Why are companies so picky when choosing their employees?

Mark_h_4

In_Martin_We_Trust wrote: »

I do agree that students are sold down the river coz I'm one of them and I did web computing! We are in a catch 22 situation you can't get a job without experience and you can't get experience without a job.:mad:

IT Helldesk jobs are easy to come by... its not the best but its a start. From there you can progress.

FunnySaving

We now have a whole generation who were told by their teachers that unless they wanted to work for minimum wage in McDonalds they should get as educated as they can, who are now told by that same generation that they've got a cheek expecting to work for more than minimum wage in McDonalds because they've wasted their time and the tax payers' money on a degree which is no longer valued in the work place.

Firefox1975

Unfortunately IT has had its hayday.

15 or 20 years ago all IT jobs were specialist and could command larger salaries which made them very appealing to university students.

fast forward to the present day and everyone has a PC at home and has more than average experience with E Mail, Internet, networking etc. Plus all jobs that were written down in the past i.e accountancy etc. are now driven on software packages so nearly every job going uses a PC at some stage.

I;m not saying IT is defunct, it isn't at all, but it has probably become more diluted as most businessess can "get by" without a dedicated IT member of staff.

Now, what I really want to see, and have been waiting years for! is a technology literate IT member fo staff that can communicate effectively with all members of the organisation without resorting to sarcasm or aloofness as well as seeing the world in the very grey colour that it is rather than the black and white of "That won't work" being the end of the conversation!

Not trying to stereotype - just my OWN opinion of what I have experienced in the past.;)

Humphrey10

JonathanH wrote: »

Both of these seem to bring long silences then a whimpering attempt at justifying the debt and lost time.

Why should they need to justify the debt and 'lost time'? The repayments are tiny, nothing for anyone to be worried about unless the word 'debt' scares you, and what 'lost time'? Most people enjoy the time they spend at university.

SarEl

I think we have to be realistic. Once upon a time being a graduate was unusual. So, to only a slightly lesser extent, was having A levels. The jobs that those people with those qualifications slotted into, in the main, still exist. But there are still pretty much the same number of jobs there always were - now we have thousands more with the qualifications, and then some who dropped out, all of whom think that they should be in those sorts of jobs. Without getting into a whole debate about standards, the fact is that those who now get those jobs aren't graduates - they are post-graduates in the main. The goal posts just moved. There is still a demand for those entering the world of work through a higher academic route- there just isn't more demand for them, and that is what everyone forgot when they started turning Outer-no-man's-land College into a university. Thousands more graduates every year doesn't create thousands more graduate level jobs.

tombruton87

I am still a student and I have a job programming. You need to make sure you have a skill that employers want. Don't become a jack of all trades in your field become master of one. Or if your like me master all of them. Sorry if that sounds big headed, I just believe you have to strive to be the best.

InsideInsurance

The reason for employers being picky are:

1) They can be, its an employers market at the moment

2) The cost of getting it wrong is very high

The Group HR Director at a former employees did a calculation on the cost of an employee leaving an organisation when you factor everything in (employment agency fees, training, period of up skilling post training, overtime to cover gap whilst recruiting/training, lost income/sales whilst person still up skilling etc) and his estimate was 90-200% of the rolls fully loaded salary (normally 30-50% above their basic salary)

There is therefore an increasing about of "recruit for attitude" going on. You could argue that if you have a graduate who is keen to get into management and a housewife looking to return to work after having kids that the graduate would be better for a part time call centre. Reality is that the call centre may recruit 600 people a year as agents and if they recuit 10 managers it would be surprising and so the graduate would become frustrated and leave costing the company a lot of money where as the housewife who just wants to earn some money whilst the kids are at school stays for years being a good employee.

Mistral001

Many employers will definitely look past qualifications/experience. You just have to think about which ones will dare to do it.

It is up to the person looking for a job to find the employers who are willing to look past experience and qualifications. Afterall they will not come looking for you.

Mrs_Arcanum

DD is planning to get a part time job whilst she is in sixth form. This will give her valuable experience in the workplace rather than just relying on a "possible" future degree.

westv

"its an employers market at the moment"

Generally has it ever not been in the last 30 years or so?