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Subject: do people really want to work?

I hate to say this to all the good, hard-working, people who aren't finding a job because the job shortage is very real.

That said, I run a business that can't find employees.

I've been trying to fill multiple positions in field engineering for over a year.
The job slots pay well ($50-80k depending upon experience), have full medical, dental, optical insurance plus
401k+matching benefits and so far I've only been able to hire one person. Part of the problem is how few people
still go into hands-on-field engineering (have to be able to program a PLC *and* know which end of a screwdriver
goes in your hand), but part of it is people having unrealistic expectations.

Some explanations I've heard for refusing and offer (all of which were explained in the job description before the person applied):

"I really don't want to travel more than 2 days per week."
 - it's *field* engineering. By definition it's mostly at the customer's place and that means travel.

"I don't want to travel internationally."
 - sorry, we're adding US jobs by selling to other countries that have a stronger economy.

"I'd be taking a pay cut. My last job paid $XXX,XXX."
 - uh, no. You are unemployed. By definition this isn't a pay cut, it's a job,
   and this is a lower-level position than what you must have had before.

So, to end my rant, there are jobs. Not enough jobs and not in enough parts of the economy,
but there are plenty of employers like me looking for "dirty-hands" engineering jobs in the
manufacturing industries and finding nobody who wants them.

Ironically we can all agree that we can't grow our middle class without manufacturing,
but nobody seems to want to do it.
 (withheld)

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