I admit I am nonplussed by this

[Cain]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/26/working-families-everything-scheme-tanya-gold

Why does this feel so dodgy? I called Harrison's PR and asked her what will happen if there are no jobs. What then? "Emma believes there are jobs," she replied. "There are hidden jobs." Oh yes, those hidden jobs, buried under trees and lying at the end of rainbows. All the unemployed need is the imagination to see the invisible, and maybe a magic shovel and a friendly elf to hug them on the way to Mordor. So a slab of government policy is being handed to a woman who is in denial about the scale and cause of joblessness. The statistics are nowhere in the Working Families Everywhere material. There are 2.49 million people unemployed today in the UK.

I admit, I've rarely been in a position to employ people in the past, but I cannot see any reason why an employer who was looking to fill a vacancy would not advertise it, that there are jobs that are so special and difficult to acquire that they can only be found through A4E...

[PopeTom]

Don't you know that hidden jobs are going to be a major component of the re-make of Goonies?

In the remake a gang of misfit kids go on a wild adventure hoping to discover hidden jobs buried by pirate One-Eyed Willie.  They hope by finding these long lost jobs that their parents might be able to save their beloved Goon Docks from being foreclosed on by rich bankers.

[Cain]

 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Wow. 

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Don't you know that hidden jobs are going to be a major component of the re-make of Goonies?

In the remake a gang of misfit kids go on a wild adventure hoping to discover hidden jobs buried by pirate One-Eyed Willie.  They hope by finding these long lost jobs that their parents might be able to save their beloved Goon Docks from being foreclosed on by rich bankers.

I take it Cyndi Lauper won't be doing the theme song for the remake.

[Xooxe]

Oh, YAYYYYY, they're trialling it here - the city that until recently had about 80 job seekers for each job in one area. Everybody knows it's the Polish who steal the jobs at night, tie them to rocks and throw them into the river before sending photos back for their families to laugh at.

[Bruno]

"Hidden jobs" are important to know about if you are seeking a job, but on the macro scale it's meaningless.

There's "vacancies", and then there's "thin spots". If you can get your foot in the door, and make contact with someone before they have even decided to create a job and fill it, you have an advantage when they do decide to hire someone.

On the macro scale, she's saying "People just aren't looking hard enough, if they look harder, then there will be more jobs.".

Which translates to "If you believe, clap your hands! Don't let the economy die!"

[PopeTom]

Don't you know that hidden jobs are going to be a major component of the re-make of Goonies?

In the remake a gang of misfit kids go on a wild adventure hoping to discover hidden jobs buried by pirate One-Eyed Willie.  They hope by finding these long lost jobs that their parents might be able to save their beloved Goon Docks from being foreclosed on by rich bankers.

I take it Cyndi Lauper won't be doing the theme song for the remake.

No she won't.  The quirkiest female musician they could find to do the theme was Avril Lavigne. 

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

I have heard the term "hidden jobs" to mean you go to a business that isn't hiring and tell them what you can do for them, impressing them so much that they create a new position so they can hire you to fill it.  Or something like that.

That's all those millions of unemployed people have to do.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

I have heard the term "hidden jobs" to mean you go to a business that isn't hiring and tell them what you can do for them, impressing them so much that they create a new position so they can hire you to fill it.  Or something like that.

That's all those millions of unemployed people have to do.

Yes. And the local Goodwill has everything they need to be an 80's power dresser.

[Epimetheus]

I have heard the term "hidden jobs" to mean you go to a business that isn't hiring and tell them what you can do for them, impressing them so much that they create a new position so they can hire you to fill it.  Or something like that.

That's all those millions of unemployed people have to do.

Yes. And the local Goodwill has everything they need to be an 80's power dresser.

No other fashion is necessary.

[Kai]

In my experience, "hidden jobs" are those that, while technically open, have already been filled by someone picked before the advertisement, and therefore not really open. IOW, a waste of time.

Cain is right. Even very selective hiring of positions requires good advertising, often very good advertising, because the pool of good candidates is even smaller. Then you just raise the requirements.

The days where you can just walk up to a counter and say, "I'm looking for work, can I interview for a position?" are long gone. Maybe that's what she means by "hidden", as in, absent.

[Telarus]

All the above speculations sounds good to me, but I'd bet money that we see that old festering corpse called,

"Why do those darn waitresses get Minimum Wage AND tips!!!! It's like paying them twice!"

OR, how about,

"We should allow hiring of teenagers and those working the first 90 days at under the minimum wage! It'll allow businesses to 'create jobs'!"


I think the latter more likely, considering the "hidden jobs" rhetoric.

[Scribbly]

They are called 'internships'

I'm working one right now. Six months, first month totally unpaid, the remaining five at half minimum wage. I work 9-5, 5 days a week, and have actually produced more content for the people I'm working for than others in the company who are getting paid a living wage.

Others are in a worse position than me; doing the same job, but completely unpaid for 3-6 months.

Why would a company hire someone when they can just get the same calibre of candidate in to work for less than the minimum wage, or completely free, for the glorious honour of experience and a reference?

I love you, free market.

[Cain]

The days where you can just walk up to a counter and say, "I'm looking for work, can I interview for a position?" are long gone.

Somewhat ironically, this is precisely what I used to do in order to get jobs.  And it worked like a charm, right up to the end of 2007.

The maths in the UK is simple.  We have, going by the figures, 600,000 jobs going, and 2.79 million unemployed.  Some poor fuckers are going to be going without.  Probably those in the north, since most jobs are around London, and probably either the 18-24 age range or those nearing 60.

The irony is, I remember learning in history how we moralized joblessness during the Victorian era.  Fucking awfully, that's how.  Eventually, so many voters were lost to the newly emerging Labour Party that the ruling Liberals oversaw a massive overhaul of benefits, leading to national state pensions in the UK and a raft of other legislation to update the hopeless and antiquated "Poor Law" system.

Of course, even that late in the game, 1909, the majority report of the commission looking into the Poor Laws stated that "the origins of poverty were moral factors".  Ah, but we've come on such a long way in 102 years!