7 ms·

I find it disturbing that Ask the Recruiter tacitly assumes that 12 million unemployed versus 3.7 million vacant jobs implies there isn't a talent shortage. If

I find it disturbing that Ask the Recruiter tacitly assumes that 12 million unemployed versus 3.7 million vacant jobs implies there isn't a talent shortage. If we have 3.7 million job openings for rocket scientists and 12 million unemployed brain surgeons, then surely we have a talent shortage, no?

joshAg 14y ago
This might be a purely semantic argument, but I'd say in the example you provided, you have a skill shortage, not a talent shortage. If you provided training, I'm sure you could find enough brain-surgeons willing to train to be rocket scientists. Of course, that would require you to pay for their training and allow for months of lower productivity while they come up to speed, but that's still a better situation than 3.7 million openings and 0 unemployed.
- lessnonymous 14y ago
  The problem isn't filling the rocket scientist shortage with brain surgeon retrains. It's finding the unemployed shelf stacker who's really just 6 months of good training from being you rocket scientist. Otherwise you're just creating a shortage of brain surgeons. It's VERY hard to find quality developers. I agree with the article that HR is a huge problem, but I'm a hiring manager and I still don't see a great deal of quality. While it's not as extreme as shifting industry, I recently took the advice from a few HN threads I'd spoken up on and while I'm looking for a PHP developer, I didn't insist that PHP be one of the languages you already know. Did that work? No. I still didn't get an influx of quality applicants. I also said in the ad that I was more interested in a cover letter than a resume that shows where you've worked or gone to school, and I'm interested in your Stack Overflow or HN profile. In other words: I'd love to hire a hobbyist. But none of the 5% of this country's unemployed applied.
  - NoodleIncident 14y ago
    Well that's the point. Keyword-matching does require that you already know PHP; there's no regular expression for quality.
  - NkVczPkybiXICG 14y ago
    It might also be that you're looking for a PHP developer. Quality people tend to stay away from PHP.
    - lessnonymous 14y ago
      Unfortunately, I suspect you're correct.
Zigurd 14y ago
Almost every one of those vacant jobs has a offering price - a salary attached to it. so those jobs are only vacant at a price. That price may be unrealistically low. There is almost no cost, in any negotiation, to making a lowball offer. So you have to question how many of those jobs actually exist. Just as low-ball offers in a distressed real estate market are unserious, a job that cannot be filled at an insufficient salary isn't really a job.
- chii 14y ago
  outs interesting the reverse does not happen. why isn't there any workers posting a salary offer for doing a particular job and then companies select?
hardtke 14y ago
Even in a normal economy, we will have about 4 million job openings. People naturally leave their jobs for various reasons creating job openings. Similarly, even in normal economy we will have about 4 million people getting a new job each month.

joshAg 14y ago

This might be a purely semantic argument, but I'd say in the example you provided, you have a skill shortage, not a talent shortage. If you provided training, I'm sure you could find enough brain-surgeons willing to train to be rocket scientists. Of course, that would require you to pay for their training and allow for months of lower productivity while they come up to speed, but that's still a better situation than 3.7 million openings and 0 unemployed.

lessnonymous 14y ago
The problem isn't filling the rocket scientist shortage with brain surgeon retrains. It's finding the unemployed shelf stacker who's really just 6 months of good training from being you rocket scientist. Otherwise you're just creating a shortage of brain surgeons. It's VERY hard to find quality developers. I agree with the article that HR is a huge problem, but I'm a hiring manager and I still don't see a great deal of quality. While it's not as extreme as shifting industry, I recently took the advice from a few HN threads I'd spoken up on and while I'm looking for a PHP developer, I didn't insist that PHP be one of the languages you already know. Did that work? No. I still didn't get an influx of quality applicants. I also said in the ad that I was more interested in a cover letter than a resume that shows where you've worked or gone to school, and I'm interested in your Stack Overflow or HN profile. In other words: I'd love to hire a hobbyist. But none of the 5% of this country's unemployed applied.
- NoodleIncident 14y ago
  Well that's the point. Keyword-matching does require that you already know PHP; there's no regular expression for quality.
- NkVczPkybiXICG 14y ago
  It might also be that you're looking for a PHP developer. Quality people tend to stay away from PHP.
  - lessnonymous 14y ago
    Unfortunately, I suspect you're correct.

Zigurd 14y ago

Almost every one of those vacant jobs has a offering price - a salary attached to it. so those jobs are only vacant at a price. That price may be unrealistically low. There is almost no cost, in any negotiation, to making a lowball offer. So you have to question how many of those jobs actually exist. Just as low-ball offers in a distressed real estate market are unserious, a job that cannot be filled at an insufficient salary isn't really a job.

chii 14y ago
outs interesting the reverse does not happen. why isn't there any workers posting a salary offer for doing a particular job and then companies select?

hardtke 14y ago

Even in a normal economy, we will have about 4 million job openings. People naturally leave their jobs for various reasons creating job openings. Similarly, even in normal economy we will have about 4 million people getting a new job each month.