Who Gets a Seat at the Table?
People who have the means to accept internships and exposure opportunities are clearly at an advantage for upward mobility. Employers take great advantage of this system without any regard to how it impacts wages. A culture has developed with internships and”exposure” jobs that insure those with means, but not much job experience yet, rise to better jobs. It has become such a common mechanism in every upward moving job opportunity. Hiring managers, CEO’s, and most importantly, human resource departments would feel shackled if they could not use these key opportunities as “have” piles and “have not” piles. You ever wonder why you can’t get that interview?
Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash
While those struggling to pay the bills take lower wages to compete or take out more loans to “pay to play” the system, creating a lottery luck of possibility for scarce upward movement. You find yourself struggling to understand the “job dialog” where you are clearly not meant to have a seat at the table.
When movement up is limited by individual economic background (can work for peanuts to get ahead) a black hole is created that has ripple effects upward and downward.
That black hole not only suppresses wages on the bottom, it creates an online algorithm “black hole” devouring those that don’t have internships/volunteer work abilities on resumes. Companies can insist they only accept “online applications”, giving employers mechanisms for blatant discrimination that can be hidden purely behind technological savvy. Key words in this internal algorithm are used at their discretion to find “the right people”.
If you “pay to play” you can get coaching on just how to manipulate the algorithm game in your favor. If you “pay to play” you can get coaching on how to tweak your resume that meets these algorithms. For example, on Linkedin you can apply to many jobs, but if you want to apply directly to “a named person” you have to pay for Linkedin membership. Code word-pay to play. Top tier schools hone your skills in manuevering this landscape. Yale graduates have created a company that has developed an app called “RippleMatch” that uses algorithms they have designed to help young college graduates get an even better leap on the job front.
Burdens, that companies had previously, have been placed on the job seeker, especially jobs that used to be middle class or lower. You can only apply to places such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, Kohls, Bruggers Bagels, etc. on-line, creating an algorithm on menial labor. Walking in, dressed nicely, ready to make that first impression is realigated to an algorithm that has no ability to know your dynamic personality. Job services such as Kellys employment require you to fill out extensive personal information on delapidated, vulnerable, old computers. Some companies require urine tests before they will even talk to you. UPS, which now pays much less than they did 10 or more years ago (now minimum wage), makes you pay for Union dues through the first year of your employment, on already extremely low wages, and limits you to 4 hour shifts because of the extreme conditions of lifting and moving boxes at a high rate of speed. But, they’re gracious enough to point out how they’re doing you a favor by spreading the payments over the year. All insurance that the “have nots” have a better chance at the lottery than upward mobility. This is why people having 2 or 3 jobs is becoming commonplace. This alone steals the human soul. We are not meant to work so much that we have nothing.
The bottom will be continually squashed if these black holes are allowed to continue. It will ensure the elite stay advantaged, no middle class existence, no union organizing (no power), while persecuting the have not’s for not trying hard enough to lift themselves out of this growing abyss. This was done before. It was why unions were born. Parents are having to make choices that hurt their soul and put their children in harms way, because they have no choice. This is immoral in a democratic society.
Do we have to repeat this ugly cycle again be taking the “human” out of humane? Isn’t the point of existence, the attempt to have everyone at the table first before they are excused? Answers are not easily abtainable. To get closer to answers we much understand the urgency of the dialog or we allow oblivious gluttony to devour us all.
