Yesterday I was part of a tour in a local stainless steel manufacturing plant. A government official was with us, and asked the owner of the manufacturing plant how he found employees. The owner was truthful to the point of bluntness. He said it was difficult finding employees, because most applicants wanted desk jobs so they could sit behind a computer, instead of doing physical work, like welding stainless steel food processing units. This wasn’t a politically correct thing to say, and the government official glossed over it as quickly as he could. The government official wanted a different answer. He wanted an answer in which the manufacturer would say something, somewhere was underfunded by taxpayers. He didn’t want the manufacturer to imply the applicant was anyway, even partly, responsible for his joblessness. After a lot of coaxing and asking leading questions, the government official got the manufacturer to say that the technical schools couldn’t afford to buy scrap stainless steel (it’s more expensive than carbon steel) so the students couldn’t practice welding it. A lot of people in our society are in denial about the role of government and families. There are some things the government cannot impart, and a good work ethic is one of those things. Not talking about the truth helps no one.
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It’s not just the work ethic–I think most education in the past 40 years has prepared kids to seek white collar work rather than blue collar work. I can’t speak for the local schools (since I’m too new to have a child get through the high school yet), but most school systems with which I’m familiar cut back their technical offerings (like electrical shop, wood shop, and metal shop) in an effort to trim budgets. At the high school level, I believe these classes can be as important as they teach applied mathematics, physics, and even English (if the students need to document their work).
I’m the fourth of five sons. I’m the only one with a “desk job” (I’m in the information technology field). Three of my brothers are tradesmen (as was my father), and my younger brother has split his time between the trades and manufacturing. There have been many times (especially when needing to fix or repair the places where I’ve lived) where I wish I had a greater knowledge of the trades, but I’m very pleased with my current career track (though learning to weld sounds intriguing).
That’s not to say I started in some cushy desk job behind a computer screen. I started out as a self-employed computer tech, making a few dollars wherever I could. Eventually, I took on some contract work where I provided warranty service and network support across three states. I put in long hours and covered a lot of miles. In time, I ended up with my current employer (where I’ve been for the past nine years), but I also hold down a second job teaching technology at an area college. I still have my hands in a lot of technology, although most of my work is now through a computer keyboard and monitor.
Rather than simply pinning all this on work ethic, I think the lack of a good work ethic is a symptom of the root problem, not the problem itself. I believe the real problem relates to how most (but not all) younger people expect to have everything their parents acquired over 20 or 30 years during their first few years–whether as singles or as married couples. I’m not just referring to things like houses, decent cars, boats (I’m still waiting to get my first boat–something I’ve wanted for 20 years), and other material goods, but also the other things that only come after paying ones dues (so to speak): paid holidays, two or more weeks of vacation, decent health benefits, and, yes, even a desk job. Impatience and an “I deserve it” attitude seem to fuel a lot of issues.
I’ve been hoping to find work closer to my adopted home (I currently work in Minneapolis), but at this point in my life I am loathe to start over at the bottom of the ladder when I have a family to support and other financial obligations. To me, that’s the danger of working in the same place for a while: eventually, you’re there long enough that you are dissuaded to leave (that’s neither good nor bad, unless you have aspirations to continue to grow your career).
I made the choice to return to business school at the beginning of the year. I was surprised by the number of classmates that were motivated to earn a degree so they could “make the big bucks.” I wanted to learn a few things about business so I could do my job a little better. The money I make at my current job is decent, but there could be more options out there for me with a degree.
At the end of the quarter, there was time for reflection on where we wanted to go with our lives. I used that time to remind people that a degree did not guarantee happiness. I told the tale of the businessman that found he would rather haul trash for a living than sit inside an office. Students around me were appalled. “What is wrong with you!?” they hissed. “Are you sure you want to be here?”
I think I was a threat to their dreams. I stopped short of telling them higher education wasn’t worth the money in the long run if all they wanted out of it was more money. If all they wanted to do was sit in an office and order people around, they could find that sort of job without a degree. There’s more to this world out there.
The work force is trending towards a more educated worker. Gone are the days of walking into a business with no skills and a willingness to learn. Workers want to go into a job knowing what they are doing, and businesses aren’t as willing to take the time to train the right candidate. It costs too much money.
Today’s worker wants a career, filled with opportunity to grow and move up. Few are willing to take a job and be OK with it for an indefinite period of time. Businesses can’t promise every employee they will become President, so what is there to do? Such are the trials and tribulations of the modern business manager faced with worker-related issues.
My previous job experience will not automatically get me that job with that welding shop, even if I have the enthusiasm to learn the skill. The closest I come to being qualified for that job was the ten years in my youth when I was a smoker. In the time it takes the company to teach me enough about the trade to send me out on my own to do their business, I will have probably left the place to go back to what I was doing before I started the job there, and that’s only possible if the company didn’t let me go because the progress wasn’t fast enough for their standards. There’s nothing wrong with either scenario, it just stinks for both parties.
It will take a major overhaul in our society to change the perception of manual-labor jobs. When it becomes fashionable to lay tile for a living, then employers can take their pick with the best candidates out there. When kids are willing to build houses, drive trucks, lay bricks, or weld steel, then the markets will swing the way they were meant to, without help from the outside.