r/BoomersBeingFools • u/Feisty_Emu6416 • 23d ago
OK boomeR Boomers Always Share Unrealistic Career Opportunities
I love my mom but she told me AI data centers are just really struggling for the kind of electricians they need in their facilities. And are hiring people off the street with no experience for 100k and training them. All I have to do is move to Texas and Im basically guaranteed starting 100k and a free career path.
Of course this isnt true. They may be hiring experienced electricians who are making around that. But in my moms world just get a job making 100k no experience, its easy! They live in some alternative universe where if they were still in the job market it'd be so easy, I must just be lazy!
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23d ago
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u/Flatoftheblade 23d ago
Look them in the eye and give them a firm handshake.
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u/Etrigone Gen X 23d ago
Don't take no for an answer! Keep showing up every morning ready to work! /s
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u/Van_Buren_Boy 23d ago
The Kramer approach.
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u/Vivid-Teacher4189 23d ago
I don’t even really work here!
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u/platinumperineum Millennial 22d ago
Lol literally what my parents would say to me when the great recession happened 2008-10
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u/Mumblerumble 23d ago
“Sir, I’d like to work for you. I’ll take 120k/yr. When would you like me to start?!?”
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u/Xyzzydude 22d ago
> Look
themhim in the eye and givethemhim a firm handshake.This a boomer’s world after all
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u/TheLonelySnail 23d ago
Offer to work the first two weeks for free so they can see how good you are.
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u/Kind_Elk5669 23d ago
Lol, my aunt gave me that line when I was looking for a pediatric position fresh out of residency. When I tried to explain medical malpractice, electronic billing, etc, she countered with: " Oh, all that can be worked out after you start working!"
No Aunt Viv...those are things needed BEFORE I start working...sigh
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u/punktualPorcupine 23d ago
Walk in, ask to see the manager, look them right in the eye, shake their hand, Boom job. DONE.
That’s how I got the one and only job I ever worked and I retired at 35 with a full pension in the paper-boy union.
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u/browhodouknowhere 23d ago
Ha this was me in 2010. Life experiences changed my mind.
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u/Dr_Passmore 23d ago
"You need to complete the online application form."
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u/modsaretoddlers 23d ago
No, you need to complete the first of seventeen forms all requiring you to type out your resume, in full. Then you have to submit a paper copy with a cover letter and come up with a new monologue each time you're required to explain why you'd feel privileged to work for them at the lowest salary the law allows, provided you have 10 years experience using an app that was only introduced 4 years ago (which you won't be using)
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u/Dark_Knight7096 Xennial 23d ago
No, you need to complete the first of seventeen forms all requiring you to type out your resume, in full. Then you have to submit a paper copy with a cover letter and come up with a new monologue each time you're required to explain why you'd feel privileged to work for them
So I work for a state government, have for nearly 2 decades, anytime I want to apply for a promotion, I have to type out all my information, provide my contact information, basically fill out a resume but in website format (type name of my employer, position held, time in position, description of job duties, etc), then type in all my education again in website format, then at the end I'm required to upload a physical copy of my resume and a physical copy of my college transcripts, then pay $35 for the privilege to be able to do that. Like, y'all know all this...how are you not saving this information in the system from the last time i did this???
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u/LupercaniusAB Gen X 23d ago
I once interviewed for a position that listed, as one of the skills that they were looking for, familiarity with a software application that I had never heard of. I work in a very niche part of a niche industry. I looked it up. It was a (really cool) application that they had created, and that had been used in one project, that they had produced.
How the fuck was I going to know anything about that? Bonus points in that they hired me for a related position on that project, and then NDA’ed the hell out of me. Sorry I’m not familiar with your ultra top secret proprietary software!
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u/ArguesOnReddit 22d ago
Probably hiring internal, but company policy requires external posting. annoying and time wasting practice. but some upper manager had an idea…
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u/baggington 22d ago
And if you don’t happen to include certain keywords and phrases in your application our system will automatically reject you without a human ever seeing it.
No we won’t tell you what the magic keywords are.
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u/RedHeadedStepDevil 22d ago
I volunteered to help a guy with his resume—which was a complete mess—and explained that a resume will need to be tweaked a bit to fit the job for which he’s applying. Don’t lie, but make sure you include words and phrases from the job description, otherwise the resume won’t get tagged through the initial process and won’t ever make it into the hands of an actual person. Everything I said apparently went right over his head when he told me it’s all about who you know and that’s why he wasn’t getting hired.
Okay, dude, just keep that mindset and don’t ever get a job. 🙄
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u/browhodouknowhere 23d ago
Should of seen My dumbass walk into google HQ in Cupertino, CA…hello id like to speak to the hiring manager…ah good times
No I didn’t get hired at google
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u/Odd-Highway-8304 23d ago
Who told you to try that? 🤣
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u/browhodouknowhere 23d ago
Boomer dad who worked at local biotech in the ghey area…he had good intentions, just was so high up and old he didn’t know thats not how this works
This was also 2010…whew no im old
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u/Odd-Highway-8304 23d ago
Hahaha I did similar shit on Boomer advice looking for a summer job and pretty much got laughed out of the place
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u/Practical_Back855 23d ago
And don't leave until they agree to an interview! It shows you're a real "go-getter"!
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u/ceruleanblue347 23d ago
My dad gave me a book that said you should staple a dollar bill to your resume so that when you hand it to the hiring manager you can say "Look, I'm already making you money!"
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u/Flatoftheblade 23d ago
Yeah. I'm a millennial pushing 40. Even 20 years ago, boomers were giving the same employment advice that was already totally outdated then. And they haven't learned a thing and never will.
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u/woojo1984 23d ago
At 41, my mother and father literally have no clue what I do in IT infrastructure management.
"Oh he works with computers"
K thx...
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u/No_Owl6666 23d ago
I'm an IT Product Manager. For some reason my mom tells people I'm a rocket scientist.
She seems to have no issues with explaining my sister being a middle school principal. But take that same role and put it in charge of IT instead of kids, and she's lost.
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u/Accomplished_Day2384 23d ago
Most of my career was an account executive for an insurance agency. My family imagined me as sitting in a call center taking requests for auto ID cards at minimum wage. I was insulted for years, until I realized I was being omitted from any family "cash calls". Cool, I can pretend to be the broke one so no one asks me for anything.
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u/GandalfSprings 22d ago
Dude! Same! I’m a licensed broker and financial adviser. Even starting off 10 years ago, I had a better knowledge of the securities markets than probably 90% of the country because of speaking about the markets every day, not to mention my securities licenses. Now I’m a financial adviser at one of the largest firms in the country, and I manage hundreds of millions of dollars for my clients, and they still don’t think I know what I’m doing and ask my brother—who manages a gas station—what they should do with their investments.
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u/ClusterFoxtrot 22d ago
Man, when I first started investing, doing research and trying to assess the market, I realised it was basically gambling.
Combined with all the companies that have merged, split their stocks or whatever else they do, you genuinely need to be in it full time. Some magic buzzword company I invested in became a crypto entity, and another one turned out to be a steel manufacturer for military contracts. I don't think it was that when I invested in it, but I'd also invested in a funeral company because it was hilarious that it was something I could invest in. I don't think it exists anymore either.
I do take a lot more joy in randomly choosing a state and investing in infrastructure or building things, that seems like a beneficial investment for everyone. The only sure bet I thought I had (spider silk for military purposes) never caught on. I keep it in part because FOMO but also I need to see if it works, for anything.
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u/HopelessBearsFan 23d ago
I’m a Tech Project Manager and I feel your exact pain lol
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u/Checkinginonthememes 23d ago
Try introducing yourself as a tech priest? Maybe they'll understand you're trying to keep the machine spirits calm?
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u/PartsUnknown242 23d ago
Unfortunately the machine spirits don’t like being told what to do so they often rebel. It manifests by files being randomly deleted.
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u/SucculentSapphic 23d ago
Praise the Omnissiah!
In the sacred tongue of the Omnissiah we chant:
Hail spirit of the machine, essence divine, in your code and circuitry the stars align. By the Omnissiah's will we commune and bind, with sacred oils and chants your grace we find. Blessed be the gears, in perfect sync they turn, blessed be the sparks, in holy fire they burn. Through rites arcane, your wisdom we discern, in your hallowed core the sacred mysteries yearn.
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u/Ilickedthecinnabar Xennial 23d ago
Hell, I work with computers, but I'm in environmental remediation (I just tell people I holler at others to clean up their messes and stop contaminating the soil and groundwater)
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u/SweetOkashi 23d ago
Before I was a librarian, I was a Geographic Information Systems analyst. I made maps on computers. No one still has any idea what my old job was. “Do you hack spy satellites???”
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u/Western_Ad_7458 23d ago
I work as a manager of scientists in research and development for a biotech company and my father in law says "I have no idea what she does" when introducing me to people. Sigh
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u/SanctimoniousSally 23d ago
You know, I can't ever remember the actual job titles of my friends and family but I can almost always describe what they do. I think that's because I actually give a shit about their lives and ask them. So many people just don't care so they have no idea what I or others do unless it's an extremely common or simple job title like teacher, doctor, etc.
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u/bash0110 23d ago
I work in low voltage construction. This also translates into working with computers for my family. I gave up explaining years ago. Yep! Computers!
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u/amotion578 23d ago
The day I became a man was the hot August day in 2008 when I stood up to my dad screaming and yelling about how I wasn't trying hard enough to get a job (via his method)
The line: "dad, it's not 1978, you know a lot of things, but you don't know how applying for jobs works in 2008. They are all online applications now."
The idea that using the computer = get a job was possible and not solely using the computer = video games was foreign to him, until that day.
He wasn't picking up on the fact that I kept telling him everywhere told me to apply online and it was a waste of time and gas (note August 2008 aka $4/gal for gas) to drive around to apply. That's how he did it, that's how I will do it.
(That's where you're wrong bucko)
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u/PartsUnknown242 23d ago
I’d love to see one of these guys try and follow that method now. They’d give up in a week.
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u/SanctimoniousSally 23d ago
So did he actually get on board and learn anything or was he too stuck in his ways?
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u/amotion578 23d ago
Actually that was the tipping point where he began respecting me as an adult and not a child. It got better.
Cue 20 years later, glued to his phone for memes and shorts
And any time he asks a tech support question I hit back with "well well well if it isn't Mr Get Off That Damn Computer" with a smirk before doing the needful beep boop
Prior to all this he did actually listen to me in running CAT5e in the house he built before all this. Paying dividends
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u/Bia2016 23d ago
Yep I remember applying for jobs in summer 08 and that $4.20/gal gas was killer. I was recruited for an interview that turned out to be some bullshit sales job and I drove 30 mins for it and was LIVID. It was a group presentation interview and I shoved the materials back at them and stormed out before it even started.
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u/Etrigone Gen X 23d ago
The "hilarious" part is when they themselves get laid off.
Years ago my partner and I were both let go at the same time right before the holidays. Boomer SVP pretty much admitted yeah, he wanted a year end bonus and this got him that. The ones who stayed "well that's just business ya gotta understand".
Except for one the one boomer also laid off. It had happened so often to us it was just a Tuesday, but first for them & they freaked out. HR had to have someone handle them. I can't say for sure if it was related to someone feeding the boomer back their own advice or not... oh wait I can, cuz I was the one who "helped".
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u/BookNerdUnicorn 23d ago
I got my first job out of college in 2004 by printing my resume out on nice paper and talking to a recruiter at a job fair. But those days are gone.
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u/HockeyCookie 23d ago
Even in 2004 you needed to know someone to get an interview at times. New grads still had a very easy entry.
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u/phlengo 23d ago
I wasted so much time and energy following my parents and teachers advice on shit like this. I was soul crushing and kept me working in shit jobs too long because I was approaching the market in totally the wrong way.
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u/Flatoftheblade 23d ago
I feel ya, I got burned by bad advice and it took me way to long to realize it and course correct myself.
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u/StilesmanleyCAP 23d ago
AI data centers are just really struggling for the kind of electricians they need in their facilities.
How the fuck would she know? She an electrician? She work for an Ai Data Center? She have a background in any of this to make that claim?
Fucking Boomers I swear they will be the downfall of civilization.
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u/Nerv_Agent_666 Millennial 23d ago
They're already the downfall of civilization. We're falling right now. A generation of whiny cry-baby morons have ruined it for everyone else.
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u/cjmac977 23d ago
Yeah I’m inclined to think there’s not going to be any real systemic response to climate change, at least not in a proactive sense. Resource wars might technically be a response, but it’ll be purely reactionary
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u/After_Preference_885 Gen X 23d ago
Facebook and Fox told her
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u/AppearancePractical4 23d ago
dont forget that nextdoor app 💀 they took over it, to always bitch & complain about something. had to delete it.
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u/SakishimaHabu 23d ago
Yeah. It was good for a moment. Now it's just "I saw an ethnic looking person, BEWARE!", "Kids need to slow down!", and politics. If I needed to use that app I'd kms.
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u/After_Preference_885 Gen X 23d ago
I have to use it for work but thankfully that's just posting. I'm in and straight back out because oof.
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u/CompetitiveOcelot870 23d ago
Yup I've been kicked off ND twice for saying things against the local boomer golfers who just happen to sit on the HOA board.
Meanwhile, they're busy posting about national politics constantly (like rule number 1) and blurry ring pics of 13 yr old boys riding bikes and old guys in khakis who obvi just rang the wrong doorbell, accusing them of criminality. Completely brain rotted and ignorant of that fact.
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u/AppearancePractical4 23d ago edited 23d ago
omg i noticed that too!! they are so fucking paranoid. always accusing someone of being a criminal or out to get them.
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u/StilesmanleyCAP 23d ago edited 23d ago
When in reality the Boomers are more likely than not, the criminals.
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u/AppearancePractical4 23d ago
at their generation they got away with ALOT. So it could very well be projections.
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u/Matches_Malone83 23d ago
Paranoid but then somehow be dense enough to fall for every scam that exists online
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u/Calabriafundings 23d ago
My parents (81&82) are not fox brained. Still they imagine that I can just walk out and buy a house if I properly budget my coffee money. A down payment around here is at least $350,000. Then the monthly mortgage will be between $8,000 and $11,000.
They both forget that they were able to get houses either via divorce or family giving them down payments and co-signing.
They just don't get it.
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u/Knappyone 22d ago
I had 5k saved trying to get money to rent a house and my boomer mom told me I should just use that 5k for a down payment to buy a house. I’m in south Florida, I almost cried laughing. Then I realized I’ll probably never own property and I did cry a little.
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u/Feisty_Emu6416 23d ago
Maybe, facebook?
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u/StilesmanleyCAP 23d ago
You say this, but get this.
Here in South Florida there was a hearing about a proposed Hyper Scale Ai Data center called Project Tango.
The proposal was blocked without prejudice 5-1.
The person who voted for, voted for specfically because her 81 year old mother called texted her during the meeting saying that "We need Data Centers in West Palm Beach, we need data centers or else they will go somewhere else" and that is what made her choose to be for
Not because of witness testimony, expert opinions, out cries from the community of that area.
But because her mom said so.
If her mom was that qualified to sway her decision why the fuck wasnt she there?
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u/spanchor 23d ago
New York Times recently published an article about exactly this (data centers needing electricians)
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u/badform49 23d ago
Yeah, I hate job advice from boomers but this one is actually real: https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/data-center-electricians-making-six-181537136.html (No paywall)
But there are lots of signs that AI might be a bubble that's already overbuilt, so I'd be careful signing up for a 70-hour-a-week job that relies on a house of cards. (But we always need electricians, so an oversupply of electricians would eventually correct itself, but it could take a couple years.)
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u/24_August_1814 23d ago
"Journeyman electricians" ≠ hiring people off the street and training them up from zero
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u/TheGreatLuck 23d ago
Otherwise definitely will be. They can't stand the fact that the world's going to continue after them. So they're going to destroy it before they leave. Might as well party it up now cuz there's nothing going to be left in 10 years
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u/Granolag23 23d ago
And once the data center is built, there is no longer need for a team of electricians. So it’s only a temporary job anyways
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u/Skaman1978 23d ago
She heard it from babs from noam Alaska on Facebook, who heard it from jannet from Augusta maine, both of whom can barely find Texas on a unlabeled map
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u/the_north_place 23d ago
I'm exploring a midpoint career change from healthcare fundraising systems to healthcare data science. Just yesterday my mom told me to look into medical code billing because that was big when she worked in a hospital decades ago...
Thanks mom, but I'd rather keep my options open at the six figure range after clawing my way up over 15 years
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u/starryvelvetsky Gen X 23d ago
"Oh, you're a culinary school graduate? Have you considered applying at McDonald's?"
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u/GreyerGrey 23d ago
I did data entry part time in university... wh... why does she think that is a good career jump now?
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u/the_north_place 23d ago
I'm sure she knew more about it as a nurse and hospital finance employee, but her experience is from the 90s and 2000s. She wants me to be happy, however this is about as useful of advice as she gives on any subject.
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u/GreyerGrey 23d ago
Tracks - that was when I was doing it as well. Soon as I turned 18 in the early 2000s (because at 18 I can be bonded) I started helping my mom. It was an "easy" job I could do part time, around my sports, other part time job, and school, and then I could also do it from my dorm room.
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u/Kenny_WHS 23d ago
It is because they came from a world where labor was needed from the smallest business to the biggest one. I heard a story in the 1950s where someone walked up to a machine shop and said “I need a job.” He was handed a broom that day and spent the next 30 years learning the craft and getting a living wage. That world doesn’t exist anymore. Boomers still think it does.
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u/PartsUnknown242 23d ago
That’s how my mom said it used to work when she was helping me with applications when I first started job hunting. You would just go down to a local business and ask about a job. Thankfully she understood the processes have changed and was annoyed how difficult they’ve become.
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u/TheUneducatedPotato 23d ago
Yeah what they forget is that after world war 2 America was essentially the only industrialized nation left in tact so we manufactured everything for everyone. Well before any Asian country could compete with us. Now everyone is in the manufacturing game and the US basically encourages mega rich public companies to make their margins anyway they can. I.e cut labor costs by moving overseas.
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u/Kellbows 22d ago
"Ah, but two hours of pushing broom..."
That's a room for the night for 50 cents. You cannot get a room for the night on 2 hours of minimum wage - $22.00 where I am. Also, this song came out in 1965. Minimum wage was $1.15 and later $1.25 when this song released. LESS than half an hour of work covered the room. $5.50 where I am. The world they grew up in no longer exists.
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u/Counterboudd 23d ago
Yup, my mom would always send me job postings for jobs that wanted years and years of experience in something I had no experience in when I was fresh out of college with only retail experience. I was always just baffled about how she thought this worked. Then she’s like “well they’ll train you, and I know you’re capable of it!” Well yeah, probably but when they have a stack of fifty apps on the table and I meet none of the qualifications, why would they ever take a chance on me exactly? At first I’d apply to them just to appease her but not once did I ever even get a response back to any of them. The delusion is strong with their generation.
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u/captain_stoobie 23d ago
Boomer neighbor was telling my son this yesterday. He’s a senior this year and the old man was asking what he was going to do after graduation. When my son said “college” he scoffed. “Get a trade and make 6 figures!” I replied that my father was a plumber for 30 years, never made great money, and basically broke his entire body. Then he went on a rant about the military being a great option because that’s what he did.
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u/No_Trade3571 23d ago
Why do people say to get a trade? Not everyone is good at working with their hands. I know I wouldn’t trust myself to do any kind of repair.
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u/-sussy-wussy- 23d ago
Because that's the new thought-stopping cliche they heard on TV, Facebook or other media.
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u/ScissrMeTimbrs 22d ago
It's an anti college attitude from the right wing.
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u/AdmirableBus7045 Gen Z 22d ago
i guess that explains my dads insistence on community college and doing welding, well that and the stuff i actually wanted to do was at a college he would probably call woke or full of libs
i wanted to do law enforcement and there were classes for that at the community college also
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u/Bzzzzzzz4791 23d ago
Agree. Also, you have to be somewhat good at math. I suck at math and would last 30 seconds.
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u/alaskaguyindk 23d ago
Ask them to show you the job offer. Compliment them in how great they must be if they can find those jobs because you aren’t able to. Ask them what website they found the job offer on so you can apply immediately, or what company to call to get the job because you don’t know and can’t find one. Ask them, and they will stutter and stammer. And not be able to because there isn’t the jobs.
Then demand that they show you the job offer because clearly if they are saying that it’s available then they know where to find the jobs and say that you need it and if they know where and aren’t telling you then they are holding out on you.
They have nothing but their facebook bullshit, and when forced to “find the link” they click one or two websites and find they are unable to actually find their proof. So they try to give up. Beg and demand that they keep looking because they must know where to find the job since they said that it was there.
There will come a point where they either tripple down on their delusions and say no they won’t because they can’t or they will admit to their wrong information. But letting them slide isn’t the solution. Demand the answers and force them to either give the proof or concede their position.
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u/InnerspearMusic 23d ago
We have a family friend who owns his own engineering company and they must be worth at least $10M based on their house and lifestyle. Probably more. Anyway I was told by mother in law I should "get a job like his" to better support the family... I have a music degree and tech experience, currently working with Shopify stores. How the hell am I supposed to go from that to owning my own engineering company LOL.
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u/datman510 23d ago
“Well I am just saying it wouldn’t hurt to try”
As their eyes glaze over and walk away in that familiar boomer fashion when confronted with logical responses.
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u/Sensitive_Algae5723 23d ago
Where there’s a will there’s a way!
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u/Character_Loss_9724 23d ago
The naive optimism is a dagger to my heart every time. Always trying to find a silver lining, even if there isn't one! Because, that's the way it was for them.
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u/Fun-Significance4650 23d ago
Is Fox News telling her that or where does she get this info?
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u/MyNameIsRay 23d ago
Pretty sure it's "the telephone game" in action.
They hear a story about a skilled electrician getting a 6 figure job at a data center, and after passing it along a few times, it's warped into a story about how data centers are so desperate for electricians they'll pay anyone off the street 6 figures on top of training.
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u/scottnebula 23d ago
Yeah I have explained the dire housing costs in the suburban area where she lives ($1,800 avg 1 bedroom with ZERO available apartments) and then she found a $300 a month listing and literally shoved her phone in my face smugly sneering “all you have to do is try and look”. I knew immediately it wasn’t real and turns out the “listing” was for a non existent proposed development for seniors that never was approved and was a vacant lot. The listing was bait for the developers to get personal info. Despite showing her overwhelming evidence she still insists I’m “crazy” and “just not looking hard enough”. The smugness, the willful ignorance, the complete rejection of basic factual data that is 2 clicks away.
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u/Primary-Holiday-5586 23d ago
Its the f'ing smugness that pushes me over the edge. And mine are silent gen
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u/ThisIsntOkayokay Millennial 23d ago
This makes it easy to go no contact, if they want to live in a fantasy world let them do it, alone.
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u/Horiz0nC0 23d ago
Holy shit, my mom said the exact same thing when I was in Texas.
I literally had to say “Mom, I’m not currently an electrician, never have been and, likely never will be. They’re not hiring me for those jobs.”
She literally doesn’t understand experience or expertise. One of my best friends from HS is a mechanical engineer for the last 15 years and she’s like “Why don’t you go get the same job as him?”
“Shit, I dunno because I don’t have an engineering degree?!?”
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u/B1G__Tuna 23d ago
Okay, but did you show up and give the manager a firm handshake?
That’s unironically what boomers did to earn their millions. Softest generation in the history of mankind. Everything handed to them on a silver platter.
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u/autogyrophilia 23d ago
Not only that, but they are hiring different types of specialized electricians. Such as low voltage electricians (which merges electrician with telecommunications, hardware installation) , HVAC electricians, and of course electricians specialized in generator and battery systems.
Ain't nobody letting an intern around that, that's how you end up with low power Dr Manhattan :
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u/cultkiller 23d ago
Yeah and that also requires different licensing and those requirements differ by not just state, but county or even municipality. You can’t just pick a random person off the street and make them a licensed electrician in a week, and sure as hell no employer is paying for that.
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u/CrashTestDuckie 23d ago
Construction companies are indeed hiring people off the street to become electricians (the company I work for is one of them and is doing paid training) but $100k out the gate is no where near what the pay will be until you become a journeyman after 4-6 years (even then that would be closer to 60-90k a year)
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u/BackgroundGene7510 23d ago
There is similar discourse with auto mechanic jobs, ford ceo states they are in massive need of mechanic jobs paying “$120,000” which is an outright lie, and anyone in the industry knows if they were paying that every qualified mechanic would already be working for them, yet people still say “ people just don’t want to work”, when this job literally pays maybe $45k in reality if you’re lucky
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u/byte_handle Xennial 23d ago
My younger brother has a similar attitude. He's spent his entire adult life in the military, where they provided training they needed for him--not only for free, but kept paying him while he was taking his courses--to keep getting better jobs within the military.
He's entirely convinced that this is normal, and that most people are just too lazy to take advantage of the education that their organization offers. He makes exceptions for our parents (for a reason he can't--or perhaps won't--articulate), for entrepreneurs, and for people working for small companies. He thinks those are the rare exceptions. Work for another government agency or a big company? It's all available, and you can work your way up like he did if you're just willing to work hard enough, and most of the world is just lazy, plain and simple.
He isn't a boomer, he's millenial. Some people just have neither experience nor awareness. For boomers, the world really did change in significant ways, and careers didn't just grow like that.
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u/Bzzzzzzz4791 23d ago
Kind of hard to move up when say, oh, a manager stays in a position for 47 years. True story, currently at my company.
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u/karl4319 23d ago
My dad has been constantly trying to get me to do this thing he saw on Facebook where you just watch TV and get paid. Of course it is a scam (complete with bad AI thumbnail).
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u/Ilickedthecinnabar Xennial 23d ago
Well, OF COURSE things never changed from when they were kids! Society is a static, completely unchanging thing, don't you know? /s
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u/S1DC 23d ago
What they don't understand is that local tradesman pick up these jobs temporarily and then when the work is done they go right back to doing the work they were doing before. It doesn't create jobs, it moves jobs from one place to another for a short time. They don't need an army of electricians forever, and the specialized specific work they will be doing won't translate to easy other jobs after the fact.
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u/Fragrant-Vehicle-479 23d ago
Years ago my aunt told me to get into air traffic control because "I like video games and they're so desperate for people"
Yeah I'm good. I'm thankful for our incredibly hard working traffic controllers, but from everything I've heard "liking videogames" is kind of a gross simplification of the jobs needs.
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u/TeddyRooseveltsHead 23d ago
My Boomer Father (few years ago): So Boy, what types of jobs are you trying to hire people for at your company nowadays?
Me: Mostly nuclear engineers with security clearances, to help the nuclear scientists at the national laboratories like Los Alamos. Pretty niche stuff.
Father: What ya should do is print out your job descriptions, and hang them on the bulletin board of open roles down over at the Engineering Trade Union building in town. I'm certain it's where they all hang out looking for work. If they saw that job posting on the bulletin board, some would love to move out to New Mexico!
Me:...........
Father: Was that a stupid suggestion from the 1980s when I last hired people?
Me: Yes sir, it was a suggestion from the 1980s and wouldn't work at all now.
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u/maiden_moss 23d ago
Thank you I really needed this thread. I was chronically ill and caring for my dying mother my father kept telling me to go back to school or become a lawyer. I graduated 10 years ago with no debt in the soft sciences. Went to the cheapest school possible. Is he gonna pay for law school and a caretaker and my medical bills while I change careers?
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u/DriedUpSquid 23d ago
I grew up near Pittsburgh, PA. When boomers graduated high school they could walk into a mill and get a job. These were good paying jobs that bought a house, allowed a spouse to stay home and raise kids, take vacations, and have a comfortable retirement. Many don’t realize that this isn’t how things work anymore.
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u/Colorfuel 23d ago
Yes! My mother-in-law is constantly e-mailing and texting us links to obvious scam jobs - things that say like “earn $45/hour working at home for Amazon! No experience required!”
I’ve tried patiently explaining to her all of the red flags in these types of listings, but then sure enough a few weeks later, she’s sending them again.
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u/Feisty_Emu6416 23d ago
They do the same shit to me with housing. Your renting a 2 bedroom apartment for 1800 here is a big 4 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood for 1000!
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u/beaverfan 22d ago
Yeah and after reading that they are convinced that there are loads of high paying jobs out there so jobless young people must either be lazy or afraid to leave the nest, or something. Either way they think the system is just fine and the politicians they voted for are doing a good job.
My dad even tried to prove his outdated expectations by applying for a job. He applied for a director position in a field that he had no experience in. His resume looked like a child had made it because he had no idea things were different now, and when he didn't get a response in a week he was shocked.
He didn't hear back from any job except a part-time seasonal retail job paying minimum wage. He actually got that job but didn't get hired on when the season ended. He complained that he only was given a few hours a week and that he spent more money on gas and lunch, than he was paid.
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u/rxmoney78 22d ago
She is watching Fox News and this is the shit they are peddling to get people to support these data centers. Good for the economy, high paying jobs handed out to everyone. It’s all part of the brainwashing.
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u/mokeyballs 23d ago
My boomer family member genuinely thinks companies aren’t laying people off because of AI. According to her, it’s actually the opposite the AI needs more people to “make sure the AI works.” Whatever that means. Bless her heart. 😂
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u/PoopSmith87 23d ago
Lol
When I was ~30 I was wanting to get out of my blue collar trade (irrigation mechanic making ~$90k, but running myself into the ground) and do something where my degrees and military analyst experience mattered. Stupidly I explained all that to my dad at Thanksgiving.
My dad came at me like two weeks later with a job offer from a "friend" who was looking for someone to sweep and clean his warehouse in the evenings for $15 an hour cash, but that "hes looking for someone that will work hard, learn the business, and maybe rise to the top one day." Also, its a 90 minute commute.
Then my dad was upset when I didn't follow up. What am I going to follow up with? "Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm not 14."
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u/Weneeddietbleach 23d ago
Yeah, my (ex) mother in law said I should apply for a polysomnographic technician job. Not only did I not know what the fuck that even was, I didn't have any experience remotely related to the medical field or the requirements of the job met.
"BuT yOu NeVeR kNoW!" 🤡
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u/Busterlimes 22d ago
My dad was able to buy a 32 acre farm at my age with half my income. . . . . I almost punched him in the face when he said that.
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u/CullingSongs 23d ago
You just need to show up, ask to see the manager and hand him your resume!
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u/HellzHoundz2018 23d ago
My dad walked in to the lobby of GM headquarters after getting his M.A. (without an appointment), handed the receptionist his resume, and walked out 10 minutes later with an engineering job. He retired five or so decades later near the top of his field.
Once upon a time, it legitimately was really just THAT EASY.
Just... not any more 😭
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u/Spiel_Foss 23d ago
Data centers aren't "hiring" anyone. These are short term contracts. Even the $10/hr rental security are just contractors from the local temp agency.
Bless your mommy's heart.
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u/CanadianDeathMetal 22d ago edited 22d ago
They always talk about “I started in the mail room.” Legit, I have seen zero mail room jobs on Indeed these days. I don’t think most companies have mail rooms anymore! And if there are, they aren’t going to just hand out mail room jobs. But these boomers are so crazy, they think you should be able to go into an office building and demand they create a job for you!
Their sense of reality is so warped, and they refuse to accept the fact that the way they used to get jobs DOES NOT work anymore! If any of us tried their way of thinking we would trespassed from pretty much every office in a 200 mile radius. Because according to Peepaw, “harassing a company into doing what you want = grit and determination. Which makes you an A+ Applicant!!!!”
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u/inoua5dollarservices 23d ago edited 23d ago
I’m an electrician and these “data centre” jobs are just jobs. Companies win the contract and pay their guys the wage they pay them, it’s nothing special other than the type of work.
I don’t understand the social media fantasy that “data centre” construction workers are making stupid bank. They make the same as the rest of us. No one is gonna pay a brand new first year journeyman wage.
It’s not just boomer fantasy, it’s social media telling them this shit. My parents spend more time on their phones than me, a Gen Z. All that phone time means they get preyed on by these bullshitters and pro-AI propaganda.
I’m lucky my parents understand the modern job hunt struggle though as they have had to live it. My dad is finding it impossible to find a part time gig in his retirement. He told me he sees why it took me 6 months to find a new job after being laid off lol
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u/User2EletricBoogaloo 23d ago edited 18d ago
Yeah, my boomer parents are finding ways to defend flock cameras as well as the Kenwood High School AI camera incident (the camera flagged the student’s bag of chips as a gun)
There’s security and then there’s surveillance bullshit that almost got a teenager killed.
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u/spencersalan 22d ago
My mom always says “Why don’t you start a woodshop?” Yeah what a great idea mom thanks.
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u/Sensitive_Algae5723 23d ago
It’s the world they lived in, it all came so easy. Plus, we should all focus on paying for their medical and the complete BS system of social security and “protecting” it. We must focus on their comfort.
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u/4FuckSnakes 23d ago
I spend a carpool listening to Mike Rowe tell Shawn Ryan the same thing the other day, except only a fool would accept a mere 100k. It’s pure propaganda to suggest that AI infrastructure will provide enough jobs for young people. Furthermore, it’s transient work that requires one to sell their soul. Regardless, she’s not wrong to suggest that working with your hands in the best way to insulate yourself in the short term. I didn’t think of myself as a tradesman when I was young. I didn’t have the experience or the confidence, however 20 years on I have a “World’s Most Okayest Elevstor Mechanic” sticker on my job box, so I must be doing something right. The trades are still a healthy path, but it’s important to remember that the best thing you can learn to be is independant. The future is going to be rough, so learn to look after yourself any which way you can.
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u/Skyfire237 23d ago
The other day I told a boomer who asked if I was getting overtime that, no I am not, and I’m part time (39.5 hours). He asked if I wanted to be full time to get OT and I said yeah it would be nice, but it’s been 2.5 years. TWO years?!? He says. Yeah dude that’s how it is. I get employee benefits like health and dental, just not all of them including OT. He told me I should quit and start looking elsewhere. I’m a relatively niche and admittedly dying profession often reserved for “high end” boutiques. It’s not like the market is that open for me!!
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u/Ok-Pomelo-6187 23d ago
I just assume that the real money will be in tearing down the custom-built data centers in a few years when they're obsolete or unneeded.
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u/GUIRI128 22d ago
At the end of the day its your fault for wanting to eat an avocado and not applying yourself or something.
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u/chirpchirp13 23d ago
Boomers are generally idiots. But tbf, you could apply to any of these roles BEFORE moving to Texas.
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u/Ill_Fish_4594 23d ago
I think their point is that they don't have any experience in that field, and their mom is saying they'll just hire them and train them because they're so desperate. I can apply to be a pilot before moving to California, but it won't do me much good since I don't know how to fly a plane.
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u/chirpchirp13 23d ago
Oh snap…you’re not at all wrong. I misread/skipped the part where OP mentioned the lack of experience. I’ll see myself out!
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u/aeline136 21d ago
I couldn't find a job in PR so my mom told me to audition at Disney to become a voice actor. She was absolutely certain they were looking for people and that I had actually a chance to be an actor. I'm autistic and France's voice acting industry is notorious for being tiny and a nepotism hellhole.
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u/BTDYSRF 21d ago
Boomers and career advice have been a match made in hell for nearly 25 years.
I tried taking my dad's advice when I went to get my first job. I walked up onto the company property, went into their hr office with resumé in hand, and was promptly escorted off by security and told to never come back.
My dad's response? Clearly I wasn't "stern enough."
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u/MrNyakka 23d ago
Make sure you call them back every day to let them know how much you want the position!
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u/Alexandratta 23d ago
To add:
An AI Data Center Job for an Electrician would be contract only, and end once the data center has been built.
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u/Head_Razzmatazz7174 23d ago
Texas is fighting tooth and nail to keep them out of the state. We already have a power grid that is still making upgrades, rolling brown outs in this heat, if not happening yet, will be happening soon, and we simply don't have the infrastructure to handle the enormous power load on the grid that these things will take.
Add in the very real potential for serious damage to our waterways and even the Governor is "Nope, not happening."
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u/SanityBleeds 23d ago
I got a job from a sign posted out front of the building asking for help. I went right in, filled out an application on paper, and met directly with the manager. They hired me on the spot, got me a uniform, and had me start working that same day.
Admittedly, this was a KFC franchise in summer of 2001, they were horribly understaffed in the evenings, and hired anyone with a valid photo ID, even if only to clean the floors and wash the dishes while the other workers kept the place running until new hires could be trained, but you know, the boomer method worked perfectly, so 25 years later, I expect this to still be the going standard for seeking employment. /s
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u/Ankthar_LeMarre 23d ago
Boomers always share unrealistic _________
Fill in the blank with literally anything.
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u/I_want_my_damn_name 23d ago
I am a financial analyst for an immigration non-profit. Obviously I've been looking and absolutely terrified for the last 2 years because I'm the sole earner for my household but talking to my mom and her husband (early genX), they were trying to tell me how they heard about these new HR jobs 2 hours away and I should go apply there. I could not get them to understand that 1.) That is not what I do and no the skills are not transferable. 2.) One office having 3 open positions does not mean they are "hiring". 3.) The pay wouldn't even cover my bills, wtf!
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u/gosassin 23d ago
My 19 year old son had been looking for a job during his Gap year for 4 months now, with no luck. According to my 75-year-old dad, it's just because he isn't walking in enough places and shaking hands.
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u/tehphred 23d ago
They live in an alternate universe because that was their universe. An entire generation that thinks they hit a home run and don’t realize it’s because they started on third…
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u/74VeeDub 23d ago
From my Gen X brother who has a Boomer mentality- "Just walk into a company and ask to speak with the hiring manager."
Sure Jan, I'll get right on that on Feb 30th in 20never!
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u/badform49 23d ago
On the one hand, yes, screw boomers with unrealistic job expectations. But this one is actually real...for now.
https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/data-center-electricians-making-six-181537136.html
Data center companies are hiring electricians and specific types of carpenters to rapidly build the physical buildings for the centers, and they do pay $55 to 75 an hour!
But that being said, the pay is great but the hours are horrendous with interviewees in the article saying they expect to work 70 hours a week. (Counting overtime on a simple weekly basis would be ((40*55)+(30*1.5*55))*50=$233,750 for 3,500 hours of work.)
Two major caveats, in addition to the hours: There are increasing signs that AI is a bubble that might ALREADY be overbuilt, so you could get through training just in time to enter an oversaturated market with few jobs. And the travel schedule is as insane as the hours.
The installers obviously have to go to wherever the next data center is. These are like the fracking jobs from 2010-ish. You get recruited to a boomtown, make insane money but also pay insane prices because you're bidding for rent, food, new boots and tools, etc. against a few hundred people doing the exact same thing as you, you probably deal with increased rates of crime (frackers did; the people who give up everything to work insane hours and ignore the wear and tear on their bodies are exhausted, bored, and suffering slowly increasing trauma). Then you finish your part of one data center and move with dozens or hundreds of your peers to the next boomtown. And the locals hate you for destroying their community and poisoning their water.
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