Because we don’t blink here at TalentCulture, this seems like a good time to talk about the elephant in the room: job haves and have nots. The headlines aren’t calculated to bring joy to the hearts of leaders and HR pros or employees and jobseekers. Some trumpet a summer slump in hiring, pointing to last week’s dismal jobs report. Some ask why bad jobs happen to good people. Others report the grim prospects for recent graduates. Nearly everywhere you look, employment prospects are dim. And while many of us do have jobs, we’re restless and feel trapped; raises are paltry, co-workers peevish, and customers skittish.
Although our last chat was on global workforces and managing human capital, the sobering reality is, there just aren’t enough jobs yet to break the chokehold of unemployment. Some tech skills are in demand, and people with college degrees still have an edge, but the private sector isn’t creating jobs, and the public sector seems to be creating seasonal jobs for the most part.
Those kinds of circumstances translate to strife. That’s a given, and the job have nots’ lot today isn’t exactly attractive. And, furthermore, jealousy among them toward the job haves isn’t exactly waning. But the job haves and have nots can learn a lot from each other, and the haves don’t exactly have it easy today, anyway. Let’s train our collective wisdom and can-do attitude on their collective lot and see if we can’t tease out some silver linings, actionable advice and meaty recommendations. Let’s see, too, whether or not we can bring some smiles to the have nots’ faces and give them reasons to feel optimistic.
So here are this week’s #TChat questions:
Q1: The June jobs report was pretty dismal. Temp work was up by 25K, though. Why do you think that is?
Q2: Unemployment is high overall, but much lower for those with tech skills and college grads. What can be done about this disparity?
Q3: What can the private and public sectors do right now to jumpstart this still-stalling economy?
Q4: What recruiting and hiring process innovations (non-tech) are improving cultural fit and retention?
Q5: There’s a lot of innovative startup activity in HR and recruiting tech. How will this help the overall job economy?
Join us this week on #TChat to talk about the jobs report, why there are job haves and have nots, how technology and changes in processes can tip the balance toward more hiring, and more. We’ll be listening and asking questions this Wednesday from 7-8 pm ET (6-7 pm CT, 4-5 pm PT, or wherever you are). The amazingly talented Matt Monge (Twitter: @MattMonge, Blog: http://themojocompany.com/) will moderate this week. There to field your many thoughts will be yours truly (@MeghanMBiro) and Kevin W. Grossman (@KevinWGrossman), as well as Sean Charles (@SocialMediaSean), Salima Nathoo (@SocialSalima) and Brent Skinner (@BrentSkinner). Your smart tweets motivate us, and we can’t wait to interact with you all on Wednesday — see you there!
image credit: Not Hiring Sign, by Brian Hawkins
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