Getting Real
Computer games and social media were deliberately designed to captivate the human mind. It’s a brilliant business plan that keeps people coming back for more. That same fascination also attracts leaders away from the industries that need them most.
A PLC programmer sent me a note last week. He said, “It seems everybody wants to program games and social media but nobody wants to roll steel or refine oil or generate electricity. That’s sad.”
He’s right. I’ve worked with Candidates that had no chance — not for lack of brains, effort, or training. It was a matter of focus. Their entire careers started with easy-access entry down an artificial path that took them nowhere.
They re-enacted Steven Covey’s famous warning: You don’t want to “climb the ladder of success only to find it’s leaning against the wrong wall.”
Getting It Right
My best advice has never felt adequate. It’s a combination of filling in the gaps and redirecting efforts.
Most Candidates already know that. They’re way ahead of me.
The good news is, in this environment, positive results seem to come quickly.
My programmer also mentioned a recent grad who earned a degree in robotics. He immediately found work in the petro industry.
All the same, he says, “there is still a desperate need.”
-TD