by justinb
15. November 2009 15:38
If you've been on the job search grind for some time, than you may need to look towards the energy industry to get you back on your feet. Since the energy industry touts that it has over 12,000 jobs available but lacks skilled job applicants, this is a good target industry for those who "have the skills." What are the skills? Well unfortunately, specifics aren't given there, but some of the job titles that are currently in demand for the energy industry include: Power Plant Operators, Chemical Engineers, Pipelayers and Surveying Technicians to name but a few. It probably, goes without saying that if you're familiar with those job titles than you may very well have the skills to be successful.
It should be a little disturbing, though, to read articles complaining that "workers lack skills" when the unemployment rate is at or nearing 10% nationwide with over 15 million unemployed. Why? Well first off, how much of that is posturing and how much of it is reality? For example, virtually everyone has a skill set, part of which includes skills transferable to other industries as necessary. How different is applying analytical skills across industries? Sure the specifics of two jobs may be very different but applying analytical and reasoning skills is very much fundamental, in terms of application. Thus, quite often you have to take statements like "workers lack skills," with a grain of salt.
If workers lack supposedly lack the skills for energy related jobs than it should raise questions like - How long has the energy industry skills gap been ongoing? What steps are being taken to enable workers to acquire the required skills? How much has the energy industry skills gap contributed to hiring foreign workers via Work Permit VISAs, etc.? When you start asking these type of questions you get a better handle of the big picture. In this case, we should hope this is not another bamboozle scheme, whereas the energy industry postures about jobs being available for skilled workers only to "raise the bar" such as make American workers seem unqualified while foreign workers suddenly become qualified. You know what that smells like - cheap labor - that's what. In any event, certainly its worth it to look into some of the stimulus funding grants allocated for retaining and education. 