Alright STOP

Bonus if you finished that appropriately. And sorry if it’s now stuck in your head like it is in mine. Just rap along and it will be okay.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming…

We have really failed as a society. I mean absolute failure.

Failed to equip and prepare people for advances in technology, so that now that these Boomers and some older Gen X who refuse to use a computer (most of whom have a dang smartphone) but happen to be looking for work in the 21st century are struggling. Most of this struggle is their own fault. They’ve “never needed to use a computer to apply for a job before!” or “why do I have to do this now, it’s not like I’m going to be using a computer while working anyway!”. Both of these are asinine statements and unfortunately those of us who are trying to help you find work bear the brunt of their ignorance and unwilling attitudes toward the “new” ways of working.

Let me address the first complaint – “never needed to use a computer to apply for a job before!” This statement may have been true before, but it isn’t true now. Suck it up and deal with it. You use more technology now to exist and function in your daily life than you want to admit, so this isn’t much different. Tandem to this is “but I don’t even have a computer!” Trust me, someone you know on a personal level has one. If not, there are local libraries that do and you can use them FOR FREE. Stop being lazy and making excuses – get on board or go on. The folks who are trying to help you become employed are not your personal admin assistants – we are NOT paid to fill out your application or other paperwork. Truth be told, neither is your spouse but that’s between you and them. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING is moving to online applications. You can’t even flip burgers now without an online app. The great thing about America is you have options (at least we still do at this moment in time) – you can choose to not apply and go on to somewhere that maybe is a smaller company and still operates in an archaic manner, or you can shut up, suck it up and figure online apps out. We just don’t want to hear your whining because no one is paid enough for that.

Number two “it’s not like I’m going to be using a computer for my job/while working anyway!” Oh boy…like I said before, there is no way you have not been using one form of computer or another in your life right now. It’s like any other skill you learn – you have to be shown or taught but eventually you grasp it. Unless you are actively resisting the entire process, that is. Computers run pretty much every single thing we own and use in our lives. Your car, your TV, your phone – even some appliances have them! To assume you will never use them is showing your ignorance and does not make you look competent. I had a brief stint recruiting truck drivers for a large retailer recently – trust me, these trucks are not the old 18-wheelers we saw in Smokey and the Bandit mind you. These home-away-from-home behemoths come equipped with some pretty fancy technology – the very tech that most of these same folks bitch about never having to use. Electronic logs have replaced paper logs, satellite radio and streaming radio apps have replaced terrestrial radio, navigation systems have replaced paper maps, cameras are onboard to record incidents and accidents, and you are allowed to have your cellphone but that depends on the company’s policy.

As a recruiter, I see this on a daily basis. Anyone else out there as frustrated as I am about this technology divide?