At least, not for me.
For my contact though, he is going to get a free lunch on me today, with no obligation for anything at all. However, I am going to try to convince him that he should hire me to do some work with his people on any number of things, from developing key personnel along their career path, to extending their ability to deliver AI solutions. Having wide-ranging experience is both a benefit and a drawback, because while it is possible to cover a lot of ground, it also can appear unfocused - especially to people who are focused on specialised areas without having to consider the entire ecosystem.
The current employment situation in Finland is pretty terrible at the moment in many ways, but this doesn't mean that companies are necessarily struggling. It is more that there are increased options to create workforce efficiencies through automation, which means that even if they don't fire people, they may not have to hire people either. This has resulted in a decrease in job posts across the board, and an unemployment rate of 9.4% in the country. Finland has a high degree of highly educated people - many of whom can't find work.
Often when people talk about "retraining" when technology reduces jobs, it is under the assumption that the jobs being lost are in less skilled positions, like manufacturing. But this is not the case currently. There are a lot of engineers out of work in Finland, but what are they going to retrain into - what is a suitable pathway, how long does that retraining process take - and after it all, what are their prospects of finding a job, considering their age and experience?
And given their age and experience now, they have likely built up a lifestyle that requires maintenance that they can no longer afford, and this is going to have long-ranging effects on all kinds of economic ecosystems, from housing markets to investments, to consumer spending. And all of this has an impact on income taxes, social security spending, and reduction in social services. Yet, while this happens at the personal and country level - the corporations are still making profits.
While decreasing their tax liabilities.
Government taxes on people might be theft, but what is it called when the government that is meant to be working for the people, sanction corporate reduction of their tax liabilities to increase profits for shareholders, at the expense of the people? They aren't breaking the law, but they are breaking the social contract of society. Even if taxes remain, the entire tax system had to be overhauled to ensure taxes are paid, and they are paid on the country where the revenue is earned.
A topic for another day.
For now, I should get my head into gear for lunch, because it is part social, part interview, and part sales discovery. Social is fine, but I have to be able to exhibit skill ad the ability to deliver value, by honing in on what their needs are now, and heading into the future. I a weighing up my options as which path I take. At this point, I think it will be about improving their delivery process and skills, to realise a faster time to value. But, it is going to depend heavily on what comes up, because they might need something quite different, like professional language support, or facilitation skill development.
He has chosen the place, which is not far from his office and he has been kind on me - it is just a normal restaurant. I know many people who will want the most expensive restaurant, and then order the most expensive thing on the menu, even if they don't like it. They think it is a test of seriousness - I think it is petty. The test isn't how much someone will pay for lunch, it is how much positive impact they will bring to the business.
Humans are emotional creatures.
We don't make our decisions rationally, we made them on how we feel. Even financial decisions. Ad even those we aren't making for ourselves.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]