Jobs were an unexpectedly hot topic on Thursday and Friday in my little corner of the world.
It started first thing Thursday morning, when I got a text from a young lady whom I spoke with several weeks ago about a possible job at the newspaper. I’ve known her since she was a child. She is working but is looking around for something better.
She did Thursday what a lot of people don’t: She followed up with a second contact. Good move. Unfortunately, as I told her in a phone call that evening, there are no openings at the paper right now, and business is not at the point where we can increase staff.
I am beyond pleased at how the Enterprise-Journal fared over the past pandemic year. We made a little money in every month but one. We reported the news, kept the press running and stayed in touch with our advertisers.
Things could have been a lot worse, that’s for sure. But it’s also true that our business, like just about everyone else’s, took a hit in 2020. It’s hard to predict when things will noticeably get better.
Anyway, in our phone conversation, I told her to stick with her current job until she finds something else (that’s her plan), but especially to be patient. Things are uncertain right now and that’s often when it’s the hardest to find a new opportunity.
That turned out to be my second employment cheerleading speech of the day. On Thursday afternoon, another lady, whom I’ve also known since she was a little girl, stopped by for an unexpected visit during her job hunt.
She never asked me directly if we had anything. Instead we had a good talk about how to get hired somewhere, anywhere.
I am a gigantic voice of inexperience on finding a new job. As of this coming Wednesday, I will have worked for the same business for 38 years. I haven’t done any serious job hunting since 1983.
On May 5 of that year, Patsy Brumfield called my college dorm room about an opening in McComb. She hired me sight unseen for the news staff on May 6. I graduated on May 15, drove home to New Orleans on May 16, got my wisdom teeth removed on May 18 and started at the Enterprise-Journal on May 26. Not that I remember any of the details, right?
Anyway, I told my visitor that she may have to start at the bottom, which is OK. Anyone who gets into a job and shows a degree of aptitude, a willingness to follow instructions and the ability to complete assignments will move up sooner or later.
Convenience stores are a great example. I’ve seen cashiers advance to shift leaders or assistant managers just by sticking around and getting the job done. Sometimes you don’t have to be a transformational wizard; you just have to show up, know what you’re doing, be nice to customers and be honest.
The jobs topic came up again Friday with Jason Price, whose tree service company was doing some work at the newspaper.
He said he’s got more work than he can handle, but can’t find enough people to do it. He said one guy left without notice after getting a big stimulus check a while back, and he hasn’t heard from him since.
A lot of businesses have said the same thing in recent months, and the biggest reason has got to be the pandemic-related increase in unemployment benefits. A lot of people got more money by not working.
That’s less than ideal, but I understand the government impulse to err on the side of excess. When 20 million jobs disappear, like they did last year, people get hurt.
Mississippi is eliminating the extra unemployment pay in June, and that is sure to get more people looking for work. Maybe it’s better to beat the crowd and start looking now.
So the jobs report for this week is mixed. The two ladies I talked to are looking around with no success yet. The owner of a business that uses heavy equipment says he needs more help. And we have done stories on other businesses whose managers say it is extremely hard to find reliable people.
As the Mississippi economy continues to reopen, hopefully these imbalances will correct themselves. Based on my limited experience, people are looking for jobs and employers are looking for people. It should only be a matter of time before each group finds the other.
