What is wrong with the workforce?

shelby27604

shelby27604

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Location
Efland NC
This is more of a rant, but perhaps I can get some good advice on locating qualified people / shifting through the BS. I am amazed at the extreme lack of quality people in the job pool these days, in the last 5 years I have worked in manufacturing facilities, engineering firms, and customer service....and I am always amazed at what passes for competency, and what the business owners are forced to accept. From drivers that think it is ok to be stoned on the clock to CNC operators who have no business operating a light switch, let alone changing lines of code and setting up tooling.

What is wrong, what am I missing? A shop I work at just hired a "general mechanic" who claimed to have built a g-body drag car and a busa powered go kart....yet he can't weld to save his life, and isn't competent enough to understand when you take something apart, all the pieces you took off HAVE TO GO BACK ON!

Is the world doomed to a generation of workers that can't do anything that isn't powered by an APP? Am I only seeing the dregs of society? I know a very skilled teacher at a trade school who says all of his best students are hired by big firms before they even graduate.
 
shelby27604 said:
This is more of a rant, but perhaps I can get some good advice on locating qualified people / shifting through the BS. I am amazed at the extreme lack of quality people in the job pool these days, in the last 5 years I have worked in manufacturing facilities, engineering firms, and customer service....and I am always amazed at what passes for competency, and what the business owners are forced to accept. From drivers that think it is ok to be stoned on the clock to CNC operators who have no business operating a light switch, let alone changing lines of code and setting up tooling.

What is wrong, what am I missing? A shop I work at just hired a "general mechanic" who claimed to have built a g-body drag car and a busa powered go kart....yet he can't weld to save his life, and isn't competent enough to understand when you take something apart, all the pieces you took off HAVE TO GO BACK ON!

Is the world doomed to a generation of workers that can't do anything that isn't powered by an APP? Am I only seeing the dregs of society? I know a very skilled teacher at a trade school who says all of his best students are hired by big firms before they even graduate.
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Most of the kids now expect it to be handed to them. Skilled labor is the hardest to find competent workers. Kids coming out of these mechanic schools, some can't even check/change fluids but they have a diploma and were told to expect a starting salary of 75K. And grab a broom, no chance
 
I have the same issues. I'm realizing I'm a skilled trade. I'm getting old though and would love to train a guy for 3 years or so and let him go out and steal some of my work, then train another, or 4 more.

There is great money out there for a non educated idiot who will just work. The college people for the most part are very willing to pay well for work they can't or won't do. I graduated high school but that's it and I've never had a customer ask for my diploma. And I bet I make as much or more than your average college grad. Unfortunately I did it with my back instead of my brain but I've learned a lot and have other avenues to pursue in the industry once I'm beat down.
 
I will say I'm part of this age group.... well kinda i went to school then came back for a better degree. EVERYONE I go to school with complains about a 16hr course load and having other stuff to do. Ive taken minimum 20hrs worked a full time job and had an internship working 20hrs a week for over a year now. I've also had three job offers with a year of school left.. Most can't find an internship. I had to go work a man lift today, then go back to the office and work another 3 hours just to keep up with my other duties since they can't find good enough helpers to learn how to run a lift. My gfs best friend just graduated and is waiting for someone to offer her a job. She wont apply anywhere and expects someone to come looking for her. Everyone that is in there 20s thinks a degree gets them the head bosses job without any experience
 
keep hustle or you'll get left behind ^ you keep that mindset up young man and you'll go far, and fast
 
I offered one of my guys a raise today...he declined. And said as long as I kept buying his lunch, and paying him through lunch, he was happy this go round.

First time I'd ever heard such...

Is he a dumbass, or just thankful?
 
My .02 on it is that society and public education is not geared toward teaching people that some folks have to work with their hands and have a skill set under your belt(or multiple). I'm in my early thirties and no where along my school career did any teacher say someone needs to be a carpenter, lineman, mechanic, machinist or much other blue collar type work. When I came thru high school like most other people I had no idea what I wanted to do but I knew I wasn't wear a suit and tie, just wasn't for me and my computer skills are shit so that left my hands. I have worked a couple previous jobs as a machinist and been in charge of hiring and firing and what there is to choose from is pitiful. The community colleges teaching trades are guided to much by standards on what they can teach. I took tool and die at CC and ended up quitting and going to work full time. Most the folks that were in my class and graduated couldn't read a damn tape measure and still can't but have a degree. It also seems that folks think they should make 100k/year right out of school.
 
Dylan W. said:
I offered one of my guys a raise today...he declined. And said as long as I kept buying his lunch, and paying him through lunch, he was happy this go round.

First time I'd ever heard such...

Is he a dumbass, or just thankful?
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Wow you must be a good boss. Are you hiring? Lol! Take him to somewhere nice for lunch tomorrow.
 
I loathe employees! that being said I had a friend ask me to hire her son and he looks like hell but is a good worker. He will be late almost every day but sure makes my life easier when he is there. But I know what you mean. The workforce in general sucks, regardless of age.
 
Loganwayne said:
Everyone that is in there 20s thinks a degree gets them the head bosses job without any experience
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Some of the young engineers that come to my work are unrealistic with their expectations. They want to be a project manager in 2-3 years, lol. It takes that long just to become a 'lower-intermediate' level user of all the different systems and learn a single functional area of the truck.
 
Dylan W. said:
I offered one of my guys a raise today...he declined. And said as long as I kept buying his lunch, and paying him through lunch, he was happy this go round.

First time I'd ever heard such...

Is he a dumbass, or just thankful?
Click to expand...
Well how much was the raise? I'm gonna assume you take him to fast food so between 5-10 for a meal. This may also be the only real or good meal he eats everyday again assuming. If he thinks the raise is gonna cut him outta his free lunch and it isn't enough to cover the 10 buck meal everyday he could end up loosing money, unless he brings something to eat, which gets old after about a week of the same old thing.


Maybe he is smarter than you give him credit for
 
Just had two different guys walk out on a 60K plus job over the last two weeks. In manufacturing but far from labor intensive. Thing about it that confuses me is these were older guys not from the entitled Era.
 
I hired a guy to help my mechanic in the shop, and he started today. He kept telling me how bad he needed a job. He asked if he could run grab some lunch, and never came back.


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Dylan W. said:
I offered one of my guys a raise today...he declined. And said as long as I kept buying his lunch, and paying him through lunch, he was happy this go round.

First time I'd ever heard such...

Is he a dumbass, or just thankful?
Click to expand...
Maybe both. There's no such thing as a free lunch though. Is he gay?
 
This has helped me: ask enough questions in the interview that you can tell if they are bullshitting or not. And check things out on your own. I interviewed an engineer for a job a couple years ago. His resume looked incredible. I started asking about a project that his resume said he was the lead engineer on. He answered the first two questions about that project, but when I went 4 questions deep, he finally admitted "ok, I wasn't the lead engineer, I sat beside the engineer that checked the design." I told him I was not going to waste anymore of my time or his, and ended the interview.
Another one never even made it to the interview. He claimed to work on specific projects at a different plant. So I called the project managers at the other plant and they had never heard of the guy. So I canceled the interview.

The other thing I do is I let my employees interact with them; take them to lunch, chat at the coffee pot, or even interview them. You can have the best qualifications, but if you aren't going to get along with my team, I don't need you.
 
Loganwayne said:
Well how much was the raise? I'm gonna assume you take him to fast food so between 5-10 for a meal. This may also be the only real or good meal he eats everyday again assuming. If he thinks the raise is gonna cut him outta his free lunch and it isn't enough to cover the 10 buck meal everyday he could end up loosing money, unless he brings something to eat, which gets old after about a week of the same old thing.


Maybe he is smarter than you give him credit for
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yup thats what I was thinking, unless the raise was > $50/week he made the right call, plus the brownie points w/ the boss.
Hell if you were paying him min. wage now that's basically an extra hour's pay, > 10% "raise". And he dosn't pay tax on a free lunch.
 
Loganwayne said:
Well how much was the raise? I'm gonna assume you take him to fast food so between 5-10 for a meal. This may also be the only real or good meal he eats everyday again assuming. If he thinks the raise is gonna cut him outta his free lunch and it isn't enough to cover the 10 buck meal everyday he could end up loosing money, unless he brings something to eat, which gets old after about a week of the same old thing.


Maybe he is smarter than you give him credit for
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You are spot on bro. I give him 10.00 a day for lunch and never subtract lunch hour. If he orders 4.oo Wendy's meal .He pockets the rest or leaves a little tip when appropriate.

I think he's smart and realizes he makes 22.00 an hour at lunch every day. We rarely take an entire lunch. hour though.
 
RatLabGuy said:
yup thats what I was thinking, unless the raise was > $50/week he made the right call, plus the brownie points w/ the boss.
Hell if you were paying him min. wage now that's basically an extra hour's pay, > 10% "raise". And he dosn't pay tax on a free lunch.
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I never once mentioned, or even thought about taking away free lunch,or not paying him during lunch. I was just gonna give him 2 bucks more per hour. Upping him to 14.

He declined. I will not argue about it..lol
 
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