Why Good People Can't Get Jobs

RF Cafe visitor Bob B. read a story I linked to (Why Bad Jobs - or No Jobs - Happen to Good Workers) and suggested it be featured more prominently. It has to do with the supposed difficulty employers are having finding qualified employees. IEEE's Steven Cherry talked to Peter Cappelli, author of Why Good People Can't Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It for some insight. Cappelli's opinion is that employers have created the myth based on unreasonable expectations. They tend to only want workers who have already done the exact job, not ones who are capable of doing the job. Internships, mentoring, and in-house training are deemed too expensive because of high employee turnover. Cappelli takes apart the argument of inadequacy of schools (vo-tech, college) and wage expectations. "Diamonds are very expensive. They cost a lot, but you can buy all the diamonds you want as long as you're willing to pay." - Peter Cappelli is a professor of management at Wharton.

Posted July 2012

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...