Comments on: Are We Sanctioning Laziness in the Un Employed?

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:02:24 +0000

I own and operate two restuarants. It seems to me hiring anyone under 28 plus has been like trying to teach elementry classes. I am not sure if its to many drug babies to re-teach or lack of parental work ethics at home. I have not found to many teens nor young adults who expects to do a fair amount of work for a pay check. I think this new age expects a pay check for showing up do not expect them to work its a four letter word. My opinion is that kids today want to work while going to school need to learn that standing around wasting time will not keep you employed if you want that then seek a government position and a education to sit on your duff and waste tax payers money. small bizz like my own will not waste time with loafers.

By: Jeff Kirby

Jeff Kirby — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:37:56 +0000

As someone who’s been out of work for most of the Great Recession, I was pleasantly surprised to read many of the responses to this article, urging compassion and education.
Especially when it’s far easier for the employed to look down on us job seekers as being lazy.
I agree with a lot of the posters; while there are a lot of resources out there, that’s part of the problem – there’s so much out there that it’s nearly impossible to figure out where to start! Hundreds of resume tips, some of which contradict; thousands of networking tips, get-your-resume-in-front-of-the-right-person tips; if job hunting is our full-time job, just getting it all sorted out is a part-time job!
And then, if there are 6.7 people for every posting, then even if all 6.7 people are doing what they need to be doing, 6 of them still won’t be getting job offers just yet.
So, compassion ought to be one of the foremost reactions, along with education and awareness – it’s a part time job just figuring out HOW to launch an effective job search, and the stigma of being out of work isn’t that far in the past.
If you’ll excuse me, I’m all talked out now, and I’m missing Wheel of Fortune.

By: David Tinney

David Tinney — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:40:38 +0000

Hi G.L.

Great question. And the responses are insightful and spot on, even though they might seem to disagree.

Being unemployed must be hard thing. Fortunate for me, I’ve never been, since I’m self employed for the last 19 years.

My 2 cents: Figuring out what to do, or what you can do then go on a massive self marketing campaign. Be confident and never give up to watching soaps and Judge Judy.

Happy New Year!
David Tinney
My Virtual Business Card

By: Meg Montford

Meg Montford — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:42:21 +0000

I believe most long-term unemployed are just plain tired right now. Sure, there are some job postings out there, but what if your qualifications don’t fit? Retraining and retooling can take months, if not years. Whose savings can last that long? There are so many more job seekers than job openings that after awhile a job seeker’s energy becomes depleted and overwhelm sets in – not laziness, but burnout.

What’s needed is a mind shift. Job seeker fear that has turned into apathy needs rebirth into creativity and hope. Constant competition wears out the best of athletes. And they’ve trained hard for their marathons and matches. What job seeker has ever really trained for his/her ordeal?

It’s time for the long-term unemployed to consider contract or temp work while preparing for a new 21st century career. The mature worker may need to convert years of experience and skills into entrepreneurial ventures. Let’s face it – many of the old jobs are gone forever, never to return. But that doesn’t mean you can’t earn money.

And, contrary to Tyler C Hill’s above comments, there is no better time than today to hire a career coach who will not only offer ideas and suggestions, but will provide the support and guidance – like that most athletes count on from their own coaches. Marriages and other relationships suffer when job seekers lean too heavily on loved ones.

Over my lifetime of employment, being fired, starting my own business, and raising a famiily as a single parent, I’ve learned that going it all alone is possible, but why do it when professional assistance can speed up success?

By: Rosalind Joffe

Rosalind Joffe — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:17:38 +0000

I’m with Miriam. I’m highly sceptical about such statistics and resent the implications.. Who are they asking and how? But what is the point, anway? As you said, it could be that most people who are unemployed don’t know where or how to look for a job. As we all know, this current economy has unemployed who have never faced thi situation before. Also, the unemployment stats cover such a wide range of people and job skills that global assumptions don’t help. There are people who have never had to look beyond their backyard (or the neighbor’s) for a job. There are people who have worked at the same job or industry all their lives. There are people who know that they’re over 50 and told they’re too old. Finally for many, this is so devastating that they are so depressed by what’s happened they’re can’t muster the energy or hope in the fear of more disappointment. And let’s face it. Looking for a job requires sophisticated skills these days that many don’t have.

I work with people whose chronic illness can make holding a job very difficult. People who have lost jobs or having troube keeping them and despair at finding a new one. We need public service announcements, and news articles and more public support that people who are unemployed are not laggards but are facing a tough tough situation. Your article points out that this is a problem. But we’re all just talking to the converted. We need to get this message to a larger audience.

By: ejly

ejly — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:00:17 +0000

How strange. I commented on Toby’s page but apparently he hasn’t moderated it yet, then I tried to comment http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2009/12/29/is-the-government-sanctioning-laziness and the request erred.

That said… where are these stats coming from? The Bureau of Labor statistics publishes its data (American Time Use Survey – http://www.bls.gov/tus/ ), and I can’t find it there. The only close match I found was that in 2008, all us adults spent .4 hours per week interviewing and job searching. (That’s not just unemployed people, either.) Which (assuming the 2008 unemployment rate of approx. 10% and assuming that the unemployed are doing all the job searching – both faulty assumptions, but fair enough for rough math) – that means in 2008 that the unemployed were job searching for about 4 hours a day. Which seems commonsensical to me. Did that really drop in 2009 to 18 minutes a day, in a worsening economy? I doubt it.

Please provide your sources, I’m very curious.

By: wwds

wwds — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:40:43 +0000

Nichole—I think you are right. Your comment stimulated me to write the next post on this topic. I think the job seeker is not ill informed or even lazy. They are ignorant. The more this is told to them, the more likely they might be to get better at job searching. Tools like http://www.linkup.com are out there, they just need to find them.

By: wwds

wwds — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:38:11 +0000

Miriam—Great points. I wish every job seeker could take advantage of coaching like the kind you provide. I have a feeling that if you could talk with every job seeker out there, and give them the benefit of your experience and wisdom…there would be far fewer un employed. Keep up the good work.

By: wwds

wwds — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:36:31 +0000

Tyler–I do agree with you, but a successful job search is not only about selling yourself, first you have to know what to do. I think Kevin has some great ideas and resources. Thanks for stopping by and adding the conversation.

By: wwds

wwds — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:34:26 +0000

Lisa—no question we need to show compassion for the job seeker. More to the point, we need to help them discover and use new tools that will ensure the job search ends up successful.