Do we lack the skills?

[Bindare_Dundat]

AT&T 'bemoans lack of US skills' 
 
AT&T is a household name in the US but AT&T has said it is struggling to find enough skilled staff to fill the 5,000 customer service jobs it is returning to the US from India, a report claims.
The comments were made by its chief executive Randall Stephenson, according to the Reuters news agency.

"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required," said Mr Stephenson.
So far only 1,400 of the 5,000 jobs have been moved back to the US.

'School concern'

AT&T, America's largest phone company, first said in 2006 that it aimed to bring the positions back to America.
Reuters said Mr Stephenson made the comments in a speech to a business group in San Antonio, Texas, where the company has its headquarters.
He is said to have added that he was concerned that in some US communities, the high school dropout rate was as high as 50%.

"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," Mr Stephenson is reported to have said.
 

[G o a t b o y]

Do we lack the skills?

Depends on which "we" you're talking about.  If you mean the "we" that went to college and beyond, not at all.  Our best match up very well with the rest of the world.  I would say the same of the middle 1/3 of the population who learned a technical skill or trade and are contributing to the economy productively. If you're referring to the bottom 1/3, I'd say that's an accurate assessment.  Large segments at the lower parts of our society are uneducated dumbfucks who are developing into a permanent underclass.

[w8tlftr]

We wouldn't have a skill shortage if people got off their fat asses, ditched their sense of entitlement, and actually worked for something.

[240 is Back]

Toyota almost put some assembly plant in Florida, but found the population lacked the gray matter to work their plants.  34% dropout rate statewide i believe.

[w8tlftr]

Toyota almost put some assembly plant in Florida, but found the population lacked the gray matter to work their plants.  34% dropout rate statewide i believe.

Sweet baby Jesus.

Man we're fucked.

[240 is Back]

Sweet baby Jesus.
Man we're fucked.

nah you gotta stay positive.  Remember, the internet means a lot of kids who used to vegg out and watch TV all day are actually reading.  How much faster do you think/type/read thanks to getbig?

[War-Horse]

When the jobs left the US it may have forced some into unemployment and they learned they could get free money by not working.

Therefore its both of their faults.   We are being "Dumbed down" day by day.

[w8tlftr]

nah you gotta stay positive.  Remember, the internet means a lot of kids who used to vegg out and watch TV all day are actually reading.  How much faster do you think/type/read thanks to getbig?

I think/type/read fast because I've worked in signals analysis and the IT field all my adult life.

Of course it didn't hurt that I was a typical Asian nerd in high school with my face always buried in a book.

The real problem, Rob, and we see it all the time in our society is that people no longer want to work for anything. They expect everything like it's owed to them and no one takes responsibility for anything. We see this in our own damn government right down to the everyday Joe Sixpack.

There is a good reason why immigrants come to America, work their bony asses off, and in a few years live the American dream - they work for it and don't expect shit from anyone.

Good proof of this is Louisiana after Katrina. I was listening to a radio program talking about all the Vietnamese immigrants in that state that took up work in the fishing industry. They came here dirt poor and worked their way up, started their own businesses and were eventually able to put their kids through college. No hand outs, no "the man owes me" crap, just long days and hard fvcking work. Anyways, in all the coverage we saw I don't recall seeing ANY of them bitching about anything. They just put their lives back together, worked hard, and carried on.

[240 is Back]

good call w8lifter.  I taught middle school for 3 years and elem school for almost 4.  I saw these kids come in every day... like the world owed them. Like they were entitled to free lunch, free pencils, etc.  They turn 18 and their parents support them.  Then they find an abusive prick or fat whore to take care of them.

People just don't hustle like they used to.  All the shiny distractions I suppose.  I like to play, goof off and watch MSNBC and FOXnews all day and post here, but I'm working nonstop as I do.  I can't even fathom the type of people who can lay on a couch for 6 hours straight watching sitcoms. 

I think/type/read fast because I've worked in signals analysis and the IT field all my adult life.

Of course it didn't hurt that I was a typical Asian nerd in high school with my face always buried in a book.

The real problem, Rob, and we see it all the time in our society is that people no longer want to work for anything. They expect everything like it's owed to them and no one takes responsibility for anything. We see this in our own damn government right down to the everyday Joe Sixpack.

There is a good reason why immigrants come to America, work their bony asses off, and in a few years live the American dream - they work for it and don't expect shit from anyone.

[G o a t b o y]

When the jobs left the US it may have forced some into unemployment and they learned they could get free money by not working.

Therefore its both of their faults.   We are being "Dumbed down" day by day.

The problem is a different skill set is required than that which was required 30 years ago.  Back then, your average dumbshit could get by without significant "book learning" and land some brainless factory job involving repetitive motion for eight hours at a stretch.  These days, even manual jobs have some technical component that requires you engage your gray matter.  Those that don't at the very least require people skills.  These douchebags have neither.  The jobs fit for their skill level have all moved overseas at $1.50/hr, and the people doing them are doing them better because while they also aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, at least they're not lazy like their American counterparts.

I blame our broken educational system (courtesy of the teachers' unions and government monopoly with no competition), as well as the widespread failure of parenting.

[Bindare_Dundat]

nah you gotta stay positive.  Remember, the internet means a lot of kids who used to vegg out and watch TV all day are actually reading.  How much faster do you think/type/read thanks to getbig?

WHAT is it that the youth are reading and typing if AT&T is having problems finding skilled labor?

[G o a t b o y]

WHAT is it that the youth are reading and typing if AT&T is having problems finding skilled labor?

Exactly how skilled must one be to work in a call center for christ's sake?

[w8tlftr]

Exactly how skilled must one be to work in a call center for christ's sake?

I blame books on tape.

Worst idea ever.

[Bindare_Dundat]

I blame books on tape.

Worst idea ever.

hahahaha

[240 is Back]

WHAT is it that the youth are reading and typing if AT&T is having problems finding skilled labor?

hahaha porn and online gaming, I guess.

I don't worry about the future of the place.  In the 60s, our future was in trouble because all the hippies were getting stoned.  In the 80s, the future was in trouble because all the kids were burnout headbangers with Crue shirts who got stoned in their vision street wear and listened to metallica all day.  Today, it's this generation of lazy fvckers who live on myspace doing squat.

In real life, these kids become the 80% of people who work too hard for too little, die too young because they buy DVDs and not health insurance, and who teach kids to believe what they do - that they were 'held down' by 'the man'.

The other 20% run the country, work easy jobs, take the dumb fvcks' $ in that legal casino we call the market, and make the decisions for the stupid 20%.  I don't worry about the future of the place because I know those 80% of dimwits will show up at their job, put in their 80% effort, and pay their 17% of taxes.

All I can do is try to work my ass off, try to stay healthy, and stay in that 20%.

[Bindare_Dundat]

Exactly how skilled must one be to work in a call center for christ's sake?

Yo! How do I put on this headset, G?

[G o a t b o y]

The other 20% run the country, work east jobs, take the dumb fvcks' $ in that legal casino we call the market, and make the decisions for the stupid 20%.  I don't worry about the future of the place because I know those 80% of dimwits will show up at their job, put in their 80% effort, and pay their 17% of taxes.

All I can do is try to work my ass off, try to stay healthy, and stay in that 20%.

$300 websites suddenly get more lucrative?  Unless you're doing two of them a day, every day of course. 

[Bindare_Dundat]

hahaha porn and online gaming, I guess.

I don't worry about the future of the place.  In the 60s, our future was in trouble because all the hippies were getting stoned.  In the 80s, the future was in trouble because all the kids were burnout headbangers with Crue shirts who got stoned in their vision street wear and listened to metallica all day.  Today, it's this generation of lazy fvckers who live on myspace doing squat.

In real life, these kids become the 80% of people who work too hard for too little, die too young because they buy DVDs and not health insurance, and who teach kids to believe what they do - that they were 'held down' by 'the man'.

The other 20% run the country, work easy jobs, take the dumb fvcks' $ in that legal casino we call the market, and make the decisions for the stupid 20%.  I don't worry about the future of the place because I know those 80% of dimwits will show up at their job, put in their 80% effort, and pay their 17% of taxes.

All I can do is try to work my ass off, try to stay healthy, and stay in that 20%.

That didn't sound very encouraging. 

[240 is Back]

$300 websites suddenly get more lucrative?  Unless you're doing two of them a day, every day of course. 

lol... well i doubt I'm in the top 20% of earners... I don't know where that cutoff is...

Perhaps I meant I'm in the 20% that works an easy, enjoyable job... makes his own schedule... naps and eats and does what he pleases most of the day, offering a professional service.

[G o a t b o y]

Yo! How do I put on this headset, G?

True story:  last week one of my analysts advertised online for a new administrative assistant, as his was moving to another city.  Most of the replies and resumes came via email, and he forwarded one of them to me (probably thinking I needed a good laugh).  It was from "hotsexy6721@--------.com".  The subject line was "ur ad in da puter".  Dumbfuck must have thought she was sending a text or something?  Needless to say, the resume was never even opened. 

[w8tlftr]

True story:  last week one of my analysts advertised online for a new administrative assistant, as his was moving to another city.  Most of the replies and resumes came via email, and he forwarded one of them to me (probably thinking I needed a good laugh).  It was from "hotsexy6721@--------.com".  The subject line was "ur ad in da puter".  Dumbfuck must have thought she was sending a text or something?  Needless to say, the resume was never even opened. 

BWAAHAHAHAHA

[G o a t b o y]

lol... well i doubt I'm in the top 20% of earners... I don't know where that cutoff is...

Perhaps I meant I'm in the 20% that works an easy, enjoyable job... makes his own schedule... naps and eats and does what he pleases changes diapers most of the day, offering a professional service.

fixed. 

[240 is Back]

hahaha i almost got him potty trained.  17 months old, and he takes his diaper off and squats on the potty chair.  granted, there's still some spraying, but hey, it's a start.

[calmus]

ych majors. 

The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.

"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.

Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent.

"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

Gone are the days when AT&T and other U.S. companies had to hire locally, he said.

"We're able to do new product engineering in Bangalore as easily as we're able to do it in Austin, Texas," he said, referring to the Indian city where many international companies have "outsourced" technical and customer support workers.

"I know you don't like hearing that, but that's the way it is," he said.

Stephenson said neither he nor most Americans liked the situation, and the solution was a stronger U.S. focus on education and keeping jobs. Business needed to help, such as AT&T's repatriation of service positions and education grants, he added.

[Bindare_Dundat]

True story:  last week one of my analysts advertised online for a new administrative assistant, as his was moving to another city.  Most of the replies and resumes came via email, and he forwarded one of them to me (probably thinking I needed a good laugh).  It was from "hotsexy6721@--------.com".  The subject line was "ur ad in da puter".  Dumbfuck must have thought she was sending a text or something?  Needless to say, the resume was never even opened. 

lol

Du we lak da skillz#?