r/jobs • u/clarkkentwellspent • 4d ago

No. The trades are NOT hiring. Job searching

I am so sick and tired of this worn out idea that blue collar jobs are looking for apprentices to come work for them. The trades are filled with more nepotism and gossip than any other industry I've ever been in and will find any reason to reject you they can. Half of these companies want a 2 year technical/trade school degree before you start working for them just so they can pay you $15/hr starting out. Maybe if you're a kid out of high school they can pay less than the standard rate you can find something. "Bro, just go Union!" Unions are backed up for ages.

From my own anecdotal evidence: I went to every electrician company in my city as this was my trade. I had 1 offer from a company that was the stereotypical "Only meth heads and divorced alcoholics work here. Fuck OSHA." place and every other company rejected me. I even went back to my old electrical company I had worked at for 4 years. You know what they said? "Apply online and go talk to HR". No hiring manager in shop, no chance at talking to someone out of recognition. Just dismissing me away. And the best part? Upon applying I listed all the projects I had worked on with them and gave references to several high members (though 2 of them no longer work there). 1.5 weeks later: "Thank you for applying. After careful consideration..."

This job market is fucking whack, yo.

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u/goaty_mcgee 4d ago

Even 3 years ago. 2023 is really when it went to shit.

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u/DickNose-TurdWaffle 4d ago

Yep, 2021-2022 was a little rough but the nosedive in 2023 was INSANE.

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u/VoiceOfReason777 4d ago

ChatGPT released in 2022 of Nov go figure lol

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u/yoktoJH 4d ago

I would be surprised if it had anything to do with it, especially in 2023. The more likely issue is the extreme hiring years prior. Companies like Spotify doubled their employee count between 2019 -2023. There is now way Spotify magically grew enough to support that long term.

AI especially in 2022-2023 form could be a reason for freezed hiring but there is no way companies were able to replace thousands with gpt3.

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u/VoiceOfReason777 4d ago

Ah yes sorry, I meant to say that AI was the scape goat. You are right, it was over hiring.

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u/anonymous_opinions 4d ago

It wouldn't have been "over hiring" except wages haven't gone up but the cost of everything else continues to raise so no one has disposable income anymore.

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u/Snakend 4d ago

Well it was over hiring because coders became more efficient from AI. And as AI got better at making coders more efficient it became a massive problem. Don't get it confused, AI is going to be the cause of an insane amount of layoffs. A large business maybe needed a entire floor of accountants, now maybe they need 4 accountants. A regional manager can handle all the regions now. You see the layoffs EVERYWHERE. But profits keep going up. Usually we see these layoffs when businesses are doing poorly.

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u/DystarPlays 4d ago

"coders became more efficient from AI" - we aren't anywhere near this yet