In 2008, when USA when through a housing crisis and an economic melt-down, the media stayed silent about the heart breaking stories of tens of thousands of families that lost their homes and were forced to live in slums; in dwellings made of tarp and cardboard. Only the independent documentaries covered these heart-breaking stories.
In 2002, when eastern Canada saw the hi-tech industry come crashing down, no one - not a single media outlet - covered the story of tens of thousands of people losing their livelihoods forever. No one interviewed a single engineering graduate to find out what was happening to several thousands of young adults who would have to give up their hard-earned degrees forever.
And now generalized headlines like, "Several people in Alberta have lost their oil & gas jobs" doesn't do the stories any justice. These are real people. They have complicated lives. For many, the fall is hard.
I'm going to talk about two who I know personally. If you want your story told anonymously, please contact me.
(1) A young male engineer. He entered the work force just over 5 years ago. His plan for success was "to make himself indispensable to the employer". (This is the same mistake that I made.) He worked hard, very hard. He tried to make himself indispensable to the employer. He took on responsibilities far beyond his comfort zone and he succeeded. He excelled at difficult tasks and so after 5 years, he was made project lead on a large project. And two weeks later, he was laid off. He had done everything right. He worked hard. He spoke politely to his managers. He made concrete career goals. He didn't cut corners. He dealt with suppliers and contractors cleverly. He made money on the project (i.e. no deficit in the budget). And? And he bought a home. And 4 months ago he had his first child. And today? He is unemployed.
(2) Female technician. Sacrificed several personal goals to further her career. Did not take breaks like she wanted to, so that she could continue on her career path. She worked incredibly hard. Had an unblemished resume - until August 2014 when she was laid off. Now she has a half-year gap in her resume which fills her with dread. In any industry, a half-year gap is the equivalent of career leprosy: No one wants to touch you. She has sold her home. And her husband works for half his wage in a far-off city.
Somewhere I read an obtuse article where the writer was "worried about staffing issues when the economy picks up". I think I mentioned it in one of my earlier blog posts. How about worrying about the people that don't have money to pay their mortgages? How about worrying about creating company policies that give employees a cushion (monetary and work skills) so that they can deal with economic down-turns successfully? How about generating some awareness for future employees on how volatile the oil & gas industry is? How about looking into the lives of the people that are being affected by this oil crash? How about some honest journalism? How about some basic fucking journalism? How about some empathy? Or has the soul-less, lazy, pathetic excuse of journalism you sell taken up so much of your time that you can no longer tell how you are now pandering the wishes of a soul-less corporate entity while stomping on the dignity and respect of real individuals? Pathetic.
I fumed at another recession related article I read today where an HR person said, "The best way to be recession-proof is to make yourself indispensable to your company.". Naivete does not excuse ignorance. I'm so sick of HR people pretending to work for the best interests of the employee whilst doing everything in their power to stomp on individual dignity.
Hear me again everyone: There is no shortage of Engineers on this planet. What there is also plenty of, is greed. Under-staffing problems are not because there aren't enough qualified people in the job market. It's because companies want to stay under-staffed to fatten their bottom line.
If only Engineers had the life-span of fruit flies. Then everyone in HR and upper management would be happy.
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