Dear Pundits, Posturers and Pontificators in Washington D.C.,
I hope you had a wonderful August recess. While you were out relaxing, we regular Americans were out trying to bust our butts to find a way to make ends meet. It's tough out here and all we're hearing from you guys is a lot of talk of job creation, but as far as I can tell, it's all talk.
I think that I can speak for most Americans when I say that we're up-to-here with all of it. If I hear one more discussion by politicians discussing when they're going to discuss jobs, I think I'm going to be sick. This, quite honestly, is ridiculous. It's not as if the "Jobs Issue" suddenly materialized once you got past your debt crisis pissing match. Jobs have been an issue since we started bleeding them in 2008. I can't quite figure out why it's taken you guys so long to become part of the conversation. I mean, jobs ARE the real issue, aren't they?
I think it's time for Americans to stick our fingers in our ears, hum loudly and just STOP LISTENING. The more bad news we hear, the more arguing and backstabbing we hear, the more layoffs about which we hear, the more we're going to crash on the couch, eat bonbons and feel completely defeated about our job prospects.
As I wrote about in a recent AOL article 10 Tricks to Landing a Job After The Great Recession, Americans need to stop waiting for you in government to give us permission to get back to work. I'm calling for a nationwide agreement that we are going to ignore the job numbers, ignore Washington, ignore Wall Street and get our collective heads back in the game. It might be hard out there, but it is NOT impossible.
As a businesswoman who has worked for, or consulted to over 50 companies, I KNOW how to find and land work. I have been speaking, writing and coaching about work issues for as long as I can remember. Since our leaders in Washington are not currently doing anything concrete, I've decided to put my butt on the line and PROVE that people CAN GET WORK.
How? I'm running a contest where three lucky and determined job seekers will win the chance to experience my "A Little Tough Love & A Lotta Technique" training program. I will teach these winners the tools and techniques that are essential to identifying jobs in today's turbulent times, and together we'll demonstrate to America how these methods can be applied toward landing work.
I know my methods work, and I'm out to prove it. With a little coaching, Americans CAN get back into the workforce. So while you folks in Washington dance around the issues and let all kinds of jobs programs expire in the coming weeks, I want to encourage job seekers everywhere to grab the bull by the horns, get out of the doldrums, and get ready to do the hard work it takes to land work.
Over the coming months, I'll be focused on teaching Americans how to develop a Personal Career Brand, Reverse Engineer the Job Market, Harness Luck, Find "In" People, Network by 5s and Know What to Do When Luck Strikes. I'm assigning myself the job of teaching folks how to make themselves into a person that people can't wait to hire. People can learn more about the contest at www.susannegoldstein.com.
To job seekers everywhere I say: Please stop waiting for Washington to give you permission to start your job search. Government isn't set up to be the Great Employer. You, me, the guy who owns the neighborhood shop, the gal who runs the big corporation in your city or town -- we are the engines of economic growth. Not government. No matter who wins the battle -- Republicans want less government programs and more trickle down, Democrats want more government programs and more taxation for the super rich -- neither groups' platform of tax reform, trade agreements and regulatory changes are going to affect us for a long, long time. That means it's just us.
To our dear elected officials in Washington I say: Shut up already! Please stop the arguing and the posturing. THIS IS NOT NOVEMBER 2012 and we aren't so stupid that we can't see through your thinly-veiled tactics. If it weren't for the difficulty of overcoming incumbency and entrenched party politics, you'd all be out of work anyway. Or maybe American voters will get it right this time, and you'll all be heading for the unemployment line.
If that's the case, give me a call. Perhaps I can help you land your next job.
Simon Rosenberg: Has the GOP's Economic Strategy Already Failed?
Obama to propose 'American Jobs Act' in speech to Congress
Bill O'Reilly: President Obama Speaks Again and Again and Again
On jobs, Obama needs to be a radical
Stimulus created jobs -- but not enough
Here's Why Perry Camp Wants Focus on Jobs
Why Small Businesses Aren't Creating Jobs
Obama And Eric Cantor Schedule Dueling Jobs Speeches On Cantor's Home Turf
Lay off the magic juice.
Well, it's not that simple. Fundamentally, there are not nearly enough jobs for those seeking them. And I'm not sure when if ever that will change. Our economy has evolved (or, perhaps, "degenerated") to the point where we no longer need nearly so many people to provide all the goods and services we desire. Companies everywhere pursue a ruthless policy of cutting and cutting, good times or bad. Going forward, I think we face a time when tens of millions of Americans will be unemployed or marginally employed.
Now, some say try harder. Others say get more education. Still others say start your own business. The problem with all these is that they may help some individuals get jobs, but everyone or maybe even most will not succeed. In economics, this is known as the "fallacy of composition." In other words, just because anyone can succeed, it does not at all follow that everyone can succeed. No matter how smart, how many college degrees, how much they work.
There are just too many of us for the economic requirement for employees. Of course, businesses who don't want employees DO want customers. Where these customers will get any money, is not their worry!
There are no jobs because dumb, mostly white, people voted for thrity years of "Free Market" economics with no regard for what that might mean to their own job.
Apparently the idea has been to vote for anyone who promised to destroy union jobs the fastest. Because all those "union" people "make too much money."
Well, America got its wish. Fifty thousand factories gone. Millons upon millions of jobs gone. Labor is irrelevant in todays market. So we need to change the rules.
Really?!? That's what you think? I'm certain you are a nice enough girl, but I have serious doubts as to your intelligence. Thanks anyway.
Here's the deal: companies are sitting on piles of cash and they are still not hiring. Why? Because why add more payroll to your costs when the additional profit looks great to the almighty stockholder? Why should the CEO hire back the folks he laid off when his annual bonus is getting ever bigger due to cost cutting?
This is the most polyanna-ish piece I've ever seen on this site. People who have skills are starting their own businesses. People who have minimal skills and education are screwed.
Your premise of people waiting on the Government for work, plays into stereotypes that include the idea that those on unemployment or those on food stamps are "lazy" and not trying to find work. This mindset is still prevalent among those who have not been unemployed and looking for jobs that are not there. The former Middle Class tries hard to find work, they are not waiting on the Government for anything!