Sitting in a restaurant the other day, I couldn’t help to overhear this conversation in the booth next to me about the job market. This poor guy was talking about spending years working for a major plane manufacturing company and suddenly, without warning, he was laid off. No problem. There were three more plane-making companies in this city, he was sure to get a job with one of them. Nope, nope, and nope. In this recent economy, more businesses were laying off more workers than they were hiring. He did, however, get lucky with one of the suppliers to his former employer. A few weeks went by and, boom. He was let go again. This time the little supply company, he worked for, went out of business. Why? The big company that they supplied sub-assemblies for discontinued the need to out-source. Cheaper to manufacture it themselves; thus, the little company failed. This poor soul, out of a job once again, then said something that startled me.

Almost as if it were a proclamation, he relegated to seeking a job with a company that had been around for years. One that doesn’t look like it’s going under at all. He stated that he was going to apply at McDonald’s! McDonald’s? The people in the booth laughed aloud. I kind of chuckled myself. This man was wearing a white shirt and tie. I took him for an engineer or someone from the corporate side. For him to seek employment with McDonald’s is a vote of no confidence for our job market. With GM’s looming bankruptcy, the entire bank and financial institution’s bailouts, whom can we trust to be around and provide jobs? I suppose, with America’s insatiable appetite for quick food that the fast food industry will be around for awhile. We are the fattest country in the world and we frequent these places, but who can live off of even a manager’s wage at Taco Bell, Wendy’s, or Denny’s?

The job seeker, in today’s times of uncertainty, are rolling the dice when it comes to where they apply for their next job. Some major companies folded in 2008. Places like: Bennigan’s, Comp USA, Linens and Things, Steve and Barry’s, Harold’s, Aloha Airlines, just to name a few. Those are recognizable names and I wonder if any of those employees knew their companies were going out of business. I did know someone who was let go from Linen and Things. This person indicated that they thought the company was doing well, and then they were told they have a few weeks and that’s it. This happened to all their stores in every city. Couple that with the small businesses that also went under and every city had a higher unemployment base. In 2009 the unemployed were applying for the same jobs hundreds more were applicants to. How disheartening to stand in a long line to hand in one’s application.

With that mentality, how does one attempt to work for anyone and not worry now, if that company has lasting viability? A perspective applicant can ask: Is this company going to be around next year? I can see this as a legitimate question during an interview. It is a shame that we now have to consider this previously over-looked aspect of whether or not the job we are applying for will be around in a year. I wonder also if people who have been a part of Any Company USA, at length, will worry if they are next on the chopping block of bankruptcy or the dreaded ’going out of business’ signs. Employees everywhere now have to ask themselves, is my job secure anymore?

Jeff Payne

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