Wrapping it all up....in pretty christmas wrapping paper...just in time for the holidays.

Throughout our travels through Editorial Land, we found many articles on outsourcing. It seems to us that, as crazy as it sounds, people are very interested in hearing about whether or not they'll have a job in the future. We here at gotwork(unincorporated) think that its odd how people always blame outsourcing when they lose their job. Its never a decline in quality of workmanship, showing up to work on time, or any of those factors. Its always some guy in India that stole our work. Most articles that we read actually said that outsourcing wasn't that bad. Even articles that weren't totally dedicated to defeating the outsourcing media bandwagon, did admit that maybe outsourcing wasn't to blame.
In a different color wrapping paper(a lame substitute for the different note cliche), we found lots of articles on college students and jobs...or lack thereof. Many college students are getting greedy and thinking that they might actually get a good job and pay back student loans. Turns out that the job market doesn't think that would be fair :(. There are some articles that seem like a light at the end of the tunnel. Jobs are actually going up for college students, according to these articles. Its weird how two articles can go two totally different ways on the exact same subject. Tomato..tomato. Trust me it works if you hear it.
So, in the end we've learned many things. Outsourcing is overused, college students may or may not be getting jobs when they graduate, and we use way too many cliches when writing.

college job market

This article is really interesting about how future college professionals view the job market. Many belief that just because they just got out of college that this brand new 80,000 dollars a year job will land in ther lap. I know I was always told growing up to go to college because i will get a good job then. Thats not necessarily true anymore. Everyone goes to college so it isn't like having a leg up on anyone anymore. I heard on the radio the other day that people who don't got ot college can sometimes actually have the advantage over those who choose education first. That 4-8 years spent ini school could actually be spent working if that person could find a decent job. (the decent job part is the catch). Anyway, students also are used to this lifestyle in college of no worries and no real responsibilies other than going to class. For most graduates it is a huge wake up call to get out into the real world and most end up going back home and living with their parents beacuse they have no job and can't support themselves. It's also a false image that a lot of celebrities give out. Take Labron James, Jessica Simpson, etc., they are young adults who are making millions of dollars a year. For some reason many other people believe that kind of money is to be made by all people, specifiacally that person. Theire standards are just oo high for the job market. I mean, really, how many people actually make that kind of money...

Market blah blah blah

Wow! Another article, another day. Ther author of Market Fundamentalism does seem to bring up alot of good points in his article. He believes that people are selfish and greedy adn only want to help themselves. Wait, sounds familiar...founding fathers maybe. Anyway, he also believes that a free market economy is destructive, and to maintain a laissez faire government will hurt the economy in the long run. (So I guess he wasn't a big fan of Adam Smith.) It makes sense to me that regulations always need to be put in place just set guidelines. Hey, we have law that set guidelines for our country so everyone doesn't go around killing everybody else just because they feel like it. I totally agree with the fact that minimum wage needs to be enforced so people who are really desperate for money and work don't get the shaft from some greedy and mean employer. But what I really don't get a total grip on is his bash on tax breaks. I mean I'm all for getting money back from the government because it's not like I don't work one day out of five for the government to pay taxes or anything. Tax breaks can really help stimulate the economy by allowing employers especially to hire more workers and people to save or circulate that money into the economy. This guy just sopunds to me like a man who needs to sit bak and relax for a sec, adn take a breather. Way too uptight...

GT prez

I thought that Wayne Clough really brought up a lot of good points in this interview. He really focuses on the fact that the economy goes through ups and downs, but everyone needs a stronglobal economy overall to really help drive individual countrys' economys to higher places. He was definitely right about outsourcing not being counterproductive, in my opinion, and backed it up with useful information about the global economy. For instance, it makes sense not to force companies to base locations and force jobs in the US if they aren't naturally occuring. All that leads to is eventual ans inevitable loss of all those jobs at one time, versus slowly sending them in overseas and replacing that job with another job. I liked that he focuses too on students and potention job marketers to evaluate their plans in life and pick something suitable to the economy at that time. The economy is always changing and new technology is always developing. Like Clough said, there are too many smart people in America for companies just to stop coming here or basing here. But likewise, there are many other people around the world that are just as intelligent. I just really liked that idea that not every smart personm in the world is in America so of course not all jobs are here.

Good News for Graduates

The article "Promising Job Market for Graduates" is optimistic about the job market for recent and upcoming graduates. Thirteen percent more college graduates are expected to be hired in 2005 than in 2004. The increase in employment is due to a more productive economy (in some fields) and more workers leaving the workforce for retirement. The article focused mainly on employment growth occuring in fields requiring a business, language, science, or other non-tech degree. However, this should not be disappointing to most tech students because the article portrayed growth in employment in the technology sector as common knowledge and not worthy of reporting.

Fields hungry for new graduates, such as healthcare, are offering to pay back student loans or pay for one's education entirely in exchange for a few years of work after graduation. The job market seems to be looking quite good for some graduates. Though growth in employment for graduates is expected to rise, it does not, by any means, ensure graduates a job. Today's workplace is quite competitive, and so one must distinguish themselves from the thousands of other graduates with the same credentials. The abundance of jobs also does not foretell higher wages or better jobs for graduates. There are only more jobs available.

charleston.net says i'm getting a job. tongue sticking out must ensue.

Good news for once. I love optimism. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside. Is it because the elections are over, or maybe because of many upcoming retirees. Maybe I don't care cuz I'm getting a job. Yes. Money. It really is good to here someone talking about employment, and not here outsourcing. I didn't a ctrl+f on the site, outsourcing was not in the article at all. Or india. What a releif. The word jobs appears 3 times, money appears once. Those are the words I like to here. Good job Charleston.net. Maybe ITworld, or whatever it was that I blogged about earlier, should take some lessons from you. If there was an emoticon with thumbs sticking up that I knew how to do, you would get it. But seeing as how I don't, you're out of luck. Thanks anyways.

new....news. wow. that was weird.

Wow. As if noone had told me that outsourcing was bad, or employment was declining, or the tech industry wasn't doing as hot as it should be... here comes an article that tells me all of that. Thank god. Cuz you can never get enough of THE SAME OLD NEWS AGAIN AND AGAIN. Ooops. Caps lock came on, my bad. Ok they do have some numbers. Thats good. At least it wasn't a total waste of my time. But wait. Good news. There are some jobs that have gone up. Good news considering that they had a decline in the first qua...oh wait. They may not have had a decline. Sampling error. Wow. Even the data, the one saving point of the article, seems to be flawed. Man, maybe this was a complete waste of my time. Ok, maybe prestigious websites such as ITworld.com shouldn't put up information everyone else is putting up. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of this outsourcing bandwagon everyone is jumping on. Why can't we get news. Look at the first three letters. New. That's what keeps people interested. NEW NEWS. Odd how well those two words go together.

Japan's Unemployment Rises

In this article, it discusses how Japan's economy is starting to look worse and worse, a trend which started a few months ago. It says that the economy can't depend soley on consumer spending for growth. Japan relied on consumer spending to sustain a recovery in the third quarter since overseas sales decreased and global demand declined. Also, as wages started to decrease so has the demand for goods. Wages have declined for all but four of the past 44 months because companies cut costs by replacing their full-time workers with part-timers, who are paid less often. Japanese companies depend on demand forom the U.S. and other overseas markets to drive sales. That means that since Japanese markets are faltering, the U.S.'s will soon follow because there is a decrease in our demand for goods and services. Soon, the U.S. will find itself in a similar place Japan is in, with lower wages and less consumer sales.

President of the Georgia Institute of Something Or Other

This isn't really an article as much as its an interview. But hey, look who they're interviewing. The president of some Georgia Institute of Technology. I've always wanted to go there. Maybe we can have a field trip one day before finals. Anyways, Cnet and this guy sit down and chat about the tech industry and employment in it. I think that this guy's credibility has to be way up, so its gotta be a good article. I'm not sure I even tried to find flaws in his arguements. I figured if anyone's gonna know what he's talking about. Its gonna be him. At the end he starts talking about some ideas to start up industries by getting the public to take a stake in the industry. Sounds sort of socialistic. But hey if it gets me my job here in America, then I'm cool with it. They talk about the ever-present threat of *dum dum dum* outsourcing. *hisssss hissss hissss* Research and Development(or R&D as they put it) is brought up alot. Seems that development has slowed since the Cold War, and that's why industry is declining. No more commies to kill and look what happens to us. Come here Putin.

The new generation of jobs

I totally agree with the Generation Y article. It si so true that flexibility is really taking over and becoming more important than money. I know for me one of the main reasons I love my job so much is because it is about as flexible as they come. I work for a chain of Gold's Gyms as a trainer and Group Fitness Instructor. I pick what times I want to train and choose what classes I want to teach. It is great because I can go to school at the same time without conflicts. I could probably find some tech job that I could make twice as much money, but there is no way it would be as flexible. I think also people are starting to realize that money doesn't necessarily buy happiness. At a former job, one of my bosses just quit because she didn't feel like she spent enough time with her family and church because she was always at work. Yes she made a lot of money, but money didn't buy her time. Especially for the generation Y, it doesn't matter how much money you make, if you can't work AND go to school, what good does it do?

Media Success Status: Nearly Unobtainable

In the article “Get-rich-fast ideal, celebrity culture lead 20-somethings to frustration” Don Fernandez argues that the media has so heavily influenced generations X and Y that once they leave their bubble shelters many of them experience a “quarterlife crisis.” He argues that the media has prepared them for an easy life where wealth and good living come easy, but instead they should have been preparing for hard work and a “not so dreamy” lifestyle. The author also says that the people of generations X and Y have had a lack of “monumental social change” which has given the media an even greater influence, since there was nothing to compete with it. The ideal lifestyle portrayed by the media would be great, but through the study of economics we can clearly see that what the media says is success will never belong to everyone because there is simply not enough resources to satisfy the needs, let alone the wants of these media raised generations. This article presents a nice point about why the job market looks so bad, and it is because the people who are saying that it is bad are those who want it to be perfect and are critical of anything but perfection. This generation had the idea that once they graduated from college they would get jobs and live happily ever after, but as they can see, many of them will have no such luck.

Jobs are on the Way!

Kris Wise, writer for The Post and Courier of South Carolina talked about how the job market for graduates is improving and has been improving since last year. Across the nation the amount of jobs available to graduates will increase by 13 percent, an increase from the already rising percentage of 2003. According to the National Association for Colleges and Employers, the amount of jobs being offered by employers to graduates increased in 2003 by nearly 13 percent. Overall, the author does a good job of showing that the economy is on a steady rise which should give graduates hope. He uses heavy statistical data to show that what he is saying is true, then adds quotes to certify that others share his opinion, to show that it is not just some crazy theory he dreamt up. This article by Kris Wise is an article meant to give a bit of hope to graduates by showing that with a little effort, they can easily get a job.

Jobs No Longer Rule Everyones Lives?

In the article posted by Cody, “The Young and The Restless,” Samuel Greenard argues that the new generation of workers, dubbed “Generation Y” is searching for qualities in the workplace very different from those their parents were searching for. According to him this generation is not focused solely on money but instead on how the job would affect their lifestyle and how it could benefit them on their way to the occupation of their dreams. What this group between the ages of 16 and 24 wants is to have the balance of work and leisure that has been sought after for so long. What everyone wants is to be able to have and do everything they desire but because of the lack of resources there is no way that this is feasible, so people turn to the next best thing, the perfect combination of an enjoyable job with the pay to allow for their lifestyle activities of choice. This is the brilliant philosophy that has become widespread and understood by the people of Generation Y, and it is because of the deep grasp of this concept that this generation has the best chance so far of maintaining a productive and innovative job market.

Not the First Time This has Happened

This article written by Greg Schneider is another one of those depressing stories about how the IT job market is failing. The reason for this failure, however, is that the market made great progress and advances in technology. Because of this, it has become inefficient and anti-cost effective to hire so many people. Such leaps in computing have been made that now a small group of skilled workers can accomplish more than ever before with the help of the new and continually improving computers and software, which means that too many people might actually slow down the efficiency of the company and would definitely reduce profits. Although this means that IT is becoming more productive than ever, it also means that many people will be out of jobs, many of whom will have sad stories such as the one David Packman has. What is happening here is not anything new though, as it has happened before, just under slightly different circumstances. This is comparable to the days when steel mills and other factories provided much of the employment for many parts of the country; eventually new machinery was able to do the jobs of many while requiring few employees. Now with the new computer age, the same thing is happening, and people will just have to adapt as the steel mill and factory workers did in previous times.

The Harsh Economy and Migrant Programmers

In the article Slowdown Forces Many to Wander for Work, Schneider discusses the difficult times that employees in information technology jobs are currently facing. During the 90's, the number of tech jobs skyrocketed and provided millions of Americans with a stable source of income. However, the article confirms the recent stir about the decline of tech jobs. IT employees receive a salary above the national average, yet some white-collar IT workers have been reduced to migrant workers by harsh economic conditions. From other articles I have read, tech jobs are supposed to continue to grow. In fact, IT jobs were listed as one of the career fields expected to grow most rapidly between now and 2012. The article provided statistics suggesting that the number of jobs and the real income in the IT field are decreasing.

Job Specifications for Generation Y

The 16 to 24 age group desires very different qualities in a job than older members of the American work force. "The Young and the Restless" discusses the desires of so-called Generation Y. The traditionally essential values for a job are pay and opportunities for advancement. However, one of the top concerns for young workers is flexibility. I can definitely understand the need for flexibility. A rigid schedule can be difficult to follow, especially while going to college. Another major value for Generation Y employees are the added perks that make a job cool. Such perks include employee discounts, food, and even drycleaning. Young works are unlike their older counterpart because they do not aspire to hold a single job for their career, but rather, many diverse jobs as they work toward their desired occupation. Companies must appeal to theinterests of members of Generation Y by offering freedom and independence in order to gain competant workers.

Pop Culture vs. Job Market Realities

I found the linked article "Get-rich-fast ideal, celebrity culture lead 20-somethings to frustration" to be thought provoking because it analyzed ideals and the mindset of modern culture instead of trends and statistics. The article quotes one of my favorite movies, Fight Club, where Tyler says something about being raised by the media to believe that one day we’d be millionaires and movie gods and rocks stars. However, he goes on to say that we won’t be and we’re very, very pissed off. I think that many recent college graduates are very, very pissed off because they cannot find the job that they were virtually promised by society and television. They have spent a great deal of time and money on a piece of paper that is a decoration instead of a ticket to a dream job. Unemployment is up, and the jobs that are available will not make one a millionaire any time soon. The materialistic hype of many contemporary television shows, such as “Cribs”, mislead Americans into believing in a nearly impossible dream. Once again referring to Fight Club, our generation had no great war or struggle as those generations did before us. Instead, our lives have been almost entirely focused on pop culture.

Maybe it is not the job market that is bad, but rather, our expectations are too high to be conceivable. Many of those in search of jobs expect a rewarding job with good pay. Most jobs suck incredibly bad to those conditioned by pop culture to strive to be a rock star or movie god. Sometimes one must start at the bottom of the career ladder, like it or not.