Todays youth

I was sitting here this morning in my office, waiting on this rain that was gonna screw up my days plans....(southwest ohio) and drinking a cup of coffee. I read the posts below about todays youth starting out, what the possibilities are for them, and where good jobs are at and are heading in this country.

Id say, from my point of view, if you are a young man or woman who has some ambition and drive, a bit of mechanical ability and know how, you will be fine.

I say this, because as a electrical contractor I have been looking to hire a new apprentice. I prefer to get a young kid out of highschool and teach them from 'the ground up". You wouldn't believe how hard that it is to find a suitable candidate for this.

I recently thought I had one, a local kid ive known for a few years, clean cut, respectful. I hired him for summer help hoping to make it into a long term deal. I told him the possibilities from day 1. He is 22 years old.

The kid cant do anything without his dad telling him ok. He can work when his dad does not need him at his business. I explained that payday is every two weeks, second and fourth week of the month. After working a partial week (when he started was a Wednesday) he wanted paid CASH on the first week. I again explained that pay day was every two weeks.....

The next Monday, he told me that his PARENTS decided it would be best if he were paid under the table. I explained that in a REAL job, the world does not work like that, and why.

I told him if he needed some money to hold him over, I could help out that way, but payday was every two weeks.

Sunday am I get a text from him wanting to know what time (ON A SUNDAY) he could pickup his CASH for the last week.

I am DONE. The kid has been sheltered to much, does not understand how the world works, and is not able to follow basic instructions.

What the sam hill is the world coming to?

Give him his cash and tell him he is done. He is the wrong one. Do not give up as there are a few good kids out there. You are right though they are hard to find . I have the same concerns you do as I too do not know what the world is coming to...

Its not I expect a 20 year old kid to be a JW electrician, but for crying out loud! Its hard to find a kid who has his head on straight! I know they exist, but are rare as hens teeth.

I started into my apprenticeship right out of highschool, Got married at 21, and the next summer (22) we (my wife and I) started our own company. Been at it ever since. Granted, there have been a lot of learning experiances along the way, but we have made it so far.

Its hard to find someone who has the DRIVE to succeed. Ill teach them the theory and understanding, but finding someone worth the effort is dang hard.,

Beats me.

When I was in a position to hire, I interviewed a lot of kids whose only accomplishment to date had been to letter in three sports in high school.

When I'd tell them, "That's nice, but what can you do for me"? I'd get a blank look. Their entire four years in high school had centered around sports.

I would blame it on the education system. I had a B average in high school by memorizing the books, but out in the real world I didn't know much. Still learning at 72.

I had a neighbor kid like that come here one time wanting work. Nice kid,I can't find fault with him there,but right up front,I didn't need the help. The youngest boy was still here working with me. The kid said his mother told him to come to me and get a job. Told me what she said I had to pay him and when he could work. Needless to say,I didn't hire him. Like I said,I didn't need him in the first place. I did go get him a year or so later when I needed some calf pens cleaned. The boy pitched manure until his hands bled.

I told my boys that when they applied for a job,make sure they told a potential employer that they milked cows for several years,it would prove that they didn't work by the clock and would stay with the job until it was done no matter what.

My nephew,God bless the boy,he's not afraid to work,but he went to the same auto/diesel college that my oldest boy went to. He finished the hands on mechanics classes,but quit and didn't finish the business end of it and graduate. My son told him that he wouldn't hire him because he quit. He said "Why,I learned all the mechanics stuff?". My son said "Because you quit". How do I know that you won't quit if I give you a big project and you get hung up on something you don't want to do?

(quoted from post at 06:05:38 06/08/15) I was sitting here this morning in my office, waiting on this rain that was gonna screw up my days plans....(southwest ohio) and drinking a cup of coffee. I read the posts below about todays youth starting out, what the possibilities are for them, and where good jobs are at and are heading in this country.

Id say, from my point of view, if you are a young man or woman who has some ambition and drive, a bit of mechanical ability and know how, you will be fine.

I say this, because as a electrical contractor I have been looking to hire a new apprentice. I prefer to get a young kid out of highschool and teach them from 'the ground up". You wouldn't believe how hard that it is to find a suitable candidate for this.

I recently thought I had one, a local kid ive known for a few years, clean cut, respectful. I hired him for summer help hoping to make it into a long term deal. I told him the possibilities from day 1. He is 22 years old.

The kid cant do anything without his dad telling him ok. He can work when his dad does not need him at his business. I explained that payday is every two weeks, second and fourth week of the month. After working a partial week (when he started was a Wednesday) he wanted paid CASH on the first week. I again explained that pay day was every two weeks.....

The next Monday, he told me that his PARENTS decided it would be best if he were paid under the table. I explained that in a REAL job, the world does not work like that, and why.

I told him if he needed some money to hold him over, I could help out that way, but payday was every two weeks.

Sunday am I get a text from him wanting to know what time (ON A SUNDAY) he could pickup his CASH for the last week.

I am DONE. The kid has been sheltered to much, does not understand how the world works, and is not able to follow basic instructions.

What the sam hill is the world coming to?

Click to expand...

Keep looking. We got several local kids working at whatever jobs they can find, so of them 2-3 jobs. They just couldn't afford school even with student aid so they are kinda stuck. I've about got one talked into the military but his mom is so afraid of him getting hurt she's fighting me. Any one of these kids would be good for you.

Rick

I'm in the same position myself. My problem is that the jobs I tend to do wind up covering several different areas, from shop, or portable machine work, to hydraulics troubleshooting, to electrical, be it design and wiring a machine to troubleshooting an existing circuit. I know of several older guys, like myself, in the area that are good at what they do, but none of them that I know of cover as wide of a spread of things as I do. Some of them I've seen in the field have younger guys working with them, and the majority of them are idiots, at least based on what I have seen.

The sad thing, and I don't know what to call it, but the lazy, entitled, ???????? way of thinking has even invaded the dealerships. I was talking to one the other week who was working on an articulated, off road, haul truck. He had the cab raised and had just finished changing out the main hydraulic pump. Man the job he had was a breeze, as raising the cab opened up everything wide open. Still he was complaining about having to get on his knees to work on this or that. How these machines were such a PITA to work on....even though EVERYTHING I could see was right in front of you once the cab was out. Heck, even if you had to pull the engine or transmission, all it would have taken was unhooking about 10 lines and a wiring harness from the cab and setting it out of the way. Basically one of the most open, easiest to get to and maintain machines I've ever seen....but he still complained..... I'd hate to have heard him if he';d been lying on his back changing a line on a 943 CAT, or up inside a crane trying to get the friction bands out of the drums.

The guy also had a brand new truck which I was looking at and commenting on, as they had incorporated some really nice things into it that I'd like to incorporate on mine eventually. I commented on the capacity of his crane, which was something like 10,000 lbs. His reply was that his last truck had a bigger crane, but that he liked the smaller one. I asked why, and he said it was because now they wouldn't send him out to work on the big stuff. Personally I like the big stuff. That aside, if your going to work in the field of construction equipment repair, you'd better be able to work on the big stuff, given that much of it is big stuff. I'd much rather be on something that is big and open enough to work on, like the truck he was working on, than to get stuck squeezing my way inside a machine that barely has room for me to fit my arm, much less half my body.

I also had a young guy stopped and asked me about a job about a year ago. He said he had one kid with his ex, and another on the way with his girlfriend, and really needed to work. I told him I'd give him a call when I had something. Several weeks later, he called me and asked if anything had come up. At the time I actually did need someone, and had been planning to call him. I had also asked around and been told by a few folks that knew of him, that he was a good kid, and that seemed to have the want to, and ability to learn. So, I told him that if he could be at the house on Saturday that I would give him a shot, and he said that was good with him. Saturday morning roles around and I get a call that his girlfriend's mom, grandma, somebody, was being admitted to the hospital and that he would try to get over, but it might be later in the day. I was OK with that and told him just to call and let me know what was going on. I never got a call back. I gave him one more shot and called him several days later and left a message just saying I was curious as to what happened, and that if he was still interested in working to give me a call. That's been over a year, and still no phone call..........

Like you have said, finding anyone who even wants to learn, much less work now days is near impossible. Yes there are a few out there, but even then weeding through the ones that don't "know everything" and want to be paid more than I pay myself when all they have going for them is a few years of tech school, and the ones that actually want to learn, is a near impossible task.

Kids are the same, parents mess up the kids.

Teddy, I see education as basic training and the real world as the war. One only prepares you to cope with learning the other. gm

Interesting - I asked for a job in a gas station when I was 16. Owner asked me if I played on the football team, and I figured I was sunk because our school didn't even have a football team, and I wouldn't have had time to play if it did. When I told him no, he hired me. He said he didn't want any football heroes to babysit.

My BIL was lamenting about how his daughter couldn"t afford college. When I suggested the military and GI Bill, he had the same reason....she might get hurt. Yet it"s ok that my daughter is a paratrooper, protecting their butts. And he got tech school thru his dad"s service and early demise. He wouldn"t serve a day....

I agree with many of your points but in my experience it is a double edged sword. I can't help but notice that when many employers do find those "exceptional" workers they don't seem to go through a lot of trouble to make sure they stay. I've often seen the "good" ones treated no different from the "useless" ones. All it takes is for another employer to "up the ante" and the good one is gone leaving the original employer back to complaining how they can't find good help. Kind of like my SIL complaining 'all the good ones are married'.

I'll be the exception to this post.

I had a great neighbor kid working with me, 15 years old. All sorts of odd jobs. Pruning, moving or grading dirt, staking new plots. Just plain old general labor. This kid wasnt the fastest but he did things once and did them right. An all around good worker, stayed til the job was done.

Eventually he got his drivers license and started looking for more work that I could give him. He found a better job than working with me. I knew eventually I would lose him to a better job. Hes doing great at 21 years old. Moving up and getting things done. Going to college and working.

The problem... I havent been able to find another one like him.

Rick

Are you a teacher?

I have used some of the neighbor kids from time to time, either to help horseback, or to help put hay in the barn. There are a pair of twin boys that I have used for 4 years, they just turn 17, and they are by far the best help anyone could ask for. Have another neighbor, that has 2 boys and a girl. I will take the girl any day over the 2 worthless boys!!

(quoted from post at 07:05:38 06/08/15) ..........................................................................
.................................................................

What the sam hill is the world coming to?

Click to expand...

I know where that question came from as I've got my belly full of some of the 'don't know how to work' crowd! :evil: BUT ,every now and again, I run across one that breaks the mold ---- makes me
SMILE![code:1:9e5bd43e14][/code:1:9e5bd43e14]

Retired Teamster since 99, retired child abuse investigator since last year. My youngest is a teacher.

With all this positive attitudes towards the youth of today, no wonder they are worthless!!! Geez!

I hired a panel and harness builder a few months back. Pretty good young guy (great at soldering SMT and other small stuff) but he always wanted to argue with me. I finally told him that "yes, I would listen to his ideas but at the end of the conversation, I was still the boss". He made a comment one day as to "why was I always trying to p--ss him off." I told him that he should be worrying about p__ssing ME off, not the other way around. He also had a low attention span. I'd give him a job and find him wandering outside for a smoke or BS'ing with the engineers when they came into the shop. A few times I caught him with his head stuck in a panel and surfing the net on his cell phone. He acted like he had 20 yrs seniority and could do anything he wanted. I told him he had to earn those stripes.

But we were busy and I needed the manpower.

Had to lay somebody off. Guess who is on unemployment?