The other day I posted a help-wanted add on craigslist for a couple of minimum wage jobs. I had heard that we would get a lot of responses, so I stated very clearly that applicants should only email and not stop in. I couldn't imagine how we would handle that many applicants while trying to run the restaurant.
Within a couple of hours, I had received about 100 emails from people looking for work. After 24 hours, I had over 400. I read/skimmed about 1/2 of the applications. Most of the people were very over-qualified for the jobs. They had worked in high-end restaurants, knew their wines and what forks to use. The people in our restaurant are lucky if they get forks (just kidding)! Many of the people were college degree holders with their most recent positions not in the restaurant industry, and were falling back on their previous restaurant experiences to get ANY job.
I was really touched by this. There are so many people looking for work; it's really sad. The unemployment rate in Oregon is 10.5% now. One in every 10 people wishes they had a job.
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