I was talking to my brother the other day, one of the three I have, and he was telling me that in this New Economy he has had to find employment in another state because the jobs that are available here are going to the "less" qualified. I asked him what he meant and he told me that he has applied to jobs, jobs that he is well qualified for and jobs that in the past he used to get, and has been beaten out by those who the company could get for less money and who would be grateful for the pay the offered.
The job market being flooded gives businesses ample choice for their pick of employees and most are opting to pick "less qualified" so they don't have to pay the price of the "well qualified." Yet his family is still at their home because moving to the other state would be too expensive and plus you never know these days how long a job will last. Worse still my brother said that he has also applied to jobs he was obviously over qualified and usually over dressed for when he has gone to an interview and been told that if he really needed the job (and yes he did) he would need to sign an 18 months contract to stay there – 18 months for a $12-$15 an hour job.
Now for those of you professional executives faced with the same New Economy job market, you know of what my brother shares. My brother, who would do anything to support his family, when finding he could not even get the entry level jobs, decided he had had enough. He says he would have stocked shelves at night to pay the family's bills, but only until something better came along. Why would someone ask someone of his professional caliber to sign away his life or 18 months of it stocking shelves? As my brother said, "you can do anything you need to do as long as you have hope that things get better. Signing away that hope even for 18 months skewers someone into a life without hope and dreams. Anyone doing what they have to do rather than what their passion dictates is already suffering enough.
My brother said the last job he tried for in his state was a mid-level marketing position with already low pay. He asked the hiring manager about the pay scale and she said, "We can get anyone we want to do this job for us now and at any pay!" The job it seems had an application pile of over 270 people. They skipped over my brother, who would have done wonders for that company, even at that pay scale, and hired someone just a year or two out of college. My brother told the hiring manager that she should hire him, he would gladly accept the pay and work hard for it. He wanted he told her to work in his industry, to do what he loved to do!" The hiring manager choose one of the less qualified, less experienced candidates and paid them well. Her comment being, "we know we will keep him! You can go get a job doing anything til something better or more suited to your background comes along!" His retort was, "That's just the point, what you are offering is all there is! I can work here for less money than I have ever made but be happy or stock shelves on a contract 18 months at $10 an hour"
My brother's comment was, "Geez at least leave me my dignity!"
I think he has a point. Perhaps they aren't many jobs, perhaps we need to accept less pay for the ones there are, but please at least leave us our dignity! No one with a love or passion for his career is jobless by choice! We are all willing to humble ourselves and work harder and longer for less but please don't strip us of the last vestiges of who we are and what we stand for to stock shelves. Please leave us our dignity!
My brother found a job down south somewhere selling. He travels for 18 days of every month away from home. He has taken a cut in pay, he works harder for less and away from his family, but he is doing well, very well, because he has his dignity! 1 Victory for us! J Perhaps we will see more!
And speaking of the worry of it all . . .
There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone.
The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise, and poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control.
Tomorrow's sun will rise, either n splendor or behind a mask of clouds – but it will rise. Until it does , we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.
This leaves only one day – Today. Any person can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities – Yesterday and Tomorrow – that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives us mad – it is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what will happen Tomorrow!
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