Question for all job hunters (Bush-related)

[hackwriter]

Anyone out of work and looking for a job: Have you by any chance noticed an increase in 6-month temp gigs all of a sudden? Folks I know who are out of work are suddenly being called by headhunters for 6-month consulting gigs at major corporations.

What does 6 months take us up to? The election.

I think the major corps are doing the bidding of the Bush Administration to prop up job numbers until the election, then they'll all be let go.

Has anyone else noticed anything like this?

[mhr]

1. Unemployed 4 Years, Have Not Seen ANY Increase In Demand!

eom

[kcwayne]

2. Yes, I have noticed this

The company I am doing contract work for is hiring about 10 temporary engineers. One group commented that they have tried to hire 4 engineers in the last couple of months, but were turned down by each of them because they had managed to find permanent positions.

Of course the contract pay rates are down to 1990 levels, and they are trying to pull people out of the West coast (because the skill set needed does not exist in the Midwest), so the pay is shockingly low to these candidates. They have even been turned down when they make permanent offers because people don't want to uproot their families for a "permanent job" that would likely only last a year or two before they get laid off again. (This company has moved all manufacturing offshore, and has moved a major part of its engineering to China. I see no reason why the trend to move all of engineering to China will be abated. The reason for the current needs are a perception that the Chinese knowledge base is not in place for the very near term market opportunity for the product we are building. That won't last.

[kcwayne]

3. Another anecdotal note

I had a conversation with a management consultant (Repuke of course) around Christmas who was commenting that executives are getting the message from Washington that goes something like this:

"We have stimulated the economy and put favorable tax policy in place. If you want our policies to continue, you have to do your part to shunt the criticism of the President on job loss. You need to do some hiring and do your part".

I don't think executives will spend money just to save George, but I have to believe the financial planners have numbers that show that spending $X on hiring now is cheaper than having tax policy reversed. They only have to carry the new hires for 5/6 months, and then its 4 more years of lower to no tax burden. This sort of problem gets solved in the long term when they locate their operations in China or India anyway. And they don't want a Democratic President coming in that will get in their way of exporting their operations.

[teryang]

4. I've been strung along now for months

They try to make it appear that I'm gonna be hired and keep calling me to do this and that but I'm still sitting at home. And the pay levels are 1990s for the most demanding work.