Hazam Khashin
ESL: 106
9/20/2010
Barriers to Employment
Finding a job is stressful and frustrating for most job seekers. Work processes are tough and long and there are so many barriers to employment these days. The job process includes seeking a job, applying for the job and getting an interview. The USA economy is down right now and so many people have lost their jobs. If there is a job fair or job opening, you can see fifty to two hundred applicants making it very hard f to obtain a job. I think the three biggest barriers to employment are transportation, lack of education and employers require too much work experience.
California is a big beautiful state. So, many people want to live here. In fact, many new people move here every year. California has a lot of good things, but it is poor in terms of public transportation. To live in California, you have to have a car, because you will need it to go to work, school and everywhere. Public transportation is very limited in most areas in California. Furthermore, it is not efficient and takes a very long time. For instance, if you drive fifteen miles it will take about twenty minutes, but if you go by bus the same distance, it will take probably an hour and half; so, it is a big difference if you use the public transportation. This issue is a big barrier to finding a job; in fact, some people find jobs, but they are not very close to where they live and they end up losing the job, because it takes too long by bus. Sometimes there are no buses going to that area. The bottom line is public transportation needs to develop a lot and the state needs to make it more practical for people.
People who finish their bachelors degree are around 30%, people who finish their masters are about 15%, and people with PHD’s are 3%. These are low percentages of educated people and maybe people don’t believe these percentages. To find a good job with good pay you have to have a degree, because most jobs require a degree. If you are applying for an entry level job, you will see so many applicants there applying, because so many people are eligible for it; but if you are applying for a job that require a degree, you will not see that many applicants compared to the entry level jobs. Having a degree makes finding a job so much easier and maybe instead of applying for a job, companies will come to you and ask you to work for them. I encourage everyone to study, no matter the age, because education will promote your employment and it will change your whole life direction.
Many of the professional jobs require a certain number of years of experience which seems realistic and most people agree with that. Some of the simple jobs also require experience if the position is in a nice place; but what we see recently are that some very entry level jobs in cheap places are requiring a few years of experience which seems unrealistic. For example, sometimes you see dishwasher positions requiring three years of experience which is a lot for that job. Many of the entry level jobs are filled by students as temporary jobs to help themselves, so employers make it very hard for people when they are asking for that. Employers are doing that right now, because of the bad economy, so they have more options than seven years ago. In my opinion, employers require too many years of experience and they make it very difficult for the applicant to find a job.
Lastly, I think the three greatest impediments to finding a job right now are the public transportation system, the low percentage of educated people and employers requiring so many years of experience. Public transportation is very poor and needs to improve and be extended to all parts of the city. Unfortunately, we don’t have a high percentage of educated people in the USA and that makes it hard for many to find jobs. Finally, employers require too many years of experience for all jobs and even for entry level jobs that should require no experience.
