For those who think that there is a skills shortage, let me tell you about my Google job interview

[ArchTeryx]

139. It's not just IT.

I'm in what used to be a very high-skill, high-demand profession: Molecular Virology (an offshoot of molecular biology with a fair bit of immunology). But in 2010-2011, when I was furiously trying to job hunt in Maryland, one of the most concentrated biotech areas of the country, I received zero interviews for almost 100 applications to private companies - supposedly the "second stop" for academic scientists.

I received word that for one particular company, there were over 1000 well-qualified Ph.Ds for one Scientist I position. 1000 applicants. ONE position. I'd take the 4-unemployed-workers-for-ever-job odds in a heartbeat!

It gets worse, as well. One of my early ideas was to take a lower-paying but very satisfying alternate career as a museum exhibit developer. Museums used to salivate at the idea of getting actual scientists with postdoctoral experience designing their science exhibit. I even did a stint at the Koshland Science Museum in D.C. as a volunteer. They loved me.

Then I was told by people in the know that after the crash of 2008, the ladders had all been pulled up. So many ExDevs got cut loose in the crash that now, if you don't have 10-15 years previous experience, they won't even look at you. I was told the only way to break in would be to work several years as an unpaid volunteer...and that the job situation probably wouldn't resolve itself for a generation.

Lack of skills? Bull-fucking-shit. The ladders all got pulled up in my field in 2008, and they won't be lowered until the Baby Boomers are all gone...if then.

And that's MY little corner of the STEM world, supposedly one of the ones greatest affected by the "scientific shortage" in the U.S.