Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Ned Ludd salutes you.
He said it first, though.
The world's been going to heck for millenia yet somehow we muddle through.
Automation has been destroying the world for three hundred years yet somehow the standard of living keeps going up.
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Hmpf. With regard to jobs, I've been seeing a big shift. In the Netherlands, tertiary education is structured like this:
MBO level 1 to 4 (vocational school at different levels; but in practice, only level 4 is worth something most of the time)
HBO (University of Applied Science, grants bachelor and master degrees)
WO (Research University, grants bachelor and master degrees)
Ph.D. (Only possible after obtaining a master from a research university)
In the past, there were many jobs for which people at MBO level 2-4 could earn a decent living. If you had a bachelor or up, you'd be guaranteed a good job and an good to excellent salary.
Now, companies want only want bachelors and sometimes even masters for jobs that would have required only MBO level 4 in the past. Many people who only studied up to MBO level 4 work for minimum wage or slightly more.
Companies are going completely crazy here (in the south). Nothing is good enough for them anymore. To give you an idea with regard to a rejection I received a few weeks ago, trying to switch out of IT.
- Official IQ test made at company. Score: 137 (I typically score around 135, +/- 3 points, depending on the type of test and the particular day.)
- Education level: Master @ University of Applied Science. Second master at a research university is in progress.
- Work experience: 12 years
"Your test was quite OK, but average for our company. However, we have decided not to proceed with your application because you have no experience with the tools we use."
That's it.
So, an IQ of 137 is 'average', work experience is not 'good enough/wrong', and a master level education does not convince people you're able to learn stuff quickly. If I can study the basics of a completely new subject at university in 4-8 weeks, I'm sure I can study and learn how to use some tools used in a company, no? Apparently not.
If someone with my education, work experience and level of intelligence is shoved aside as average/not good enough, how is someone with an MBO level 1-4 or a bachelor or less work experience EVER find a decent job better than stacking crates in a factory?
The only people who are hired almost instantly are people having as low an education as possible, for factory work and such, for minimum wage, and people having a master at research university backed up with 10+ years of work experience.
Basically everybody else can shove it, if you're looking for a job that is only *slightly* different than what you've been doing for the last 10 years. ("Your work experience doesn't suit our company," or "Your profile is no match for our team" bullshit.) And salary? If you *are* hired, you'll have to be content with whatever the company offers you. Most of the time everything above €30-35K a year (gross) is frowned upon except for 'team leaders', 'managers' or 'chefs'.
To put this into perspective: €35K a year, including 8% vacation money, would come down to €32.407 without vacation money, €2700 gross a month, or €2000-2100 net a month. That's not a lot, if renting a small apartment in a *SMALL* city/town starts around €700. You'll have that €35K gross if you're *lucky*, and in one of the bigger cities.
There are so many people out of a job (even people with bachelor+ education) that companies are going completely berserk in their requirements for *any* job they have open.
And yes, I blame automation for this disparity.
Obviously, there are always exceptions, but this is what I'm seeing here in the south of the country. I'm not even out of a job and can't get to switch, for god's sake.