The Election Is Over…

…and not a damn thing has changed.

Same president, roughly the same breakdown in House and Senate, not a lot of local changes that I can tell. Oh, except the pot thing. My state is apparently legalizing marijuana so we can all just get high and forget about 8% unemployment. I told my good friend Michelle that I personally had been disappointed with the government since voting for Ross Perot 20 years ago (I was SO NAIVE) and she assured me Obamacare would cover my preexisting depression condition.

This is NOT A POLITICAL BLOG. I’m not intending to take any cheap shots at anyone in government, just laying out some facts and what it means for recruiting. We can only assume (and I’d say the same no matter who was elected) that we are going to face some difficulty moving ahead. Unemployment will not mysteriously drop overnight. Debt and taxes (whether they go up or down) are still going to be a concern.

My Fellow Recruiters – people need us now more than ever.

My children are growing up in a country where political division is the new normal. For every CEO who donated to the President’s reelection campaign there’s a business owner threatening to lay off staff if Obama won. Even our job creators are divided. If anyone has figured out what all this means for the energy or manufacturing sectors, please let me know because I have no idea. Confusion and apprehension reigns amongst the unemployed. My mother (who is STILL looking for a job) cried on the phone with me for half an hour this morning. It’s her birthday, for the love of Pete.

The job market is changing and will continue to evolve – for better or worse remains to be seen. We are on the front lines and we know what employers need. Take IT for example – I don’t know a single technical recruiter that would turn away a solid Web Developer right now (shameless plug – Zones is hiring one!) Why is it that whenever I go speak at my local (government funded) employment office, I hear that all this federal money is being spent on sending people to CNA SCHOOL?? WHY DON'T WE SEND THEM TO WEB DEVELOPER SCHOOL!! (or wherever you learn that techie stuff). Seriously - you can’t swing a loaf of bread at a grocery store in my town without hitting at least three unemployed certified nursing assistants.

We can help. Partner with your clients. Try to understand not just what they need now, but what they’ll be hiring for in the future. What does growth look like? What kind of skills will the candidate of the future need? Then don’t keep that information to yourself. Talk to the unemployed. Remember they’re getting a lot of their information from well-intentioned yet flat wrong “career counselors” that staff our government employment offices. We should be getting in front of them and setting them straight.

Comment by Ryan Leary on November 7, 2012 at 2:51pm: Great rant. But I have to say that this part gave me a smile:

WHY DON'T WE SEND THEM TO WEB DEVELOPER SCHOOL!! (or wherever you learn that techie stuff).

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on November 7, 2012 at 3:04pm: thanks Ryan... :) I have very close friends and family on both sides of the political spectrum (some VERY extreme) and I'm over here just trying to make a living and enjoy my shiraz... lol

Comment by Casey Kuperus on November 7, 2012 at 4:21pm: Thanks Amy, I feel the same way. I gave up watching at 11:00 last night and figured that regardless in the morning I was still going to have a stack of candidates to place :-)

Comment by Amber on November 7, 2012 at 4:31pm: Things didn't really go my way, but I knew today would be the same for us in most ways. Whatever changes come, I have always tried to keep a positive attitude, work as hard as I can, help where I can, and remember what's really important. Good point about the workforce office, from what I have seen of the one here they are a little short on seeing/offering what is really needed.

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on November 7, 2012 at 5:06pm: Thanks Amber! I hear ya.... :) It's one small thing, I know - but anything we can do to help people be better prepared for work AND hiring can only help us, right?

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on November 7, 2012 at 5:09pm: So true Casey! I still have over 20 reqs to fill....

Comment by Sandra McCartt on November 7, 2012 at 5:31pm: Bronco was not my choice this go around but when the calls started last night at 11:00 from the distraught who were sure the sun would not come up this morning and were sure their heads were going to blow up any minute my comment was, "The president was my president this morning and he will be tomorrow morning and for four more years." Nothing changed but right now i am trying to make the eternal equinox of switching my winter clothes from one closet to another which is no small task in my world where shopping is an olympic sport. The biggest problem i have tonight is that everything was in all these closets, i took it all out, put it on rolling racks. I have moved all summer and spring to the out of season closets and winter to my walkin closet the size of most people's dining room. i find that i have a full rolling rack left that will not go anywhere, how can that be, it was all sequestered someplace when i started this changing of the guard. Now that is a problem.

I have a fist full of open job reqs that i have not been able to fill because everybody has been nuts over the election. So last night after the end of civilization was announced at 10:30 or so, i curled up in the middle of a couple of fur jackets with my ipad. Headed to linkedin and as of this morning i have two good candidates responding to inmails from last night. Life goes on, the market will bounce around for a week or so. Good time to buy between now and the end of the year. The oil and gas business is booming, Horizontal wells have been drilled like crazy and they are pumping as fast as anybody can hook up a pipeline. CPA firms are all looking for tax people, IT digit heads will be a hot commodity again some more and recruiters are in demand, engineers are being hired in supply chain distribution to create more efficient ops. A whole bunch of people are still as full of crap as they ever have been and pontificating about God, guns and abortion. My diety has a sense of humor, i have a closet full of guns and i'm too old to care about abortion and birthcontrol, yer on yer own Fluke

I called my granddaughter re the rolling rack full of clothes that somehow expanded when they were let out of the closet. That will be gone by the time i get home along with about 50 pair of shoes that i know are vintage but the girls don't know yet that everything comes back around if you live long enough.

Moving forward with my new candidates to make some money and make some clients and candidates happy. I wish Bronco the best with his obstructionist tea party influenced House. I wouldn't have his job for all the tea in China (pun intended).

For those who have not been around long enough to remember when Goldwater ran against LBJ. The world didn't end then either albeit the John Birch Society was convinced that the green trucks with the hammer and sickle on the side were coming to get their children and take them to the state nursery. (I watched with hopes that i would get the chance to pack one of mine off to the state nursery, but damn the luck).

The sun did come up this morning, you didn't have to go buy those flashlight batteries, it will again tomorrow. The armed TSA didn't come marching in leading the UN to take over the country. My friends are not really stuck in London with no money and a lost purse and the prince from Nigeria didn't like it when i gave him the number for dial-a prayer.

I am going to work and place somebody. Won't be long until i have to ante up to pay for more illegals on food stamps. So be it. Just another day in jackass flats, USA America except the third cotton wood tree N. of town is losing it's leaves as it always does this time of year. Thank God i don't live on the Jersey Shore with Snooki and the Situation. There is always a bright spot.

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on November 7, 2012 at 5:39pm: LOL Sandra, you made my point so much better than I did! :) Can I come shop in your closet?

Comment by Casey Kuperus on November 7, 2012 at 5:39pm: And once again, Sandra puts it all into perspective for me....thanks Sandra!

Comment by Sandra McCartt on November 7, 2012 at 5:51pm: Please God come shop my closet. If i were not an overorganized virgo i would be on next week's "horder" episode. the women's shelter is getting their twice a year load that they are nice enough to come and get so i don't have to pack it down the stairs. With any luck i will have all the cleared out in time for turkey day so family doesn't have to take all those big purses out of the dining room chairs.

It's gonna be fine Casey. Just blame Bush, hell it worked for the pres. Sounds good to me. I know Bushy and i promise he's dumb as a stump, nice guy but he was a scapegoat before it was fashionable. Doesn't bother him.

Now let me tell what will make you crazy. For three weeks i have thought that they were working on the roof of my office. There has been a sound like THUMP..rattle, rattle, rattle. What in the world are they doing? It only took me three weeks to figure out that there is an oak tree in the courtyard behind my office that has branches reaching over most of the roof. THUMP, rattle, rattle, rattle is acorns dropping off the oak tree and rolling down the somewhat slanted roof. No wonder i am like i am.

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