I lead and manage a financial/tech team in a critical, well-established company.
I haven’t had a pay raise in 2 years and still work hourly.
It wasn’t always like this, the last several years have really, really escalated the global undercurrent of hate towards employees. I feel like every single meeting in not just this company but many others (I have eyes in other places) always report “exceeding financial projections” while at the same time scaling back benefits, hiring and wages. Many other companies I’ve watched get digested by private equity after faking their own value, so it’s basically every business-owner’s goal right now to get bought out for millions and leave the employees stranded.
For that matter, I have years of experience in this industry as well as experience managing, using the tools and software, and doing somewhat specialized analysis work, and it still took almost two years unemployed after my last position got gutted just to land this job and it took twisting the arms of contacts and acquaintances.
During those two years I exhausted every avenue and encountered more scams and ghost-jobs than I can count.
Lemmy, I know you really don’t want to hear this, but if you’re not actively making contacts, playing the game and being social, your chances of getting a job that doesn’t involve a you wearing an apron and name-tag and cutting you off at 39 hours a week is fucking abysmal. You have to exercise muscles you didn’t know you had if you want to land a stable job even adjacent to your actual qualifications.
Degrees, certifications, etc. are still important, but it’s bare-minimum, hiring managers broadly are looking for people with enough experience (or can fake having experience) that they don’t need as much training and people who are social and friendly enough that they feel “at ease” bringing new people in, because so many of them have been directed to keep costs as low as possible. So much of this shit is vibes-based right now.
Union jobs seem to apply to specific trades. I haven’t heard the word uttered in my entire last decade of jumping between tech/finance sector work, and I wouldn’t dare utter it.
Not gonna dox myself, but I’m not in tech, but I am an engineer. No reason they shouldn’t be more widespread, beyond decades of anti-union rhetoric and propaganda.
Unrelated-ish, but the job that treated me the best and gave me raises at the drop of a hat, also was the one that betrayed me the hardest and set me up to choose between replacing my team of a dozen people with foreign workers, or lose my own job.
It felt like something out of Better Call Saul, the way they “suggested” that I “look into the option” of outsourcing our team, and when I said that I didn’t think it would save us as much money as keeping a domestic team who knows what they’re doing, they nodded and suddenly let me go a couple months later after treating me like a rock star up until that moment.
They did eventually fire everyone and move operations to India.
I’m not deluded, I just don’t have a choice, not every field or industry has the option of rallying together the glorious people’s union when it’s just an assortment of diverse teams working on specific areas of the company. I’ve never felt any kinship or closeness to the CEO’s and CFO’s, my relationship with my work is just work.
I’d very much like to see the Accountable Capitalism act hit these companies. Force them to rethink their employee-hating positions when they need their votes to win over the board.
I think a better takeaway is this… Hiring runs on nepotism. It always has, but for a while you could go through an application process and land a decent job
You have to work your social connections to find a job these days. People are just way more willing to put in the energy to evaluate you if they have someone vouching for you
Especially now with remote work and AI… The screening process has devolved into nonsense. If they’re not pulling your resume out of the stack, it’s very likely no human is looking at it
The process is weeding out everyone who feels awkward about self-promotion or being pushy, which is a shame since that also weeds out a lot of fantastic candidates. I’m sure upper-level management doesn’t care, but in the trenches I much rather have people who are experts at their work or are smart and can get the work done than outgoing business-speakers who like to be seen and heard.
But that can’t be changed. We have to adapt and learn to be at least a little pushy and get out of our comfort zones.
I lead and manage a financial/tech team in a critical, well-established company.
I haven’t had a pay raise in 2 years and still work hourly.
It wasn’t always like this, the last several years have really, really escalated the global undercurrent of hate towards employees. I feel like every single meeting in not just this company but many others (I have eyes in other places) always report “exceeding financial projections” while at the same time scaling back benefits, hiring and wages. Many other companies I’ve watched get digested by private equity after faking their own value, so it’s basically every business-owner’s goal right now to get bought out for millions and leave the employees stranded.
For that matter, I have years of experience in this industry as well as experience managing, using the tools and software, and doing somewhat specialized analysis work, and it still took almost two years unemployed after my last position got gutted just to land this job and it took twisting the arms of contacts and acquaintances.
During those two years I exhausted every avenue and encountered more scams and ghost-jobs than I can count.
Lemmy, I know you really don’t want to hear this, but if you’re not actively making contacts, playing the game and being social, your chances of getting a job that doesn’t involve a you wearing an apron and name-tag and cutting you off at 39 hours a week is fucking abysmal. You have to exercise muscles you didn’t know you had if you want to land a stable job even adjacent to your actual qualifications.
Degrees, certifications, etc. are still important, but it’s bare-minimum, hiring managers broadly are looking for people with enough experience (or can fake having experience) that they don’t need as much training and people who are social and friendly enough that they feel “at ease” bringing new people in, because so many of them have been directed to keep costs as low as possible. So much of this shit is vibes-based right now.
I know it’s obviously much easier said than done, but this is exactly why unions exist.
I have a union position, and none of what you just said applies to me. It’s wonderful.
Union jobs seem to apply to specific trades. I haven’t heard the word uttered in my entire last decade of jumping between tech/finance sector work, and I wouldn’t dare utter it.
Not gonna dox myself, but I’m not in tech, but I am an engineer. No reason they shouldn’t be more widespread, beyond decades of anti-union rhetoric and propaganda.
Unrelated-ish, but the job that treated me the best and gave me raises at the drop of a hat, also was the one that betrayed me the hardest and set me up to choose between replacing my team of a dozen people with foreign workers, or lose my own job.
It felt like something out of Better Call Saul, the way they “suggested” that I “look into the option” of outsourcing our team, and when I said that I didn’t think it would save us as much money as keeping a domestic team who knows what they’re doing, they nodded and suddenly let me go a couple months later after treating me like a rock star up until that moment.
They did eventually fire everyone and move operations to India.
It’s because those at the top have deluded you into thinking you have it better than them, and you don’t “need” it.
You have far more in common with the during mopping the floors than you do with those at the top.
I’m not deluded, I just don’t have a choice, not every field or industry has the option of rallying together the glorious people’s union when it’s just an assortment of diverse teams working on specific areas of the company. I’ve never felt any kinship or closeness to the CEO’s and CFO’s, my relationship with my work is just work.
All it takes is organizing. It’s obviously easier said than done, but it’s absolutely possible
It is absolutely not possible in every company.
I’d very much like to see the Accountable Capitalism act hit these companies. Force them to rethink their employee-hating positions when they need their votes to win over the board.
I think a better takeaway is this… Hiring runs on nepotism. It always has, but for a while you could go through an application process and land a decent job
You have to work your social connections to find a job these days. People are just way more willing to put in the energy to evaluate you if they have someone vouching for you
Especially now with remote work and AI… The screening process has devolved into nonsense. If they’re not pulling your resume out of the stack, it’s very likely no human is looking at it
The process is weeding out everyone who feels awkward about self-promotion or being pushy, which is a shame since that also weeds out a lot of fantastic candidates. I’m sure upper-level management doesn’t care, but in the trenches I much rather have people who are experts at their work or are smart and can get the work done than outgoing business-speakers who like to be seen and heard.
But that can’t be changed. We have to adapt and learn to be at least a little pushy and get out of our comfort zones.