Swickard: Job is not a four letter word

© 2014 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. The most important job young people will ever get is their first job. It may not pay well; but it leads to their second job. They cannot have a second job without a first job. Without the all-important first job, many young people will flounder and never get into the job market therefore wind up living on the street.
     Our society has put up many barriers to young people working. So many young do not get a no-brainer job and learn to work. They must learn to work as the boss says and to not quit until they have another job lined up. There is nothing wrong with working and going to school to get that first job. The key to my success over forty years was to get that first job and learn from it so I could get the next job and so on. Today many young people are in their middle twenties and still have not had a first job. I say to them that job is not a four letter word.
     There are three reasons many young people have not had their first job: first, they have not valued the things to learn from a first job. Secondly, many are not being forced by the economics of their life to get a job as long as they do not mind going in debt with student loans. Finally, many young people have not gotten that first job because the job market has collapsed.
     Many jobs are not open to young people because these young people do not have any job skills so employers are reluctant to hire young people who must be paid the minimum wage while they cannot return that productivity for the employer.
     In this tough economy many employers are slimming down their workforces and paying more to productive members of their staff while not hiring young people. There is a national push to make this worse by raising the minimum wage further. No one is speaking out for these young unemployed.
     Know this: they cannot get a second job without getting their first job. Further, they cannot get productive skills if employers will not hire them because of the minimum wage.
     There should be a waiver that if someone has never had a job previously then they can make any deal with an employer for a first job. Suddenly, they would be attractive. Read full column
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Española councilor charged with pistol-whipping man, shooting at truck

Espanola City Councilor Eric Radosevich
From KOB-TV.com - By: Elizabeth Reed, KOB.com - The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office confirms an Española city councilor is behind bars on charges of aggravated battery and assault.
     Councilor Eric Radosevich, 43, is accused of pistol whipping a man and shooting at his vehicle two times.  On June 21, the victim told the sheriff's office he was at a gas station when an unknown male approached his pickup truck to speak to his wife.
     The man said he confronted the stranger and then got into an argument. While trying to leave the gas station, the victim said the man followed him in a white Chevy pickup with other men inside.
     When he drove to the Roadrunner Cafe in Pojoaque, the victim said the stranger came out of his truck and struck him several times with a black handgun. The stranger then allegedly fired two rounds toward the victim while driving away--striking the victim's truck.
     Through the investigation, the sheriff's office learned the white Chevy pickup belonged to Radosevich. He was arrested on Wednesday and remains in custody at the Santa Fe County Detention Facility. More
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