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Saving Snowflakes May Save the Country
I know: some of you are rolling your eyes at the OP title, but believe it or not, it’s our patriotic duty to do what we can to transform the snowflakes into Samsons. Given our current economic situation, we have no choice.
Taking a national view, we are enjoying not only the lowest unemployment rate since December 1969, but we are short of workers : the number of job openings in March 2019 rose to 7.5 million (an increase of 346,000). Many seniors are retiring and returning to work , but those numbers are increasing slowly.
So now what? We could talk about immigration, but none of us wants to go there. I guess we’ve run out of resources unless we consider our snowflakes . . . er, graduates.
The downside, I probably don’t have to tell you, is that many of these “graduates” will make the worst employees. They’ve had parents who have over-protected them, colleges that don’t have meaningful expectations, professors and administrators who reinforce the belief that the world is extremely dangerous and as a result, students have withered into helpless, powerless, fearful, threatened human beings. These are the people whom we need in our workforce? I say, yes! Only we will have to do our best to whip them into shape, in spite of all the damage that has been done to their psyches, values and work ethic. We do this by providing them the tools to meet our expectations and demanding that they be decent performers in the workplace. The first steps will take place before the students graduate.
First, we inform parents that if they want their kids to survive in the real world, their kids must meet certain requirements. Parents must tell them these requirements before the kids graduate. I call them requirements, because these statements will be more than expectations. Expectations explain to the other person what we would like her to do, but whether she complies or not is up to her. This is not one of your multiple-choice tests: there’s only one right answer, and that student’s answer is “yes”: parents must tell their students that within one year after graduation, they must find jobs and be out on their own. All of them should sign a “contract” and sign it in blood (just kidding about that part). No begging or pleading will change that. The job does not have to be up to the graduate’s standards. It doesn’t have to be a mid-management position. It can be flipping hamburgers and delivering pizzas: the graduate may need to take both jobs to earn enough money to move out. And moving out could mean renting a room in a family’s home with kitchen privileges, or getting roommates. See, there are lots of options. But whether or not the graduate moves out is not one of them.
Second, before graduation, the student will take at least one you-tube class on how to prepare a resume, how to dress for an interview, and how to present oneself well to a prospective employer. These classes also teach not only how to get a job, but what to do to keep the job. (More on this when I talk about employers.) It won’t be the parents’ jobs to monitor whether their kids watch these classes. If they don’t, they’ll learn the hard way that they actually don’t know anything.
Third, employers will have to toughen up on their expectations of new employees, even if they are desperate to hire new people. They may be tempted to hire people who are clearly irresponsible, uninterested, and self-centered, and who give every indication that they don’t care about being a good worker. In case you’re not currently an experienced employer, desperation about filling positions will likely lead to nightmares. One website describes what can happen when you try to make allowances, tolerate poor performance and irresponsible behavior:
We hired an employee who seemed like he would be a great fit. Two days before his agreed upon start date, he called and asked if his start date could be moved back a week. We agreed. His new start date arrived, but the employee did not. We called, left messages and sent e-mails with no response. We waited an additional week, thinking maybe he miscommunicated, and meant the following Monday. Still no employee. Again, calls, messages, emails with no response. We moved on, interviewed again, hired someone else. Two months later, the no-show candidate called and asked if he could start now, he had to leave the country for an emergency, and wanted to start. He did not, however, have an answer to ‘Was the destination without cell coverage entirely?’ Phantom candidate.
I’m not saying that an exception shouldn’t be made for a new hire, but these people need to know the job expectations from the start, before they are hired. If they act insulted with your providing them a list, don’t hire them. If they are in humble agreement, you may have a winner. The key is that you must—must—let new hires coming out of college know that this is a whole new ballgame. You are not doing them any favors by pandering to them, ignoring their poor behavior or allowing poor performance.
Keeping tabs on the performance of new hires out of college is extremely important. There is a difference between making mistakes due to being new to the job, and repeatedly making mistakes because you’re sloppy; a manager needs to learn how to tell the difference, and you need to let people know when they’re work product is poor or that they are having attitude problems. Tell them right away. Neither your prayers nor ignoring them will improve the situation. You owe them—yes, owe them feedback if they aren’t doing the job. And if the problems continue, tell them good-bye. (This also assumes that you provide training, give them ample time to learn the job, and ongoing coaching. And don’t forget to document performance issues.)
On the other hand, the egos of new college graduates may be a bit fragile, and some supervisors and managers are lousy at giving positive feedback. (As a consultant, I just wanted to twist a person’s nose when he said he didn’t need to praise people for just “doing their job.” Hogwash. All of us can use positive feedback, especially when we are doing a decent job at the start with the difficulties of the learning curve. And when we’ve been doing the job well for a while, we have earned kudos.
* * *
I realize that everyone involved in these efforts will have excuses for not doing them: the students will say they already know everything, and they will only take a job that meets their standards; the parents will wring their hands and say that they can’t let their kids fight off the cold, cruel world alone; and employers will say that it’s all too much trouble. The only thing I can tell the students is that they will never be successful if they don’t take these first steps; tell the parents that they will continue to cripple their children mentally and emotionally if they don’t take these tough steps; and tell the employers that the opportunity to hire more people will only be a benefit if they set appropriate standards and stick with them.
The only way of transforming the damage that has been done by parents, schools and teachers, and to build a successful workforce. is for everyone to do their part. Not only will we gain a dynamic workforce, but we will build a thriving America.
It’s time to step up.
Published in Culture
A friend of mines daughter just started a McDonald’s this summer. She has missed about half her work days for a multitude of reasons from no gas, female issues, etc. they gave her a raise and a bonus. Go figure.
Great article. Thanks.
I don’t get it, @fakejohnjanegalt. I know those jobs have high turnover, but why we reward those actions is beyond me.
Graduates with degrees in “grievance studies” will be absolutely toxic to any work environment.
Maybe employers will need to screen for that! I’m serious. Just ask what the person studied; you don’t have to say why you didn’t hire them.
I know the odds of this happening are small, and everyone involved will be reluctant to do their part. But does anyone have a better idea? Can we afford to throw away this resource available right here, in spite of how difficult it might be to make it happen?
Obtaining information is not free. When a candidate is considered for a job, the would-be employer needs to find out whether he or she will make a good employee. This has become harder to do now that proofs of “education” have become worthless. As a result, some companies have begun to rely on internships. They employ candidates for some period – say six months – to determine whether they’re worth hiring. All this makes the transaction costs of obtaining employees much higher, resulting in lower employment.
Worse, though, are the millions of high school and university graduates who have been defrauded. They were told that they were being educated, when really they were being little more than babysat. Rather than being better equipped to face the world, they were knowingly and systematically made unfit.
Here in the FL Panhandle it’s cooking – 90F and we haven’t had rain for weeks and none predicted – the bugs and grasshoppers are chewing up my garden for moisture – I have to water twice a day and refill the bird bath constantly – they fight for a dip even when its warm and mucky – then we have yellow flies that pack a powerful bite and welt – they come out of the swamps to ruin every beautiful May – we have jelly fish and man ‘ war s in the Gulf – sigh – So when I saw the headline and the pretty snow flake – I was relieved to read something about snowflakes and cool temps – the snowflakes you speak of will have to figure out real life like the rest of us had to do – I’m sorry but I don’t feel sorry for that generation – at all – they’ve had it easier than any generation prior – certainly our parent and grandparents.
I’ll go there.
Even with record numbers of employment, there are pockets of citizens who cannot get jobs. I’m thinking of urban youths who want out of their bad situations. I would rather business find a way to get these kids and young adults to the jobs “Americans won’t do”, instead of bringing in (or opening the doors wide open to) legions of foreigners who have no intention of assimilating.
As for the snowflakes, I have lots of hope for them. It only takes one “come to Jesus” moment to turn a life completely around . . .
We’re suffering here, too, @frontseatcat–94 degrees! Re the snowflakes I don’t feel sorry for them at all. My goals are strictly for the welfare of this country. We keep hearing about “lack of workers”: I agree with @stad that we need to get the young workers with no degrees employed. But we need bodies, and those graduates are a potential resource. But they’ll need to get their act together, as far as I’m concerned, to be eligible. No special treatment.
I’m happy to say that my daughter is not a snowflake. She works hard. She got her first job right after she turned 16 and is still there a year later. She has realistic plans for the future. Frankly, I couldn’t live without her. She’s been a rock since Mark lost his job last year. Things have been hard for her, too. She’s only a snowflake when her focusing meds wear off! And when she’s with friends.
Labor force participation has still not recovered. Those 4 pts represent about 6 million people. Don’t believe the Chamber of Commerce crap about tight labor market. Now that people don’t have kids I imagine there is even more upside.
But I totally agree with the main thrust of the article. Operation Snowflake is now in effect and it is all hands on deck.
My son did some fast food work a year ago and he had some stories about horrible employees. Some of the kids would just punch out and go home in the middle of the shift. This would happen during a rush even! It sounds like the manager was herding rabid cats. I think it is pretty easy to be the more competent snowflake.
If only the crystalline nature of these young people were the only problem! A few years ago, before leaving France, I chaired a Parisian association whose aim was to facilitate the passage of 15-18 year-olds from school to employment.
This involved contact with employers to assess what social skills the school-leavers needed to have to be able to fit in to the average French workplace: teamwork, recognition of the authority of the managers and other such things.
This was a few years before the snow began to fall, and I was shocked to learn, from potential employers, that, despite the French insistence that they have one of the world’s best educational systems (don’t let me get started on mining that lode!), young job-seekers lacked basic communications skills (a polite way of saying that half of them had difficulties in reading).
Worst of all was the recurring complaint that school-leavers with an excellent record of achievement in math, science, technology and above all engineering, were totally incapable of expressing themselves coherently, either orally or in writing.
Is this a phenomenon unique to France? Somehow I doubt it.
Recognize that college graduates are actually less capable than trade school / junior college / (some) high school graduates. Their first “job” should be an apprentice-like (intern?) position to both 1) teach them the job and 2) sort out the hopeless ones.
Unfortunately, most HR departments these days are staffed top to bottom with snowflakes who recognize their fellows (is there a gender-neutral term for ‘fellow’) and want to surround themselves with people with whom they are comfortable.
I mean, want to hire people who understand the need for social justice.
How much of that gap is filled with retiring boomers? Seems to me you might close some of it but not all of it. Plus if you start closing the work participation rate you flood the market with new job seekers and curb income growth. Look at those wonderful 50’s and 60’s that Trump and the Dems dream about. Less than 60% worker participation.
The minimum wage hikes aren’t the only reason the fast food industry is looking at robots. Machines don’t punch out in the middle of a shift, or go on strike. If they become too popular though, watch for the Dems to give the robots the right to vote: “Free WD-40 for all!”
Yeah, we had a great discussion of this a while back. Not only do we have a ton of retirees but there are way too many kids in college who don’t belong there and should be in the work force instead. What is the ideal participation rate? Nobody knows but it clearly is lower today than it was in 2000 when the boomer exodus started.
Good job, @shaunahunt!
Horrible! Unfortunately, we know that a degree for many is not worth the paper it’s written on. A,tragedy for everyone and a giant ripoff! Thanks.
I sure hope more people will return to work. The country needs them. And they need us. It’s called relationship. Thanks @dong.
Thank you! I should add that she got her job on her own. We have supported her. She’s naturally ambitious and desires to do what’s right. She was born that way. My son is doing great things as well. He’s in 8th grade.
My kids and their friends come from supportive families. There’s not a flake in the bunch. I believe that the children in this generation have to be strong in the battles they have to face today. Their minds need to be clear so that they can discern truth for themselves. They need strong adult role models and compassion when there’s confusion.
So very true, @shaunahunt. That is the recipe for success. Unfortunately, too many think that coddling and protection is what these kids need. So sad.
Susan, I want to make sure that I understand your assumptions. I think that you’re addressing a situation in which a college graduate has moved back in with his parents, and your proposal is that the parents give the child a year to get a job — any job — and allow the child to live in the parents’ home, rent-free, for a year.
This strikes me as insufficiently harsh. Tell the kid that they’re on their own. Get a job, find a place to live. The time to grow up is now.
I speak from some experience about this, though my only child out of high school has not gone to college — he’s a sergeant in the Marine Reserves and has worked multiple other jobs. He’s 24. We’re having some challenges with our second son, who is 16 and just finished his sophomore year in high school. The advice of my oldest is that, if his younger brother doesn’t shape out, he’s out of the house when he graduates high school. My oldest, who is extremely bright but did not perform well in high school, said that he learned responsibility when he realized that his choice was between: (1) getting and holding a job, or (2) going home and begging mom and dad for food.
I wouldn’t automatically kick out a child who finished college and was genuinely enthusiastic and looking for work. If he was doing well and contributing to the household, I might be happy for him to stay and save up a bit. But this is not the hypothetical that you’re addressing.
We’ll find the ideal participation rate, when wages are going up faster than inflation. Anecdotally, you will about about people “unretiring”. This happens when an employer or friend begs a retiree to come back to help out.
I’d listen to your older son about the younger one. True wisdom there.