Blog #13
The Quiet Employment Revolution
One of my students recently asked me what the best lighting
would be for an interview.
I thought he meant for doing an interview for TV.
No, I found out he was going to be interviewed for a job via the personal web-cam on his
computer. (Apparently, those who can't handle this kind of thing don't
even need to apply.) It was about then
that I wrote and article on doing web-cam interviews. (See below.)
During the interview he
was asked a variety of questions on his knowledge of computers and computer
programs. As a further test, when he was finally interviewed in person he had to
write, print out, and submit the answers to questions -- via computer.
Although this may seem like some severe
hurdles, you have to remember that these days (with the teen employment rate
the highest in history) jobs are as scarce as hen's
teeth. With scores of applicants for every opening,
employers can be very choosy.
Any more, you can't get the latest information in most classrooms.
Things are moving too fast for schools (and teachers) to keep up. So in some
respects you
are own your own.  | 
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This doesn't mean that education is not important; in fact, you
can't  even
be considered for anything more than a minimum wage job unless you are at
least a high school graduate.
Note in the graph on the right that high-school dropouts constitute nearly half of the
out of work people in the United States.
Even people applying for positions at my
local Walmart, must fill out an application on a computer-like device.
I've often seen people laboriously hunting-and-picking their way through the
typing process.
Note in the graph that the unemployment rate drops with each year of
education. For most good jobs college graduates go to the top of the stack of
applicants.
I remember that in my own job interviews in broadcasting I was
thoroughly quizzed on developments in the field. The assumption was that
anyone who was serious about the field would keep up on things.
Then we had "the trades" (professional magazines and
journals); today we also have the Internet. It's all there; you just have to
do a bit of searching for what you feel you need to know.
This brings us to some demographics -- and some strong
indicators about the people who are getting today's desirable jobs.
The things we are talking about here can make the difference between
low-paying, low prestige jobs -- the kind you may dread going to each
day -- and jobs that will give you the lifestyle advantages you desire.
The decisions you make at this point in
your life (and the effort you put into them) can make a lifelong difference.
What you don't want to do 10 or 20-years
down the road is
look back an say, "If I had only...."
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