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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
"Inhumane" is a huge stretch, and I'm going to have to disagree with you. We're talking about business and employment here. Do you honestly expect compassion from companies? It's only business, don't take it personally. Companies have the right to say no to you if you are unemployed. It's as simple as that. What would you suggest otherwise? Legislation barring such decisions?
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I don't enjoy the "It's only business, don't take it personally" sentiment. I know it's how things work these days, but I think we can do better. As for legislations - I don't know, but I think this might be a regional thing. Having worked in a number of places in Europe, I haven't seen a single case of someone saying no the the unemployed. Furthermore, I can;t imagine someone doing it here, depsite the fact that the job market is as bad as it is in the US.
It's a stretch, I know, but barring unemployed people even from consideration seems on par with other forms of discrimination. I haven't thought that deeply about, but my gut feeling ATM is yes, legislation could do good in this case. I have a lot of family in the US and they'd probably lob bricks at me for saying this, though.
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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
As for your support for lying to get a job: how is dishonesty any better than what these companies are doing? I'd say that's worse. At least the companies are being honest and up front about it.
No company is there just to make money; however, the number one purpose of any company of any size---as always---is to make a profit. When the economy is bad, companies are out there to protect their profits. They do this with cost savings (layoffs, cutbacks, pay freezes, etc.). The factor that relates to this thread is the human resources factor.
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As it stands, comapnies in some places of the world have the comfort to be upfront about it; in others, they don't (see above), yet they still do this to a degree I'm sure. But the point is this: if you do something, because it's a dog eat dog world out there, you have to be ready to other people doing the same thing. People are out there too survivie too; they also want to marginalize their profit. I'm sure lieing doesn't come easy to most people, but with an open disregard towards them, it'll be much easier for them to act this way. Make no mistake, I'd rather things didn't come down to this.
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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
Human resources is a huge component of a company, and so you get various strategies and practices they will use to manage their personnel. In a down economy, things are tight and productivity demands are high. As a hiring manager you want people who are ready to hit the ground running. An already-employed person is more promising in this respect than an unemployed person. Think about it: would you rather pluck a productive employee out of another company and drop him or her into your company, or would you rather consider the someone who's been out of work for 8 months? You have one position to fill and it's to head up a department that's losing money, and the whole company is on track for a Q2 loss as it is. The new hire will be responsible for turning it around. The stakes are high. What do you do?
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It's all very sound from an economic point of view. And the example you've provided makes sense. But then - who is the person who has been unemplyed for 8 months? Provided he has relevant experience, I wouldn't be that quick to dump him because of whatever happened before. If you assume that unemplyed = bad employee, then there's a problem right there. Under these circumstances though, that usually is just not the case. It's just as risky with a person coming fresh out of another just - that person might be burnt out, or complacent, unimaginative, whatever. Unemplyment status is not a great filter these days.
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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
This is such a loaded statement that I don't know what to think of it. As for the internships, I wouldn't be surprised if companies aren't already doing more of it given the environment.
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It's a statement coming from my idealistic gut. It's something I try to go by, but obviously wouldn't force it on anyone - just the way I'd like to see things be. So, yes, loaded and personal. As far as internships go - there are some places that do this. From my point of view, however, there isn't any more internships available than before. Companies preffer to do what you say, because it's easier for them, and more profitable. But it does bring an element of hostility into the whole process, and that breeds hostility back - like lieing.