Monday, March 21, 2011

Must Hit the Ground Running

As you know, the Captain is fond of motorcycles. He owns one, drives one and it impresses the chicks (no, really, it does. I'm not joking, just buy one and save yourself the time and money going to night clubs, not to mention gas money).



And since I live in Minnesota, Sturgis, South Dakota is only a day's drive away. I've visited the Sturgis Rally twice now. Not on account I wanted to go to Sturgis, but because I love the Black Hill's area of South Dakota and Sturgis just happens to be there. But for whatever the reason I was there, there was something I noticed both times when I was;

there ain't no young people.

Oh sure, there's the occasional 35 year old there. And the 20 something couple there. But the VAST majority of people under 30 at Sturgis are simply there as wait staff and bartenders. They are not participants.

I found this odd on my little venture into Sturgis, my little Cappy Cap brain trying to find a reason for the lack of youth. And the answer quickly came to me as I headed out to Vanocker Canyon. For it was there, in its curvy valley, I was stuck behind Baby Boomer motorcyclist after Baby Boomer motorcyclist making their way through the canyon at 15 miles per hour.

Now keep in mind, your Captain has a dinky Ninja 250. The primary purpose for the purchase was fuel efficiency. So it should NEVER by the laws of physics be able to pass a 950 v-twin Harley. Of course it did because it was some 59 year old banker scared to shift into 3rd gear and actually accelerate above 45 MPH, but that isn't the point. The point is 90% of the people who own Harley's shouldn't be driving them, but they are the only ones that can afford them. And being the only ones that can afford them, they make up the majority of the participants of Sturgis.

It is because of this, Sturgis I predict will pass away with the passing of the Baby Boomer generation. They are the only ones in their prime earning years and are therefore the only ones who can afford Harleys. Or in other words;

Harley Davidson has failed to prepare for the next generation. Good luck finding a Harley that is affordable to the average 27 year old kid.

However, Harley Davidson is not the only company failing to account for a generation that will invariably pass.

Bosch, a division in which I am somewhat familiar with, has a plant where the "old timers" there are about the only ones in the nation who are trained to use the very unique and specific machinery. They have mentioned, on several occasions, how when they retire there will be no replacements available to do their jobs and that Bosch might want to consider hiring apprentices. Of course that went unheeded, and now the old timers know just to keep their mouths shut as it really isn't their problem.

Dayton, Ohio as well faces this problem where recently they had to lower the passing scores for their police entrance exam. The primary reason for this lowering of standards was NOT as the media may report to allow for more minorities to pass. The original impetus was a disproportionate amount of cops retiring. Again, nobody is grooming replacements.

Now I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Companies and institutions are failing to preparing for the passing of the current generation of managers, specialized employees and so on, and are merely waiting till judgement day to find replacements (kind of like social security - not until the 11th hour are we concerned about very real and immediate problems).

Which results in a phenomenon my younger Gen X and Gen Y economists no doubt are running into - the experience paradox.

In other words all jobs require X years of experience, even entry level ones, behooving the question of age old, "Well if nobody is going to give me experience, how do I get any?"

The answer is simple, you won't. But there is of course a consequence for our beloved Corporate America - they have irrational demands that will never be met.

Notice in the olden days they had these things called "training programs" where you could come out of high school, go into this "training program" and the company would "train you" to do the job.

You didn't have to go to college.

You didn't have to have a degree.

You just had to show up, have a good record and boom, off to work you went.

But now, you need to have years of experience, and not just years of experience, you must be able to train yourself. Thus inane requirements in job postings such as;

"Must be able to hit the ground running."

or

"Steep learning curve."

or

"Self-learner."

Your Captain routinely sees jobs requiring SAS experience. When he calls the employer and asks if they would be willing to train him in it (which would take a whole week), he is immediately dismissed as they need somebody NOW. Sure enough 4 weeks later the job is still open, when the Captain (or any applicant) could have been providing them 3 weeks of full service by that time. But again, I don't have an MBA, so what do I know.

Regardless, all of this translates into;

"We're too cheap to train you and frankly have become so cheap that we're now willing to sacrifice quality and profitability. Besides which, our managers don't like being bothered with petty BS questions you may have. Here's a training manual, figure it out yourself and don't bother us."

Of course the real world results are that of Sturgis, the Bosch plant, or the Ohio Police Department. A mad scramble that will come when they realize they haven't groomed or prepared any successors. Worse still, with progressively less and less effort and time dedicated towards training employees, as well as the general deterioration of loyalty Gen X and Gen Y have to employers, how precisely are you going to find those "loyal junior executives" to groom?

Oh, I know, they're out there, they're out there. But not in the number, nor may I say quality of previous generations. Not in part due to anything inherent with Gen X or Y (though I could see somebody making the argument for my generation being lacking in other areas), but because of an utter lack of resources spent on training and preparing them. It will be like the father who ignored his children for years, perhaps was an alcoholic, and not until he sobers up and his children are in their 20's or 30's, does he approach them and say,

"Hey, do you want to go camping?"

"Sorry, dad. I'm busy with work, and uh, who are you again?"


Translate that into the corporate rush to find new blood for managerial ranks in say the next 10-20 years;

"Hey, do you want to get promoted?"

"Sorry, I don't want to pay the taxes nor do I want the responsibility. I've learned to live on unreliable income and keep my expenses down. I have no children, no mortgage and no car payment, and therefore no responsibilities and have become accustomed to this non-rat-race life.


Besides, I don't know SAS."

22 comments:

  1. When your job ads read with the obvious subtext "if you haven't already worked here all your life, we won't consider hiring you", it's not exactly a big surprise that you can't find qualified people.

    The only reason I even know what the word "promotion" means in an employment context is because older people sometimes use it. One advances in a career by moving between companies. One stays two years for politeness, an extra one for interesting work or above-market wages, and two more for equity. Anybody sticking around longer than that who isn't already a top-level manager is just being stupid.

    If businesses were interested in having loyal employees, they'd have been far better served by being loyal employers. But the time for _that_ sort of behavioral signalling is long since past.

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  2. Anonymous1:48 AM

    This constant cry from the workforce of "I need training," is nothing more than a request for being paid a wage while sitting in a chair in front of some consultant.

    The apprentice model is the only one worth anything with the demise of the educational system.

    We learn best by doing along side someone that knows how and is doing.

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  3. Anonymous5:51 AM

    I'm reminded of an apocryphal MBA exam question given by the old and cynical professor.

    Basically it said: the aliens have landed and will let everyone live 500 years, have everything they want, protected from sickness, famine, etc... But in return when everyone drops DEAD in 500 years they get the earth. No pressure, if we said no, they'd bugger off and leave us to our own devices.

    A standard MBA analysis shows this as a wonderful thing. If you did it ( perfectly) you got a B-.
    To get B or higher you basically had to say "Pound sand, you mangy aliens."

    Students complained.

    Professors answer: Short term gain does not trump species survival, what kind of idiot sells out his species future?



    Apparently a fair number of MBA students have never really understood that the tools & models do not trump common sense.

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  4. How do you square your desire to see more telecommuting with the need for real training? Not that I disagree on training, although I blame MBAs less than HR...I remember in 1999 seeing jobs requiring 7 years experience in Java, a language only 3 years old but the HR book says "senior programmer has 7 years experience therefore you need to lie to get an interview".

    Still, training requires people be on site together learning. If telecommuting is only part time I can see this working but how do you train in a true no commuting environment?

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  5. HI Herb,

    Duly noted. Yes, some travel to an office or facility would be required for training (though a lot of it could be done online, and still from home).

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  6. Boy, really interesting post. I have been complaining for years of the lack of vocational schools. Education seems to be "college track" or "you figure out how to support yourself".

    I do know small businesses, such as A/C guys, who will take young people on and train them in exchange for, say, a two year commitment to stay. So, we do get those kinds of apprentice programs.

    I worked 30 years doing technical marketing and software installations for a large computer manufacturing company. Education was both paramount and continuing. The first couple of years, we got 10-15 weeks of training per year. After that, we could get a 3-5 class here and there on new software products. During one recession, the company tried to cut down on education because of the cost, but changed their mind when they realized that was the perect time for training because it did not take time away from major customer requirements.

    Worse, now, though is this trend toward not accepting applications from those who are not currently employed. That means that if you lose your job now, it is even harder to get a new one. You have to create your own job (and income).

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  7. Anonymous7:14 AM

    "Professors answer: Short term gain does not trump species survival, what kind of idiot sells out his species future?"
    And the answer is: ... 'Western women'

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  8. A friend of mine is a good electronics engineer in his mid-50s and has commented on the lack of competent younger people. He finds some in their 20s who have raw ability but aren't very good because they lack experience. Not much in between.

    The elder son of another friend wanted to become a brewmaster (a worthy ambition!). So somehow or other he has managed to apprentice at a large, old brewery in Bavaria. As part of his appenticeship he is required to take courses in brewing technology - typically, with 7-hour labs and such. He is in his third year and can apparently already produce prize winning beer.

    At least we know that German will continue to produce good beer!

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  9. John,

    GOD BLESS HIM!

    And I'm an agnostic who hates god!

    Cpt.

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  10. @John
    The Germans have a booming economy for reasons like that (which probably explains why they're the ones bailing out Europe).

    @Herb & Capt
    It seems like you almost have to have an internship before you can get a job. Since experience is ultimately better than classroom instruction (for me anyways), I'd almost recommend this for people who insist on not going to college. If you do insist on college, make sure you do an internship while you're there, the more the better really.

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  11. When I was 20 I had a summer job working for an embroidery company. Crappy job - low pay, terrible hours, joyless boss *and* I got laid off 3 weeks before I had to go back to school and had to scramble for more work to pay for books, etc. For a significant part of the summer, we put cheap black and red crotchless panties into hoops and sewed a Sturgis rose on them to make them ready for all the happy, slappy Sturgis patronettes. It made an impression on me.

    Ah, youth.

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  12. Anonymous3:08 PM

    As a boomer, I for one will be glad to see the aging hippie-biker-banker schmoes go the way of the dodo.

    I am incredibly fed up with baby boomer radio stations (as though the 60's and 70's were the only decades to produce music). I am tired of aging rock bands who have not done an album in 15 years doing a "re-union tour".

    Great post Cap.

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  13. Whoa whoa whoa, wait!

    They had music in the 60's and the 70's?

    I thought it was just a bunch of pot heads OD'ing and dying on toilet bowls.

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  14. Anonymous5:41 PM

    Corporations are becoming more and more retarded. My buddy works for AT&T as a contracted web developer. They're paying him over $100K a year but refuse to supply him with his own PC, preferring to bounce him from crappy old hardware to even shittier hardware on a daily basis. Fifteen inch CRT's and multiple minute wait times to open applications for someone they pay ridiculous amounts of money per hour. He's offered to telecommute so he can be home on his $4000 gaming rig and get his job done much more efficiently, but they continue to require him coming in and wasting time every day while they find him a station and get him set up. Needless to say he's looking for a new job that pays less but offers more. Sad, if they had spent $1500 on a new PC or allowed him to telecommute he'd have been perfectly happy there too.

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  15. BoozeHound5:47 PM

    I've been in sales for almost 20 years and, due to the lack of loyalty from my previous employer, I am unemployed and looking for a job right now. It's amazing how many job postings I see that are looking for super-specific qualifications. Also, many sales jobs I run across are commission only. Or even better, I came across a listing for a sales position with a base salary for the first year plus, at which point, it is assumed you would be making enough commission to drop the salary and be paid commission-only. Sounds good on the face of it but the catch is that you must PAY BACK THE SALARY THEY PAID YOU, so in effect, they want you to work for free for the first year to year and a half. Do these employers think they are engendering any type of loyalty from their employees? I just don't get it. I'm in no rush to jump back into the corporate world, I've been working part time in a wine shop and get my booze for wholesale cost!

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  16. Captain, I would like to comment on your opening point regarding the Sturgis rally, and the lack of younger people. I have observed this in recreational aviation as well. I attended a convention of Cessna Cardinal owners and of about 100 aircraft that showed up, 97 of them were piloted by white men older than me (I'm 49), two by white women, and one by a white guy younger than me. I hear this sort of thing is happening with other activities that require some money, but also time and effort. Sailing is one.

    I don't think it's all about the money. My theory is kids these days are so absorbed by video games and text messaging that they literally use up all available mental energy on these completely frivolous activities.

    Have you read Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke? Earth is visited by a far more advanced race of beings whose job it is to usher in a new phase of humanity, which is some kind of group mind that is utterly alien to the existing generation of humans - all of whom will soon be extinct. I kind of feel that way, although I believe the next phase will not be an improvement.

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  17. A lot of MBA hate out there. I admit most of my fellow MBA's are dumb, but some of us have brains.

    Captain, you hit the nail on the head. This is why I expatriated myself. That and North American women are shrill harpies. Not much better elsewhere though.

    I might return in 5 years when I feel homesick.

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  18. Anonymous10:32 PM

    @ Second Anonymous: I like the MBA question. Basically it boils down to those who aim for their own short term gratification and those who aim for the long term beyond their own lives. Its the latter who you want a running a company because they'd aim for the future.

    @ Fourth Anonymous: The 60s and 70s produced far better music than gets produced today.


    - Breeze

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  19. sth_txs5:05 AM

    Man, thanks for the 'inspiration' Captain. Anyway, some good reasons why I'm glad to have a state govie job - for now.

    Better time off, sick leave, and oh, I'm single and responsible only to my self. Yes, I've worked in the private sector and I was not too inspired.

    Some of the job descriptions you see at corporate sites must have been written by committee or some nonthinking liberals arts major in HR. I remember applying some years ago to an 'entry level' position and then answered a series of online quesitons such as 'do you have 5 years experience?'.

    Oh well, as you say, enjoy the decline.

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  20. Found on http://fiatsfire.blogspot.com/

    Mass. job fair canceled because of lack of jobs

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  21. Anonymous5:59 PM

    The previous company I worked for (a financial services firm) has this problem big time and is an excellent microcosm of corporate America as a whole. All the people who know what they are doing are on the older side of things, and are also seriously overworked and have no time to pass their knowledge on to us. They will take their retirements as soon as they can afford to and the company will be left with nothing – not even the basics to handle day to day operations. Most companies I have seen consist of a cadre of overworked, burned-out older guys doing most of the work, and a small number of overworked, in experienced young guys doing the rest, who have like 18 million percent turnover...

    In 10 years, who are they going to find to take these severely over-houred, stressful, senior developer, product lead, and management positions? Single people (an increasingly large percentage of the american populace) don't need the money, and don't want to the (insane) work hours, workload, or stress. Corporate America is seriously overplaying its’ hand in the labor market right now, with downsizing, layoffs, and massive overwork on the remaining employees. Older married guys with mortgages on 5,000 sq ft houses in exclusive suburbs and 2 kids in college getting worthless English majors or other non-STEM degrees have to take that abuse since they need the high salaries and financial security - younger, single guys, not so much...
    I gotta quote the captain here – “enjoy the decline”

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  22. I ran into something interesting on a temp assignment back in the 1990s. I'd been sent to the client, which was a mail order computer place. They had Apple computers there. I'd never worked on an Apple prior to that point; I learned computers later in life (graduated HS the year before the IBM PC changed the world), and all of my experience was in a PC/Windows environment.

    As a favor, I asked the woman in charge of the customer service group if I could have 1/2 hour or so, do a tutorial, or otherwise familiarize myself with the Apple OS and UI. She said no way. I called my agency, told 'em what happened, and that I was leaving. My counselor begged me to stay on, but I said no. I wanted to at least have a CLUE as to what I was doing, so I could provide value to the client (my employer); after all, that's why you're on a job in the first place: to help the employer/client. That company is no longer in business today...

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