megan

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (Robert)]

Assume for a moment that every candidate were equally skilled at seeking
jobs and proactive and were equally qualified.  Even in that case, someone
will have to lose -- someone will get the job and someone else won't.  So,
really, the problem is not about how skilled one is at finding a job, but
rather that there is no policy or dedication in this country to full
employment.  If there were, then job seeking skills per se wouldn't
matter.  (In an ideal world, particular job searching and obtaining skills
shouldn't matter -- ability to get a job should be purely based upon
meritocracy.)

The big problem here is not about "reactive" or "proactive" thinking, but
that most people don't think systemically -- they only see their
individual circumstance within a system that has been constructed for them
without seeing that there is something very wrong with the system itself.
The system in this case happens to be a capitalist-based one where some
people must be losers so that others can win.  All institutions and social
systems world-wide, but particularly in the United States, are designed to
demoralize certain people to feel "inferior" while bolstering others to
feel "superior".  The basis for these systems are contrived and arbitrary
and there is no particular reason why some people are "the chosen" and
others are not.

So, an individual may be "reactive" or "proactive" only insofar that they
have been told and programmed to be that way by the bigger system (and
probably a little of their upbringing and genetic background) -- it's not
through any fault of their own.  There's no good excuse for these people
being punished by denying them a happy life of employment because of their
individual history.

Job seeking skills should just not be so important.