From KTUL:
quote:
Tulsa - If you are looking for a job, odds are you can find one in Tulsa. In fact, many employers are having a tough time filling positions. One study estimates when it comes to the workforce, Tulsa is short by 60-thousand professionals. And, as NewsChannel 8's Burt Mummolo reports, the shortage affects both blue and white-collar industries.
Some say the big gap is a perception problem, with people believing Tulsa is a poor place to work. Whatever the cause, it is an employees market out there with employers saying 'Help Wanted!'.
At Apsco, Inc., sales of air cylinders have tripled over the past three years. Business is booming. But, keeping up with it? President Larry Mocha is feeling the pinch of the workforce shortage.
"How can we get people to help us grow," Mocha says. "Tulsa can't support the kind of growth that we have."
Mocha's sister, Suzanne Braddy, is in charge of finding bodies to fill the orders.
"We can't find people who will come and stay," Braddy says. "It's hard to find people who have the work ethic that we're expecting here."
"We'll have an interview, or she will with someone, it'll go real well, we'll offer them the job, they'll accept it, and then never show up for work," Mocha adds.
And, those employer blues aren't just blue-collared. Jennie Miller with Beck Design is looking to add three architects by year's end. But, with a pool of local applicants so shallow, firms end up fighting each other for the same talent.
"So, unless you go to another firm and try to recruit people that way, it's really hard to find people," Miller says.
So what gives? Josh Roby with Tulsa Young Professionals says it's an issue of perception in some ways.
"Today's young professionals will find the cool city with the lifestyle that they want and will then move there and find a job after the fact," Roby says. "So does Tulsa have a cool problem? We're working on that, we're working on that."
If having an abundance of jobs ever becomes cool, Tulsa will have it made. But, in the meantime, Mocha says it's hard to find someone who'll show up for the job after the interview.
NewsChannel 8 spoke with one human resource director at another company, who says her biggest challenge when trying to get people to move to Oklahoma is trying to convince them that Tulsa's not that bad.
Tulsa Young Professionals was formed two years ago and so far, has three-thousand members. Their goal is to attract and retain young professionals to the Tulsa region.
I bet nobody knew that Tulsa was having a tough time recruiting this crowd. [;)]
Gee, watching the news day to day I would never imagine such a fabled place exists. I thought there was nothing but massive layoffs and evil corporations all being corporations and stuff.
Too bad the economy in the rest of the country is doing well too. Until there is a downturn SOMEWHERE it is hard for a region to attract the added workers it needs.
and while I'm at it... lets kick all the Mexican's out of Tulsa because clearly we dont need their labor.
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
and while I'm at it... lets kick all the Mexican's out of Tulsa because clearly we dont need their labor.
I am going to assume you meant the
illegal Mexicans.
Here's an idea, Larry Mocha, if you need workers offer higher wages and competitive benefit packages. People won't work for your slave wages.
Perception, more like reality, YP's won't relocate to Tulsa or Oklahoma because of our repressive laws against workers, religious extremists, and the fact that you can make more money just about anywhere else you go.
Many monotunus jobs, where when you look at the people performing them, you get the song Da ba dah bam bah, da ba dah bam bah.
The Boatman's Song where dozens of men are rowing the boat along. The Vulga Boatman's song.
Many jobs are better filled by temporary employees. Temporary meaning people that are seeking part time or are willing to take jobs that are monotunus and have high turn over. Most these types of jobs have high turnover no matter what the pay or benefits. It is the type of work more than the pay rate that creates the higher turn over of employees.
Thus the high number of Temporary Personnel Staffing services and contract labor in today's market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Volga_Boatmen's_Song
You make it sound like people choose to whore themselves out to temp agencies or to work as (misclassified)independent contractors in these jobs. It's the employers who make the decision to choose to hire through temp agencies or engage in 1099 abuse to avoid paying taxes, benefits, worker compensation, and unemployment insurance costs.
Thanks Double A for your moronic take on what is good news. Incidentally, how many people do you currently employ? Are the wages you pay competetive?
Cannon: Obviously you have been listening to KFAQ again for your news on Tulsa's job marker.
60,000 jobs? But, but, but we have a sh!tty economy in Tulsa, just can't be.
Yeah but what the story doesn't tell you is that most of job openings only pay $9-11 an hour.
quote:
Originally posted by Who Cares
Yeah but what the story doesn't tell you is that most of job openings only pay $9-11 an hour.
No, I think what the story is telling is that it's higher end jobs that are hard to fill. We have a shortage of people for high paying jobs and plenty of workers at the low end (some of questional legality) pushing the low end workers into that $9-11 range of employment, above that and workers are hard to find.
Besides not believing the story...
I thought this line was funny:
"NewsChannel 8 spoke with one human resource director at another company, who says her biggest challenge when trying to get people to move to Oklahoma is trying to convince them that Tulsa's not that bad."
One time I was working with a client on a very contemporary project. We were faced with eliminating an element of the design due to cost, and she was very concerned about how the project would look without it, so I said "Oh, it won't look that bad" to which she replied with a smile on her face "So you're saying it WILL look bad, just not THAT bad..." So are they saying that Tulsa's bad, but not THAT bad? :)
I also don't have much faith in the story... Given Tulsa's size, I just don't think that we could have 60,000 professional job openings. I don't think Tulsa has 60,000 in ALL its job openings.
Notice how there are no sources given, just lines like, "one company", "some say", "one study estimates". Where's the study? Who performed the research?
Anybody??
quote:
Originally posted by tulsa1603
Besides not believing the story...
I thought this line was funny:
"NewsChannel 8 spoke with one human resource director at another company, who says her biggest challenge when trying to get people to move to Oklahoma is trying to convince them that Tulsa's not that bad."
One time I was working with a client on a very contemporary project. We were faced with eliminating an element of the design due to cost, and she was very concerned about how the project would look without it, so I said "Oh, it won't look that bad" to which she replied with a smile on her face "So you're saying it WILL look bad, just not THAT bad..." So are they saying that Tulsa's bad, but not THAT bad? :)
I agree that Tulsa has an certain image to overcome. But IMO Tulsa is not a bad place to live. When we told all our friends that we were moving here, they told us all kinds of stuff that was not true. Flat dessert, racist, etc... I found Tulsa to be a very interesting city with tons of potential and fortunatly Tulsa has started to tap into that potential.
Tulsa does have some bad things about it. But what city doesnt?
You have all of these "jobs" that are in need but cant be filled? Pay more. Thats how the market works.
The best way to find out about an area's job market is to use the obvious tools such as Monster, Yahoo Hotjobs, Careerbuilder, or others and do a search on some high-tech, professional jobs that have decent wages.
Over the course of a career that has involved quite a bit of job searching as a consultant, I've found that the jobs listed below are pretty indicative of how the high-tech job market is faring in a given area.
This is just my opinion, of course, but I've had a lot of years judging the prospects for a given area using this method.
Below are the results of my pseudo-scientific search on job prospects for Tulsa, Omaha, and Albuquerque; three areas that are of similar size.
Tulsa
Engineer (chemical, manufacturing, industrial, software): 100 (contract and full-time; all professional engineers)
Writer (Technical, Business, Marketing, Proposal): 5
Business Analyst: 45
Total: 150
Omaha
Engineer: 90
Writer: 3
Business Analyst: 75
Total: 168
[b}Albuquerque
Engineer:67
Writer: 1
Business Analyst: 40
Total: 108
Judging by the results, Tulsa is basically on par with cities of similar size; better than Albuquerque, but not quite so good as Omaha (but both cities are larger, although Omaha metro area is smaller and probably Albuquerque as well).
Majority of people that start a job through an employment service temp, or temp to perm are hired full time after the liquidation time period of the contract of the recruiter.
Never heard it called whoring themselves out. Majority of savvy business owners, recruiters use personnel companies to oursource recruiting, pre employment screening and other processes that those compaines are professionals at versus spending time training in house people to do jobs they have no time for.
Most the larger services in Tulsa such as Key, Express, Manpower will have over 30 to 40 thousand employees on their payroll at any given time.
Temp to perm is a very effective way to find a position with companies. Majority of the design engineers on the 747 were contracted through technical temp services. Majority of health professionals today are contracted through Medical temp services.
if you listen to that entire story they were saying its not just a lack of bodies. Its a lack of QUALIFIED people. In HR speak that means Tulsa has lots of duds and not enough WORTH hiring. I remember one guy saying there isnt the same work ethic that there used to be....and thats definitely true. I'm amazed how some people are able to keep their jobs sometimes because I never see them DOING anything.
quote:
Originally posted by YoungTulsan
You have all of these "jobs" that are in need but cant be filled? Pay more. Thats how the market works.
the city of tulsa pays well thats for sure.
I have commented on this before. I told the story of how at one of the Channels meetings several businessmen in the audience stood up and talked of how they would fly people here, wine and dine them, offer them competitive wages and then would still get turned down, they constantly faced a hard time convincing those well educated, creative, driven, people to live here.
The worst thing about this is that those types of businesses that need those kinds of workers face the prospect of not being as competitive as their rivals in cities where those people do migrate to. The talent pool is less and in some cases they may have to pay the person even more just to convince them to live here. All the money in the world is useless if you the person considers Tulsa a desolate wasteland. We arent talking about "labor" jobs, its more "knowlege based and creative" type jobs that Tulsa is having the worst time competing for.
As for temp jobs, its not as though Tulsa is unique in the number and types of those. They are every where.
I can tell you of many many talented, intelligent, go-get em, young people who just find that the things they are used to having, the bustling urban lifestyle, the community of like minded persons to hang with, etc. are just not here in Tulsa.
I hope this is changing, it just doesn't seem to be happening fast enough lol. But what can ya do?
quote:
Originally posted by TheArtist
I have commented on this before. I told the story of how at one of the Channels meetings several businessmen in the audience stood up and talked of how they would fly people here, wine and dine them, offer them competitive wages and then would still get turned down, they constantly faced a hard time convincing those well educated, creative, driven, people to live here.
The worst thing about this is that those types of businesses that need those kinds of workers face the prospect of not being as competitive as their rivals in cities where those people do migrate to. The talent pool is less and in some cases they may have to pay the person even more just to convince them to live here. All the money in the world is useless if you the person considers Tulsa a desolate wasteland. We arent talking about "labor" jobs, its more "knowlege based and creative" type jobs that Tulsa is having the worst time competing for.
As for temp jobs, its not as though Tulsa is unique in the number and types of those. They are every where.
The only thing Tulsa is missing (apparently) is major sports teams. I have vendors come in and they lament that they cant go see a good sports game. Who cares.
but maybe Tulsa businesses should recruit workaholics who dont like to go out and do anything. They would be right at home downtown.
Since when did, showing up for work and working hard, mean you were a workaholic? lol But just because people work hard doesnt mean they dont also like to play hard and really enjoy themselves after they have had a busy day. From what I can tell its the people who dont work hard who also then go home, if they get to work in the first place, and sit on their duffs not getting out and doing things. Generally,people who are very active and driven at work are also just as active afterwards. Speaking of which, I need to mow the yard and then hit the gym.
I believe there are a lot of jobs out there, but most are in retail. It seems as though just about every retail business in Owasso has a Now Hiring sign out. This is good for young people looking for summer jobs.
quote:
Originally posted by Cubs
I believe there are a lot of jobs out there, but most are in retail. It seems as though just about every retail business in Owasso has a Now Hiring sign out. This is good for young people looking for summer jobs.
yeah, who's going to buy those retail goods? people in minimum wage jobs generally just have enough to pay the bills.
quote:
Originally posted by inteller
I'm amazed how some people are able to keep their jobs sometimes because I never see them DOING anything.
As he posts on the forums at 4 in the afternoon. [;)]
Per the minimum wage jobs - the VAST majority of people with minimum wage jobs are using the income purely as discretionary. Mostly retired persons or teenagers just grabbing some extra cash. Their living expenses are already covered.
As it has been pointed out in this thread already, it is a labor MARKET. If you want more qualified people, you have to pay them to come. Likewise, as a laborer, if you want to be paid more you have to be able to offer something.
Tulsa has a glut of people with nothing to sell which is attracting industry that doesnt need a highly skilled employee (call centers, light manufacturing, etc.). Hopefully the growth eventually spurs higher paying jobs that require advanced skill sets and pay accordingly and a snow ball effect begins. When the cheap labor runs out (which it is, 3% unemployment) industry will either have to pay more, move on, or shift its business model.
Tulsa is missing a lot of things. But I have been sitting here trying to think of a way to describe what those things are so that people will understand. The best word that keeps popping into my mind, unfortunately lame as that word may be, is "Cool". That word does seem to sum up all the various aspects I am trying to describe.
A cool place to live, a cool neighborhood thats bustling, urban and walkable. If a young urban type person drives around town looking for a place to live, they head downtown and to the areas around it. They are looking for that Uptown Dallas type area. We don't have any. If and when Brookside and Cherry Street fill out a bit more, get some mid rise or just 3 and 4 story apartments or condos, more "trendy" homes so that they really remind them and look like the types of areas they are used to, that have a large concentration of like minded young people, then we will be getting some where. Beautiful old neighborhoods and suburbs we got pleeeenty of, but these people do not want that kind of sleepy peace and quiet, thats not their crowd.
A cool club and restaurant scene. A great entertainment area. Some "wow" restaurants as per another thread.
A cool river parks and riverwalk area. The river parks after it gets its makeover and hopefully something nice developed on the west bank will go a long way to doing that. It would be nice to have some public climbing walls along the river some where. Hopefully any development on the west bank near downtown will be "cool" itself and not just any ol average tweaked up strip mall.
A cool vibrant downtown that actually has people walking around in it.
A cool art scene. This one we are definitely missing. An area where there is a large concentraion of artists, art galleries, studios, etc. And no 5 or 6 shops on Brookside or Cherry Street is not gonna cut it. I just dont know on this one what we or the city could do to help, and I don't see any developers coming in and working on this one either.
Again, we have a lot of starts, heading in the right direction, just not the visible, critical mass yet. The question really is, what can the city, and us, do if anything to, encourage and help create those "cool" things?
Some developers like Jamie are definitely, step by step working towards those things. The new farmers market in the Pearl, one more tiny step in the right direction. Mlofts developments, definitely adding to that "cool" factor, and once there are enough of those and if Bumgarner (sorry if the name is not spelled right) puts in some things that help as well,,, then that area will start to play its part.
We are getting there, its just soooo agonizingly sloooooowly. And we have such a loooong way to go lol.
Here's what chaps me: It's the "glass half-empty" crowd like a few posters here who sit around and snipe about how crappy the economy is, they can't get a job that pays worth a crap, and it's all some politician's fault.
If you don't have a job skill to sell to the prevailing market, guess what? You won't get a higher-paying job. Either go to one of the many schools in the area (there's no shortage) and re-train, or move the efff out of Tulsa and go where you can sell your job skills, but quit pissing on the rest of us who are making it in this "crappy" economy.
Tulsa has been my home for 41 years with the exception of nine months that I lived in KC. I also worked for a company HQ'd in DFW for seven years and spent a lot of time travelling there, Denver, Colorado Springs, and KC. There were certain amenities I liked about those areas we don't have here, but one thing in common- tons of traffic and the "hot" areas to live are often priced out of the range of most recent grads. Also lots more crime.
I have several friends who spread out to NYC, Atlanta, Dallas, Detriot, St. Louis, LA after college who have since moved back to Tulsa because they love the slower pace.
I don't feel like we are missing anything here to help the job market except for people who are willing to further their education to the point that we would attract the best paying jobs. If we don't have the talent pool to draw from, companies aren't going to move here. I know, it's a chicken/egg issue because some say more amenities would attract better educated people.
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
quote:
Originally posted by inteller
I'm amazed how some people are able to keep their jobs sometimes because I never see them DOING anything.
As he posts on the forums at 4 in the afternoon. [;)]
i'm at work when you are still laying in bed playing with your morning wood. as a result, I don't have to deal with the 8 and 5 dumbass drivers.
Tulsa has tons of jobs as does Omaha, NE. The Tulsa Sunday paper is full of job ads. Take yer pick
The TW employment section typically has about 16 to 18 pages on Sunday. I know of several other cities that are approximately the same size and have far less pages of jobs.
60K jobs, Yeah Right!...........Anyone want to buy a bridge for South T-Town?
More of the same old BS that's always being spoon feed to T-Town Shroomers by the good old boys, puppet politicians & local media.
THE REAL STORY IS.............
If you are looking for a job (as a telemarketer) odds are you can find one in Tulsa. In fact, many employers are having a tough time filling positions (unless you are an illegal alien because they are too cheap to pay a decent wage). One study estimates when it comes to the workforce, Tulsa is short by 60-thousand professionals (because professionals can earn more and live better in any of the other 49 states). And, as News Channel 8's Burt Mummolo reports, the shortage affects both blue and white-collar industries (because they can't earn any more than minimum wage).
Some say the big gap is a perception problem, with people (from the other 49 states knowing the real truth about) Tulsa, (it) is a poor place to (live &) work, (because they haven't been kept in the dark & feed BS their whole lives like the OK Shroomers).
Whatever the cause, it is an employees market out there with employers saying 'Help Wanted!' (For lousy low paying dead end jobs with no future)................
Now let's hear from all of you Shroomers who just keep sticking your heads in the ground. You know who you are, you voted for Tulsa's current Mayor!!!!!!!
By the way, do any of you know where those 200+ policemen are working these days?
Shroomers, puppet politicians? Aox, are you back?
Even if 60,000 were an over estimate, and from my uninformed perspective my guess is that it is,but even if it were one tenth that or 6,000 professionals, I would say thats a rare opportunity for any city our size and one that presents us with all the more incentive and challenge to do more to make our city more attractive and known.