THE EMPLOYMENT PROBLEM OF 1931 D. H. KILLEFFER.BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT O W THECHEMISTS' CLUB. NEWYORKCITY
Unemployment as it nmu affects the chemical profession is briefly discussed. Particular emphasis i s placed upon the part played by the applicant in securing employment in trying times like the present and a number of points to be especially observed in applyingfor ajob are noted.
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Of all the side lights on the present industrial depression, one of the most interesting and important is the revelation that so many professional men and women do not know how to go about finding work. That there is a proper technic for doing this many do not realize and often after finding a proper opening some fault of technic allows it to slip through their fingers. When opportunities are so scarce and applicants so many as a t present the fine points of approach and negotiation are of ruling importance. This paper is being written to set forth a few of the writer's observations along this line for such benefit as they may be to those interested, and particularly to the teachers of chemistry on whom rests the important task of preparing boys and girls to make a living from this profession. It is quite apparent that much of the gloom about unemployment among chemists and chemical workers generally is unwarranted by a careful study of the facts. Although in many individual cases the situation is necessarily very serious, a careful survey of the field reveals the fact that this profession has sufferedmuch less in proportion than others. Based upon estimates including a most generous factor of safety, it seems probable that less than one in ten, and pbsibly not more than one in twenty, of those sufficiently trained in chemistty to be considered members of the profession are a t present out a t work. This compares with a figure published by government agencies to the effect that approximately one in seven wage earners in the country a t large are unemployed. In the engineering professions unemployment is said t o be a t a considerably higher rate than the general one. Whatever comfort may be gained from such statistics, one must admit that the old sophistry of "accepting a position" is distinctly a n anachronism and that any one out of work now will be glad t o "get a job." Unquestionably the present is a time when each person must put his best foot forward. Employers are looking for ways to improve their organizations and to strengthen weak spots. New work is very rare. In this situation experience bargains are being eagerly sought and the man with special experience has a pronounced advantage over one not so endowed. From the employer's viewpoint, the large number of job seekers is both an asset and a liability. An asset, because he is quite sure to be able to find exactly what he needs. A liability, for the reason that even the most 1563
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guarded announcement of his wishes floods him with applicants who use his time and wear out his patience. Obviously, his best method of avoiding this liability is to turn his problem over to a recognized organization in whom he has faith to conduct the preliminary sorting of applicants for him. For this purpose the Bureau of Employment of the Chemists' Club, operated by chemists for themselves, offers itself as a ready help. Obviously, with employers turning to an agency of this kind it is of special advantage for the unemployed man of experience to have his credentials where they can he immediately available as a means of securing introductions to possible openings. However, the applicant learns of openings, whether from advertising, friends, or through other means, his next step, his first contact with the prospective employer, is of greatest importance. A surprisingly large number seem to adopt the attitude that employers are eager to put them remuneratively to work and that it is merely necessary to let employers know they are open to offers to be handed a position of nothing less than president on a golden salver. Of course, g little thought on the subject will lead to the inevitable conclusion that employers are human and that they are inclined to devote at lemt as much thought and time to hiring a man as they would to the purchase of a suit of clothes or a hat, and quite often much more. While there are a few people in this world whose very name stands for them and calls to mind many accomplishments, the vast majority even of chemists must discard diffidenceand realize that employers are vitally interested in knowing what they are about to buy for the salary they expect to pay. After all, an employer is more interested in what he will get than in the salary he must pay. Applicants for employment, on the other hand, frequently overlook this and by setting salary considerations first place themselves and their possible value to employers so far in the background that they fail to get the consideration they deserve. Witness the horrible example of the man who called an employer by telephone and immediately asked without preliminary what salary was offered only to be told curtly "none to you." One frequently finds that letters, written in lieu of personal interviews, omit essential details while the inconsequential details of the applicant's hope to be president some day are spread over page after page. Of course, one's ambitions are important but one's history even in minute detail is more so for it allows the reader to judge what really is essential, one's reasonable hope of achieving them, for one can only judge the future by the past. The selection of what is essential to tell about oneself is a real problem and one on which too much thought cannot be spent. I t is usually far better to be quite frank about things than to allow some embarrassing bit
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to be dug up later and become too prominent to be explained away. If one can learn anything of the prospective employer's wishes and plans, the problem of selection and presentation of data is much simplified. If not, it is a safe rule to bear in mind that an employer has problems of his own and that his interest, if any, in you is based on the hope that you can help him solve some of them. Often applicants are inclined to be too egotistical or too modest, and either may be as bad as the other. The line between good salesmanship and egotism is as hard to define as the one between modesty and diffidence, yet both must be carefully drawn by the individual himself. Like most distinctions of the kind, each person must drawn them for himself for after all it is the way these things are done that make up one's personality. To sum up these random thoughts for the jobless: 1, Be sure possible employers know you are lookmg for work and that your record is available to them when they want it. 2. Remember a prospective employer is more interested in what you can do for him than in anything else. 3. Be sure your story of yourself accurately represents you. 4. Don't create skeletons in your closet by trying to hide things which may later come up to plague you. 5. Remember that if you have no coniidence in yourself, no one else can have. 6. Modesty is a becoming virtue but must be displayed in moderation. 7. Never be over-egotistical. You will surely be found out. 8. Study your prospective employer's problems and keep them first in your mind when presenting your own case. 9. Few men ever get a job solely because they need or want one. 10. An employer is primarily interested in getting full value for the wages he pays you. Advancement must be earned, whatever expectations either the employer or the employee may have a t the start. These suggestions seem to be wholly self-evident and axiomatic but the number of even professional workers who totally disregard such simple truths is astounding. Careful following of them will save much disappointment in so seriously competitive a time as the present.
