Mike Rowe- the guy from the tv show that did pretty much every job you can think of- has an interesting and enlightening view on the job market these days, and made a couple more awesome posts on his facebook page about it..

part 1:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=686702141339932&set=a.151342491542569.29994.116999698310182&type=1&theater

part 2:

https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/686714981338648

i agree with everything he says on this subject...

He's been making sense for years
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/getting-in-on-the-mike-rowe-love-fest/35267/page1/

I agree, too. Thanks for sharing that.

OK, I just finished reading it. He's so completely right. BTW, here is the SWEAT Pledge he was talking about:
http://profoundlydisconnected.com/skill-work-ethic-arent-taboo/

“THE S.W.E.A.T. PLEDGE” (Skill & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo)

I totally agree. I have my own anecdotes about people I was supposed to train but were too lazy to give a E36 M3 and always took the easy way when they did do anything. I have done demonstrations at local job corps and community vocational schools and the classes were never full and half the people there acted like they didn't want to be there.

Would I like to make more money for doing less work? Yeah, but that's not the way the wordld works. I make a comfortable living doing what I do. I bust my ass and enjoy what I do. My finacee is working on a doctorate now and she is working just as hard and I am if not more. I never cared for sitting in a class rather be physically doing something. Absolutely nothing wrong with either approach so long as you understand how much a path can yield, you do the best job that you can do and show up on time.

In reply to JoeyM:

Every 16 year old in this country needs to sign that, stop saying YOLO, and stay off my lawn.

Amen.

Our apprentice is the hardest working kid I've ever seen. If I'd had that work ethic at his age I'd be a hell of a lot better off.

I keep telling him that he's far too smart to be a mechanic. He's going to get his ticket because of all the hours he's already got as an apprentice but he's planning on getting into another trade that will pay better.

I can't wait to see where he ends up in ten years or so. Hopefully the kid goes a long way.

i know a guy that just turned 33 years old... he's a supervisor at a construction company that he started working at while he was in high school. he can operate any piece of heavy equipment and work circles around pretty much anyone laying pipe or whatever down in a 20 foot deep ditch... i don't know how much he makes, but it's gotta be in the 6 figure range and his career of doing hard labor is a thing of the past..

of course, he is a farm boy that's been doing hard labor his whole life, so he might have been given an unfair advantage in life..

Too bad people like that will never run for any political office.

3 is 100% wrong. There are some awful ways to earn a living.

4 should be mantra.

Some of those sound preachy and a little too much like the posters UPS used to hang near the time clock to properly motivate us to kill ourselves for them. So I propose a generalization to cover 1,2,5 -> 12.

"Do whatever you want but have a backup plan that will feed you. If one of those leads you make "Mike Rowe money"... you can sleep in and spend the day writing diatribes.

1. I deplore debt, and do all I can to avoid it. I would rather live in a tent and eat beans than borrow money to pay for a lifestyle I can’t afford.

Man I hate beans.

ugh.. I hate motivational posters with a passion. they are the cheap way out for a company to "raise morale" when they should be training their managers on how to do it in group and one and one.

I like Mike, he is one of us, but perhaps a bit too libertarian for my tastes. I would amend that the government -Should- see that we are educated and healthy.. with those two things, you can do anything in the world.

And yes, YOLO should be completely banned from everyone vocabulary. I find my 13yo niece using it and it bothers the hell out of me.

I do find it funny, the more money I make, the less work I actually have to do.

Mike Rowe's voice turns me on.

N Sperlo wrote: Mike Rowe's voice turns me on.

You are not alone....and he'll take advantage of that to get money for his foundation. This is funny stuff
http://profoundlydisconnected.com/reading-the-phonebook-helps-close-the-skills-gap/

BTW, the 12 point list there is not some fluff motivational poster text. That's the expectation they have for the students they give scholarships to for trade school
http://profoundlydisconnected.com/foundation/

I wonder what Mike's opinions are on Human Resources and other "modern" hiring practices?

It seems to me he would advocate for someone to work hard, determine if they like a job or not, continue to look else-where, and apply the last job's set of skills at the new job. That's what tradesman have been doing for centuries. It isn't enough to be just a farmer, or just a carpenter, or just a mechanic, because when work drys up you've got to move onto the next job.

I think we're creating a highly specialized highly educated but otherwise useless worker class, and mostly useless dependent class, and an ownership class that is highly dependent on flexibility.

I don't doubt in the future we'll have a dependent class who is made mostly of the formally specialized workers who were told by the Human Resource Nazis that changing careers and learning new skills was a bad thing.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: #3 is 100% wrong. There are some awful ways to earn a living. #4 should be mantra. Some of those sound preachy and a little too much like the posters UPS used to hang near the time clock to properly motivate us to kill ourselves for them. So I propose a generalization to cover 1,2,5 -> 12. "Do whatever you want but have a backup plan that will feed you. If one of those leads you make "Mike Rowe money"... you can sleep in and spend the day writing diatribes.

or maybe you'd spend your days traveling all around the country speaking to groups (up to and including congressional panels) and appearing on every tv or radio broadcast that will have you on to spread your message of hard work being something that people should be willing to do, and spend your downtime between those things making clever posts online and selling C.R.A.P. to raise money and awareness of the scholarship program that you founded to help get people the skills they need to fill some of those job openings out there...

novaderrik wrote: or maybe you'd spend your days traveling all around the country speaking to groups (up to and including congressional panels) and appearing on every tv or radio broadcast that will have you on to spread your message of hard work being something that people should be willing to do, and spend your downtime between those things making clever posts online and selling C.R.A.P. to raise money and awareness of the scholarship program that you founded to help get people the skills they need to fill some of those job openings out there...

berkeley that. I'd go racing.

Since it is his scholarship program, I guess he can ask them to sign whatever he wants. Good on him for trying to solve the skills gap.

Sorry but half of the SWEAT pledge sounds like a codification of the "live in misery and die happy that I never raised a stink about it" mindset that's so common with American Gen. X'ers...similar to all the "accept your lot in life" stuff (which I also don't like) from Eastern philosophy. It's just slapping a new set of tires and a fresh layer of paint on the same tired old "American Dream."

Everything in that sounds like a pledge to give an honest effort to earn your keep, live within your means, not sponge off of others, and stop whining. I'm GenX, so feel free to disregard my opinion.

There are no bad jobs, just bad bosses. A bad boss can make a good job seem like hell.

N Sperlo wrote: Mike Rowe's voice turns me on.

Oh hell yeah.

Brett_Murphy wrote: There are no bad jobs, just bad bosses. A bad boss can make a good job seem like hell.

I'd agree with this.

A good boss would know if a job is E36 M3ty or not and adjust his workload based on that, or his flexibility, time off, or wage.

I like his distinction between "Happiness" and "Pursuit of Happiness". Will Smith said pretty much the same thing in the movie of the same name (which is worth watching, if you haven't. Inspiring tale.).

I have a friend in the TV business that worked with Mr. Rowe. Said he was not the cool "down to earth guy" and was actually a AHo.