Manpower Search

• What kind of technology skills do these jobs demand? How many temporary vs. permanent jobs are listed? Do these look like good jobs to you?
• Write up a report of your findings, comparing the three places you investigated, for your discussion section blog.

The closest cities to where I grew up were all about an hour away so from Beloit, Rockford, Fort Atkinson, Kenosha, Mukwonago, Janesville, Crystal Lake. I was surprised that none of the large cities in the county I grew up in were an option. Therefore, I searched for job in and around Crystal Lake, IL. Not surprisingly, most of the jobs the search returned were relatively basic factory jobs, manual labor and some office related work: accounts received or customer service representative, truck driving, or design and engineering jobs. The types of technology skills these jobs demanded ranged from basic knowledge of a computer, ‘good PC skills’ to knowledge of engineering and design programs. When more advanced technology skills were required beyond basic functionalities of a PC, either a bachelor’s degree or some certification was needed or preferred. The job search for Madison returned, shockingly, similar jobs as  Crystal Lake, IL. Most of the opportunities were ‘blue collar’, assemblers, truck drivers, seasonal factory managers, but the few white collar jobs that were returned required more technological skills than my first search. If the tech skills needed went beyond ‘good PC skills’, the skills were required more expertise in Office Suite programs and/or were specialized for the job, managers, auditor, and the applicant required at least a bachelor’s degree. If the job skills required had MS Word and MS Excel under the heading, the applicant needing to have a basic proficiency, and an expert command was preferred. The last search I did was for London, England. The jobs returned were more technologically inclined, from administrative assistants to head of education to enforcement agents, the technology skills went beyond good PC skills to having a more technology skills, more specialized programs for the jobs. The candidate profile and skills either implicitly or explicitly required a basic set of computer skills, but almost every job listening stated to some extent, good communication skills, writing, oral, etc.. I find this interesting that from jobs ranging from factory manager to customer service manager to head of education to enforcement agent all explicitly require good communication skills in particular written communication. The technology skills looked for required and assumed possessed to some degree and the application specifying what additional computer skills are needed.

One commonality on these job listings as well as job listings for post-graduation jobs I have looked at all have good communication skills as a required skill. Yet, what is the standard for good communication skills? What is unacceptable? What is tolerated? Additionally, I see ‘good PC skills’ under job requirements all the time, yet I am always puzzled as to what the HR hiring managers truly mean by ‘good PC skills’ and to be proficient in MS Word and Excel. These are skills that are learned in primary and secondary education today, and definitely used in college education. However, I am always surprised by how little my friends know about what Excel can do. Will there be a time when these skills will be assumed, or will they always need to be listed just as ‘good communication skills, written and oral’ are? Does this imply something about the education the average person receives that the public system is not properly educating and preparing students, overall, on average to possess these skills?