Comments for

Comment on About by China Gorman

China Gorman — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:47:31 +0000

Hi Will: great to see you here! Looked at your site — looks like you’ll be busy. I’ll send you an email. Let’s catch up by phone.

Comment on About by Will Kuchta

Will Kuchta — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:46:49 +0000

China,

Great to see your site and blog. Good luck with your new endeavors. I’m now back to work. Check my new site http://www.ocanddconsulting.com. Would love to hear from you.

All the best. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Comment on Data Point # 10: The Unemployment Rate Went Down? Really? by China Gorman

China Gorman — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:39:27 +0000

You’re welcome! Thanks for coming back.

Comment on Data Point # 10: The Unemployment Rate Went Down? Really? by sweetopiagirl

sweetopiagirl — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:24:22 +0000

Thanks so much China!

Comment on Data Point #11: Talent optimism vs. realism by China Gorman

China Gorman — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:25:07 +0000

Agreed. Thanks.

Comment on Data Point #11: Talent optimism vs. realism by Jerry Miller

Jerry Miller — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:22:31 +0000

Because that’s the way they’ve always done it. To your earlier point, employers have got to develop the courage and foresight to stop requiring college degrees when not necessary and instead focus on skills and experience. Unless one is in a highly specialized field where the degree is absolutely necessary, the farther away from graduation day you get in your career, the less relevant the degree becomes.

Comment on Data Point #11: Talent optimism vs. realism by China Gorman

China Gorman — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:09:25 +0000

Hi Jerry: thanks for reading and commmenting. I agree. There are many overlooked pools of qualified candidates: workers over 50, returning military veterans, etc. It’s a mystery to me why employers who are having difficulty filling open positions are not more focused on skills and qualifications rather than other “limiting” factors!

Comment on Data Point #11: Talent optimism vs. realism by Jerry Miller

Jerry Miller — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:33:08 +0000

China, I would submit also that many of the candidates for the managerial and skilled professional jobs are in the over 40 years of age category and some companies are more reluctant to hire those older workers. In those cases they are creating their own problems by refusing to look at that pool of qualified candidates.

Comment on Data Point #11: Talent optimism vs. realism by China Gorman

China Gorman — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:50:54 +0000

I’m really torn because I do believe that education is the ticket to personal economic stability. And to national competitiveness. But education isn’t education. We NEED people to go to vocational/technical schools and do apprenticeships. You and I have talked about this. The basic infrastructure of our nation is fraying at the edges because we bought the argument in the ’70s that because we were in the Information Age everyone needed a college degree to make a good living. The truth is that there are great, family sustaining jobs that we need to have done that don’t require a college degree. But they DO require technical training and certificates or apprenticeship completion. And we need people to want those jobs, to train for those jobs, and to be proud to have those jobs. We have to re-set our thinking about what a “good job” is and encourage people to train for those jobs. And employers have to stop requiring college degrees when they really don’t need them. Going forward, they’re going to have train and retrain their workforce anyway… Thanks for commenting.

Comment on Data Point #11: Talent optimism vs. realism by Laurie Ruettimann (@lruettimann)

Laurie Ruettimann (@lruettimann) — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:40:22 +0000

Yeah! Data Tuesday! Peter Cappelli writes about this (a little) — he believes that we do a disservice to an already broken labor market when we emphasize certain skills (“a bachelor’s degree”) instead of hiring for general aptitude and potential and TRAINING those new employees to overcome any perceived deficits from a lack of a bachelor’s degree.