> I will add my two cents for people who believe that this might be related only to the SWE and tangent industries: It's really not. I have many friends (in Europe) who are trying to get through to different jobs in unrelated industries ranging from finance to fashion, or just trying to get promoted vertically (or horizontally), failing rather miserably.
The weird thing (to me) is, though, that employers in EU countries and their lobby organizations still cry about lack of skilled workers, as if nothing has changed. Politicians are thinking about making work immigration more attractive. Is that not a complete disconnect from reality?
I think it is a disconnect from reality, but only I you’re looking at it as a clueless politician or as a worker.
As an employer, this is exactly what you want: desperate people who will jump through all your hoops because this is correlated with being docile, not wanting much money, being afraid of losing your job, working long hours without complaining about it or asking for more comp, etc.
There isn’t a skilled worker shortage. There is a shortage of skilled workers willing to endure all this BS, not getting paid enough for it, and asking for more of it.
Company owners know this. Politicians just want the donations to their parties. And screw you and me, we’re just little interchangeable cogs in their money making machines.
But are they not already at the stage (again) where they are drowning in applications, even for jobs with a comparably low salary and few benefits?
As for being afraid of losing your job - that is not so easy to pull off in most EU countries. Once you are in for a couple of years the risk of getting laid off individually is very small.
Sure, how many of these hundreds of applicants are actually qualified though? Since it’s really become a numbers game, and most available jobs are this kind of shitty BS requirements jobs, people who need to pay their bills spray and pray.
If these hundreds of candidates were qualified, it wouldn’t be a problem that there are hundreds; just pick 5 CVs randomly and you’ll find a fit. But that’s not what’s happening.
I'm sure more are qualified than they think. but as the other reply goes, it seems they aren't willing to dig during a gold rush for it. They just want to wait for someone else to uncover the purple squirrel, if it exists at all.
More applicants (even well-skilled ones) would only help if the ability of companies to identify the golden nuggets in the pile was high. I am not sure about that. ;)
There's a lack of skilled workers *willing to jump through their hoops*. For at third-world country immigrant, jumping through hoops is a first-world problem.
The weird thing (to me) is, though, that employers in EU countries and their lobby organizations still cry about lack of skilled workers, as if nothing has changed. Politicians are thinking about making work immigration more attractive. Is that not a complete disconnect from reality?