When a job was what they told you what it was going to be by Tony Green

My time in the Silicon Valley has spanned over 10 years. On multiple occasions I experienced the need/desire to seek employment. Either I was looking for a better position or had been caught in layoffs during downturns in the economy. You know the drill.

The process starts with reading the job description for the position either on lime or through a headhunter. Once a match is found and you meet the minimum requirements you move to the next step which is normally a phone interview.

A face-to-face interview occurs where you discuss the resume; perhaps you asked some good questions such as why the opening is available, what happens to the last person in the position and how long that person was there. From what you have been told this opportunity is just what you are looking and your skill-set is in line with what the employer is looking for.

You get the position after negotiating to the salary/commission/bonus and start date. Once benefits paperwork has been submitted ready and orientation is complete you are ready to immerse yourself with job at hand.

A month into your new gig you come to the realization of what the job really is. In many cases, your day to day activities make you realize you new job is not the job you are qualified for, wanted to do, or was discussed through the entire interview process. Time goes by and after you reach a certain point the decision is made to put feelers out for new positions.

How could this happen? In my view, if you tell someone one thing about a job and the information is not the truth won’t folks figure things out over time once they get into the position? It is possible to get references about a company or a position but it is difficult to get a feel until you are on the inside. This fact gives the employer the opportunity to be honest about what they are looking and increasing the chances the applicant is matched for the job they truly need to be done. Would a better method entail being upfront in regard to what a job actually entails? Because once a new hire becomes disgruntled and begins looking for other positions they are not fully engaged to your job or your company. Perhaps being honest would make hiring applicants harder and take more time to fill positions but the cost of this should be much less than the price tag of rapid turnover of employees.

A thought about our depressed economy by Tony Green

I was talking to my sister about the fact even though I was fortunate enough to regain employment the country’s economic health is still in a very depressed state. I told her I thought the climate would have improved by now. Since the economy is historically cyclic, I reasoned, provided enough time transpires inevitably the upturn would arrive. She replied with something which stopped me dead in my tracks. She attended a sermon a few weeks back and her pastor mentioned the possibility the current state of economy reflected how things were going to be going forward. In other words, the economy of the last 10 years existed on a bubble based on a hype cycle which has now corrected itself.

This seemed extreme at first; however, when I thought about the recent updated appraisal for my home I received in the mail last week the idea did not seem so farfetched. Without getting into specifics I will say the value of my house is now a fraction of its value when I purchased it only 6 years ago.

This fact now puts me “under water” in regards to mortgage with many other Americans. Fortunately, I do not plan to sell at a loss even if any prospective buyer could get financing with today credit crunch. For now at least I am employed. What are all of the people who are out of work, in spite of the fact of the recent reinstatement of long term unemployment benefits, going to do if no relief can be expected to arrive any time soon?