Mindset: The New Psychology of Success-Perfect Book for Recruiters and HR Professionals

The economy has improved since the great recession. The economic improvments have been very slow and the official unemployment rate has dropped to what most economists consider full employment.

Millions of workers lost jobs during the great recession. A large number who were laid off never found employment again over the course of the recovery. These former workers don't count as unemployed because they are not eligible for unemployment and they are not actively looking. They basically gave up.

As the official unemployment numbers dropped recruiters and HR professionals have complained of a labor shortage. They state that applicants don't have the skills necessary to fill their positions. There is no doubt many jobs have technical requirements that require specific degrees and work experience.
There are millions of unemployed workers with and without college degrees longing for employment.   I don't think the issue is with the candidate pool. The main issue is the people hiring have a fixed mindset.

I strongly suggest people in the hiring profession read the book Mind Set: The New Psychology of Success. If you read this book with an open mind you may discover there is no shortage of qualified workers. The problem may be you and your closed mindset not seeing the potential of candidates that are right under your nose. People can learn just about anything and your most talented and technical staff are capable of doing that training. Get rid of your closed mindset and take on the challenge of  training the people you really need to fill positions. People in the growth mindset don't shrink away from challenges. Challenge and stretch yourself. Put away all those manufactured job requirements made up by managers looking for dream candidates.

There are millions of workers of all ages who are not participating in the workforce today. Many are in their prime. A high percentage of these workers would thrive in learning the skills that are needed to fill your positions. They are determined to stretch themselves as workers. Are you willing to do the same type of stretching in your role?  Will it take time to train these candidates? Yes!  and when that training is complete you will have dedicated employees who will be open to change and stretching themselves in the future when new skills and abilities are needed.

People of a fixed mindset make themselves feel better when things are difficult by assigning blame. Are you blaming the candidate pool for your inability to recruit?  Stretch yourself as HR professionals and recruiters as you would expect employees to stretch themselves to learn and succeed in their job responsibilities. It's a win-win situation.

Become a growth minded HR professional. A good start can is by reading: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Millions of people like myself are counting on people who recruit and hire with the ability to think outside of the box. Good luck!!!

Good Jobs are Stolen Every Day and a Wall will NOT Help

The politics of fear and hate are crazy. Politicians and their followers ignorantly believe that building a wall will protect jobs for American citizens. In California one in ten service workers are undocumented. The jobs worked by this 10% of the population are in the fields, in the kitchen preparing food or washing dishes, gardening and just about every other job that most born in America workers are not rushing to fill.

What would happen in California for example if 10% of the workforce disappeared? How will those fruits and vegetables get to your table? Speaking of tables, how well do you think most restaurants will operate if most of their workers were to suddenly disappear? You think the U.S. will be better off? And that does not take into account how much these workers spend in the local economy. Low wage workers in general spend their entire paychecks in their local communities. Every dime goes to local businesses. Send these workers back to Mexico and elsewhere and your communities will suffer.

We fear the low wage earner, but want to increase H1B visas for tech workers who take high wage jobs from computer science graduates every year since about 1990. Huge high tech companies for decades have falsely stated that universities are not graduating enough science, engineering and IT students. This is pure and unadulterated bullshit. There has been a surplus of graduates in all those fields and they can't find jobs because large corporations would rather send these jobs overseas or hire someone with a H1B visa at much lower wages.

Those who are so worked up about jobs Americans don't want are very silent about high wage jobs being stolen and given away to foreign workers so corporations can boost profits and please share holders by keeping wages down. There are many PHD holders involuntarily working in other fields because they can't find work in high-tech, engineering or science.

The information highway and technical areas is where highway robbery is taking place and politicians on both sides of the isle are silent, but not ignorant about the thievery. To Hell with the damn wall on the Mexican border. It will be a huge waste of money. The good paying jobs are being shipped overseas or given away to those with H1B visas and no wall of any size is going to help. Congress and the President need to say no to the theft of high wage jobs.