There's no longer room for excuses for black men

[PoS]

[The Dharma Bum]

[spacemonkey]

[eynon81]

I can't dig it up so trust me on this one.

NPR had a story 2(?) weeks ago about how Blacks have a harder time breaking into the white collar world because...they don't know anyone in the white collar world.

It was a racial spin on a fascinating fact of our economy...something like 50 of new hires are hired because someone they knew got them the job. The rate is closer to 70% for white collar jobs. So if you're from a social group outside an industry it makes finding a job that much harder.

I've had plenty of personal experience with this. I got my job because I volunteered for the office and got to know people. My boo is currently trying to find a job that isn't 4 hours away from me, but despite her incredible f**k resume and experience, she's getting maybe a 5% response to listings she's applied to.

The deck is f**k stacked my friends, not just against Blacks, but against anyone who's not in the right tribe.

[dontworrybehappy]

Oh yea, if I had not taken flying lessons earlier in my life, I would have never known my future boss. I saved up money to take flying lessons from working at Circuit City. My new boss hired me for a buck an hour above minimum, and I pumped jet fuel for years like that. I saved up every penny, and then went to aircraft mechanic school. I graduated, got my license to work on planes, and now work as a logistics and operations manager at a corporate jet hangar. But it all started 16 years ago when I took flying lessons at a hole-in-the-wall flying school that has long been dissolved.

[Indy]

[Winchester]

[eynon81]

[NAB]

Word of mouth recommendations are pretty prevalent in my industry, but it's usually merit based. One of your employees who has a friend from school, or someone they used to work with elsewhere, etc. That said, a recommendation doesn't get one a job because their portfolio has to sing, and you also weigh said recommendation based on who's giving it (someone you already trust). We've also hired quite a few people that no one knew based purely on the quality of the resume and portfolio. I suppose my industry is a bit different because potential employees have to show something concrete they've created rather than just words on a page.

[Winchester]