U.S. Workforce 2025 - The Era of Minimal Effort
I have two colleagues that have worked with me almost as long as our store has been open; the better part of five years. When you’ve worked with someone that long, you’re not just coworkers, you become family. We’ve been with each other through all the ups and downs, celebrations, turmoil and chaos. We know one another’s preferences for food, childhood stories, and in some cases, what dormant monsters hide under our beds at night. (AKA - past traumas) We’ve shared birthdays and holidays, dinners, anniversaries. We’ve met one another’s significant others and then listened in after they’ve done and gone. I have a love for these ladies like I have love for my own mother or sister.
You will understand my dismay then, as I have been mourning their departure from our store. One right after the other in a hurried succession that for the past couple weeks has left us all reeling. Day after day since they’ve left the store seems to get a little bit quieter, like suddenly the walls are thickly padded. Silence punctuates where there would otherwise be chatter and rolling laughter. Yet we go on, business as usual through it all, as if we have a choice to do anything but. The spaces they left to fill are large and I sincerely hope that the next person to step in is up to the task.
We have had a few hopefuls stop in to deliver resumes after seeing job postings online. This is where my point of contention really starts to reveal itself. At what point, and I am asking this question earnestly, did people forget to put their best foot forward while out seeking employment? I genuinely can not comprehend turning up to a store that I was hopeful of gaining employment with not dressed for the part. As Jools LeBron once said, “The way that I show up to the interview is the way I show up for the job. Very demure, very mindful.” So why, please give me a good reason, would you show up in some ratty jeans and a tee shirt to personally hand-deliver a resume? On top of that, hand-deliver a resume that has typos, is three pages stapled together, clearly formatted by a blind zebra, and chockfull of irrelevant work history and personal skills.
Has our education system failed us so terribly that this is what the current generation wanting to join the American workforce is resorted to? In 2025 with the plethora—the literal eternal wealth of information available to human beings—and there is still no clue on how to properly present yourself for a potential hire? Perhaps it is just general laziness and lack of willingness to try. There have got to be studies conducted on the subject. (The same type of studies that I am too lazy to research myself at the moment.)
I guess what I am trying to say here is that I would love to see an effort. If you are going to get your ass off the couch and out into the world with the intent of hand-delivering a resume, at least put on an outfit that doesn’t scream “laundry day”. You’re still allowed to inject your own personal brand into whatever outfit choice you make! Consider practicing your handshake with a friend. Have a look in the mirror at your radiant smile for a couple of minutes. Then, before you set out to meet your (hopefully) potential employer, do some light research on the company. What is their brand statement? Does it sound like something that resonates within your own personal ethos? Do you have a personal ethos or set values?
I know it may sound like I’m asking for a lot here. Trouble is, that is pretty baseline and standard for any decent job you may hope to one day acquire. That is, if you still want to consider living a decent life in this wild, turbulent world. I’m saying here what I cannot say to the handful of applicants that have come by with resumes in the past couple weeks, and that is put in the effort. Put in the effort because the people that you are replacing were irreplaceable, meaning you have very big shoes to fill. What can you add to the workplace? Be someone whose potential employers are fighting to get on their rosters. If you’ve stumbled upon this post and are gunning for a new job, I hope that this lit a little fire under you to up the ante on your next job hunt. If you are like me and encountering hopeless hopefuls, want to grab a drink after work and talk shit about them?
You’ve got this kiddos!
Kisses,
DH