Written by: Devin Martin, Student
The dreaded job hunt - something that everyone inevitably has to do at one point or another in their lives. Whether you are a teenager looking for a summer job, a recent graduate looking to start your career, or someone who was recently laid off and needs an income to support yourself and your family, everyone needs to do the same tedious task of job hunting. There are many ways to go about this search, such as filling out online applications, networking, attending job fairs, etc. For many, job hunting has historically been a lengthy, monotonous, distressing process with it taking months to even years to land a stable job. In recent years, this process has taken quite the turn.
As everyone knows, the Covid-19 pandemic has turned every aspect of life as we knew it upside down. From not being able to find toilet paper to having to make sure you have a mask on hand at any given time, life these past few years sure has been strange, to say the least. One of the biggest and most difficult changes has been the situation surrounding the workforce. As the rate of infection rose, a majority of companies either released employees due to not having enough money to pay them, or had to close to not risk spreading of the disease, leaving employees jobless. This was a difficult time for both employers and employees. To help ease the pains of this time, the government provided income to both sides affected in this matter. As time went on, Covid-19 infection numbers declined, allowing stores to reopen and businesses to recover. When things seemed to return to normal, a previously predicted shortage of workers became reality with devastating impact.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius once said the famous quote "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." While this quote may be true for some, for many it does not apply. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury to choose a job that they love, including me, a broke college student trying to make an extra couple bucks. As businesses began to reopen, those who had the ability to go back to the jobs that they love hopped on the gun. When it came to jobs considered "unskilled", this was not the case. While still receiving government funding, people who used to be cashiers, cleaners, grocery clerks, etc. realized that they were making more from the government for being unemployed than they were while working. This, understandably, caused many in this situation to choose to not return to work. As this government funding eventually came to an end, people needed to return to work.
I don't think anyone wants to make less money for doing more work. I know that I definitely do not. As people returned to work, this was the mindset that they had. After making more money being unemployed compared to how much they did whilst working, people weren't going to settle with returning to work for less. To combat this, many companies have since increased their wages to entice individuals to return to work. While this sounds great for those looking for a job, the results have been the opposite.
I just recently finished my first year of college. Now that I am home, I have been looking for jobs at any chance that I get. As I started my search I was hopeful as almost every company in my hometown is hiring, with many applications stating that they urgently need employees. I applied to numerous companies that my skillset lined up with what they needed, and began to wait as I know this is a process that takes time. As the weeks went on, I have only been left in open water or was declined the job. This has left me confused and led me to ask the question, how is a company desperate but is not fast to hire / going to decline me a job. I talked to friends of mine about this issue, and have only heard similar situations. My question is, why?
"Change is the hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end" - Robin S. Sharma. In 2022, employers are in the beginning and middle stages of change. Companies are still acting as they did pre-pandemic, which is leading to the issues of being understaffed. Along with this, these same companies are not approaching this issue with the urgency that it demands with the current state of the job market. In order to solve the current situation around the job market, employers need to catch up to the demands of job seekers, and those looking for a job need to not have as high of demands. The only way this issue is going to end is with cooperation between employers and job seekers. I believe that this can be done, but only time will tell.
