but when he's unemployed, he turns to me for all of his social interaction and I end up going a little crazy

[Gravekeeper]

No one else was interested in hiring him though and I know he searched a lot of places.

Yeah, that'd be it right there. One side's overqualified, the other side doesn't have enough experience to apply for a better job, but they're both competing for the same position as a cashier. As an employer, do you want the guy with no experience that you can train and will stick around, or the guy with the degree whom you know is going to bail the moment he can find the job he wants? -.-

[Shangri-laschild]

As an employer, do you want the guy with no experience that you can train and will stick around, or the guy with the degree whom you know is going to bail the moment he can find the job he wants? -.-

Amusingly enough, he majored in history which has nothing to do with the career he wants (working at the video game company). Honestly, I'd say it would depend more on the person if I were the one doing the hiring. The guy with no experience is untested with no references for how well he can do that kind of job. The guy with experience, like you said, might not be there for long. Either way it's a gamble. The guy with experience may last longer if the other guy ends up being crap at that kind of thing. It would depend on the person but then again I've been told sometimes my logic is odd

[Gravekeeper]

The guy with no experience is untested with no references for how well he can do that kind of job.

But he'd also be easier to mold into a good little obedient drone that's going to do whatever you say and put up with whatever you tell them to do. -.-

[guywithashovel]

I graduated from grad school in August 2008, and for the next year, I felt the recession because I was struggling to find permanent employment in my field. Eventually, I found it, and ever since then, it has almost felt like the economy was just fine. However, when I read the news, I see otherwise.

Here's another thing that I've noticed though (and yes, this doesn't really prove anything, but it's fun to point out): If I go to a mall or restaurant during the weekend, I could swear the economy was booming. We often go out to eat on the weekends, and sometimes we get the urge to go to Olive Garden. Every, single. time. we go there, it's a 20-minute wait to get a table.

Apparently, some people are weathering things out okay.

[Greenday]

Well, it didn't affect me. I got an internship in 2004, worked it during summer and winter breaks, it became official when I graduated. Could have kept that job, but I decided to hit the job market anyway and scored my current job after looking for about five months or so. It was tough because most chemist jobs weren't hiring people without experience but my company decided to try it out (I'm the first person they've hired who didn't have experience that wasn't an internship).

My aunt switched jobs a few times without too much trouble. Even my cousin with a decent record building up and is still mentally a child (he's 24) has been able to land some decent paying jobs (which he got fired from all of them because he rarely showed up).

I dunno. You here about how tough it is, yet I got a job, my aunt got jobs, my cousin got jobs, two of my best friends got jobs in their fields, another started his own business and is doing alright.

[jackfaire]

2) You have a society that's churning out college/university students in a wide variety of fields for which there are absolutely no jobs.

Part of the problem is that every time a student starts college he is told, "This is the big field missing lots of people right now"

Four years later everyone that used that fact to pick their major floods the marketplace and suddenly there are more people looking for that kind of job than their are jobs.

[FArchivist]

To me and the people around me nothing has changed. In fact the company I work or has even been expanding and growing including hiring new people.

Yet everyday I hear how horrible it is.

Am I the only one that hasn't noticed a change in my quality of life?

1) I personally have not experienced a change in my quality of life, but that's simply because I can't get fired. If I get caught fucking a direct subordinate in the meeting room during the time in which I am supposed to be supervising, I'll just get demoted a level (how I got my current position). The only way I could get fired is by being arrested. My job is permanent and secure; I need at least 3 VPs to sign off on a firing.

2) For everyone else I know, it's fucking horrible. People who were well employed in professional positions now cannot get another job as accountants, as paralegals, as programmers. The market is flooded. Nobody is hiring and several corporations in the Atlanta area have adopted "no hiring if surplused" models in their employment practices. The IT world here in Atlanta is especially bad, in comparison to how it was pre-2008.

[jackfaire]

FArchivist how much of that is trimming the fat

I have often been curious at various companies I have worked how rather than give a raise to us lower end employees they hire 5 different supervisors all doing the same job.

It makes me wonder how many of those people that lost their jobs were doing the same job as 20 other people.

I am not saying that is the only reason people lose their jobs but I wonder how often it does happen.

One concern I have is I am going back to school for my degree in Psychology and will either be a therapist or a high school guidance counselor but unless the market is either flooded or needing people it's hard to find out if it's a good direction or bad.

[FArchivist]

FArchivist how much of that is trimming the fat I have often been curious at various companies I have worked how rather than give a raise to us lower end employees they hire 5 different supervisors all doing the same job.

Well, considering that none of the people I know who have been laid off have been management or supervisors of ANY stripe and that the reactions in those departments where people were laid off was to:
a) take the fired people's workload and put it on everyone else
b) convert everyone to salary
c) require metrics that would require people to work overtime, but they can't get paid overtime because, hey, you're on salary and there's no OT compensation for that
I would say not a lot of fat trimming. I don't know about you, but the people I saw getting laid off have been worker bees, not management.

[jackfaire]

I would say not a lot of fat trimming. I don't know about you, but the people I saw getting laid off have been worker bees, not management.

*Shrugs* Most of the people I have heard of and seen being laid off were management.

Some of which were complaining about having to take jobs like mine where they still make more money than I do at it.