What strikes me as strange is how many companies are looking for young candidates with a vast amount of work experience. A 25-year-old university graduate would not have the opportunity or the time to accumulate that level of work experience. Not only do these positions demand the newly-employed to hit the ground running, the salary is measly at best.
But judging from the current job market, it is not surprising that these companies are trimming the fat in the back of jobseekers’ desperation. With universities churning out more and more graduates each year, the market is simply not robust enough to accommodate them. Every job opening seems to attract hundreds of applicants. More often than not, hardly anyone qualifies, because what the company would be looking for is someone under the age of 30 with a Bachelor’s degree and at least 10 years of relevant work experience.
I recently spoke with a friend in recruitment, who complained that most young people lack work ethics. I can’t help but wonder how much of it is because today’s youth are naturally ‘lazy’ and not due to a portion of companies doing away with training and support in an attempt to cut costs. Companies are concerned about their bottom lines, which is fair. The last thing they want is to hire a person, train them up only to have them move to a green pasture. Yet, without training, employees are left learning the ropes on their own and getting called out when things go sideways. It surely can’t be good for the morale, especially if they are also making minimum wage.
The question becomes: when these companies post up a job opening, do they know how unrealistic their expectations are? Or are they purposely squeezing as many responsibilities as they can into the role in the hope of finding someone desperate enough to accept it, despite the entry-level wage?
For the economy to flourish, the country needs a skilled workforce. A person who works for a company that invests in their staff has more skills and experience than one who has simply been left to work blindly. I fear that the no-training policy would soon become a norm, and very soon, there would be no one left with any discernible skills.
Worker Bee
