Preparing Our Youth for the Job Market-Comments from Zenja Glass, VP of Glass Technical Search, Inc.

Zenja,

Thank you for your insight and comments. I would love to read your books. It sometimes takes a little controversy to get us engaged on the issues.

Yes many of our youth are not being prepared for the job market, the barriers are consistent throughout the educational system, our society, and unfortunately within our own community. Those that are prepared still face challenges with equal opportunity and advancement, trust me I hear the accounts all the time from highly educated and competent professionals around the nation. Yet many are making it. It is the goal of this Blogsite, the Black Collegian, and many Black professionals and leaders to share the stories, strategies, and tactics of those that are succeeding. I will continue to write on the challenges in upcoming entries.


Hi Kim,

I love your articles! I normally don’t do this, but I had to send you a quick email. I am an African American woman in the business world as an HR executive and owner of a diversity staffing firm in Illinois; however, we staff nationwide.


Question:
Can someone please write a story about this (or call me for comments)? I have to continue to get the word out to all states. My greatest frustration is that our youth (young college graduates/minority professionals) are not being fully prepared for what’s ahead as they start to search for jobs and/or promotions in the workplace. Jobless rates are high and discriminatory hiring practices are on the rise. Why? Because hiring authorities can be more selective. I talk with CEO’s and hiring executives daily, and I know this from my 16+ years of experience. There are things they must be aware of to avoid unfair hiring practices.


I just wrote two very controversial career books that are getting a lot of radio and news press here in Illinois, Wisconsin, and surrounding states.
The titles are:

25 Reasons Why I Won't Hire You!
What You Did Wrong Before, During and After the Interview

and

25 Reasons Why THEY Won't Hire You!
How to Overcome Unfair Hiring Practices AND Get Hired
found at www.25ReasonsWhy.com and on Amazon.

When reporters ask me why I wrote these books, my response has been: "I did not have a choice. Too many families are hurting financially and it breaks my heart to tell people they didn't get a job because someone with greater experience received the position, when the truth is, they were discriminated against because they have an easily identifiable “ethnic name”, are overweight, over the age of 50, physically disabled, have a criminal background, and so on." I am a mother of four (ages 3,5,7 and 9) and I really did not have the time (or energy) to write these books, but I am glad I did. Thus far, hundreds (if not thousands) of people are benefiting from my advice and landing jobs faster than ever.

If I have the INSIDE connection to what HR Managers, CEO's, and various hiring authorities say behind closed doors, why not expose this information to our young minority professionals (and others) so that they can learn from it?

Yes... the economy is still pretty bad, but there are many jobs out there for the taking.

I hope you read a copy of my books and comment on the subject matter on your site. Feel free to list the books on your site if you would like to. The feedback from not only business editors, but also from college campus staff and students has been very good. This is not about free publicity for me. I am a hard working mother just trying to help a lot of job seekers benefit from my knowledge. This is about helping job seekers to understand the REAL REASONS behind how and why they don't get jobs, and what they should do about it to overcome those obstacles and get hired.

Take care,
Zenja Glass
Vice President
GlassUSA Technical Search, Inc.