Job-seekers vs reality
I spent about 3 hours at the YUWIN Job Fair in Whitehorse yesterday, as a resource person at the Destination Carcross booths (seen in the photo below). It probably wasn’t productive, but it was interesting. There seems to be a pervasive feeling by job-seekers today that they’re doing employers a favour by coming to work for them, and that a starting wage of $20 an hour or more for unskilled jobs is reasonable.
Although there were a few flurries of activity, attendance was not impressive, though there were many booths offering jobs, from coffee shops to mining operations, stores of all types to tourism businesses. As well as just “jobs” being offered, there were career oppportunities from organizations such as the RCMP, Canadian Forces and Nunavut Health.
It quickly became clear that one of the major challenges in running a business today is getting and keeping good employees. That’s true whether your staff is seasonal unskilled help or highly-skilled. To some degree I’ve apparently bought into the “high wages” theory that’s so commonly held today, because I was surprised at how low the wages for many of the jobs are. At least one employer didn’t take the job fair too seriously, as the person manning their booth had only very sparse information on the jobs available – certainly not enough to interest the type of people that I would think they’re looking for.
The other thing that surprised me was how unprepared the majority of the job-seekers were. Not only physically unprepared by not having copies of their resume with them and dressing in a way that would impress employers (in the Yukon that doesn’t mean a suit, merely neat), but emotionally unprepared by not even attempting to be enthusiastic. In 3 hours only 1 young woman who came to our booth made me immediately decide that she belonged in a position that involved working directly with people in a meaningful way (such as tourism).
At least one person seemed to have discovered the problem of living in a small “town” like the Yukon. He claimed to have a skill that is highly sought by several employers. If he’s unemployed, there’s a good reason, and word travels quickly here.
If any of you are thinking about getting into business, or of expanding your business, you really need to think about the problem of getting good help. The job fair certainly made me glad that I scaled back my business a few years so that I no longer have to hire anyone.
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