Michigan’s back, Jack
This is a guest post from my Daily Kos friend dkmich. It talks about a couple of new economic development initiatives working to bring jobs to Michigan.
Take a look:
“Osama bin Laden’s dead & GM is alive”
The Great Recession gave a knock out punch to an already struggling auto industry and thousands of Michigan engineers and IT people poured into the unemployment lines. Things were so bleak for so long that most of them ended up moving out-of-state for work.
Thanks to President Barack Obama and former Governor Jennifer Granholm, the automotive manufacturers are now leading Michigan and the country into recovery. IT staffers and engineers are in huge demand. We also need welders, CNC operators, researchers. and technicians.
MichAGAIN is a state economic development program created to bring Michiganders and their new engineering and IT friends home. It’s part of the Pure Michigan program. Here is a schedule of their upcoming job fairs:
FEB 8, 2012 Orlando, FL
MAR 9-13 Austin, TX
MAY 8-10 San Francisco, CA
JUN 18-21, Boston, MA
OCT 22-24, 2012 Washington, DC
NOV 13-15 – Chicago, IL
DEC 27, Homecoming, Detroit, MI
If virtual is more to your liking, MiVirtualCareerFair, also part of the Pure Michigan program, is an online career event where job seekers and employers can interact with each other in a live, 3-D virtual environment. It takes place on February 15th, 10am-4pm ET.
Michigan has jobs. If you have skills and need work, it is time to look at your geography and not your resume.
Employers yell and scream about skill gaps and blame the schools. I think that’s hooey. From the Financial Times article Skill gap hobbles US employers:
“A generation ago, employers would hire and train employees. Now, they demand trained workers,” says Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school.“The skills gap is largely a figment of companies’ imagination,” says Mr Cappelli. “They cannot find workers to do the very specific tasks they want done. That is different from not being able to find capable workers.”
Training is a part of the cost of doing business, and business expects everyone but them to pay to train their workforce. Nothing new here. They don’t want to pay taxes or unemployment, and they certainly don’t want to pay, insure, or pension their workers either.
Corporate America wants all of the rights of a person and none of the responsibility.
