I have been in the IT field for about 6 years. There is a lot of stuff out there that I want to learn how to do but it is difficult to find a place to be able to learn that skill. I cannot afford to go back to school, so I need some on the job training. I am always willing to learn how a procedure is done.
Companies today want to find the person that they do not need to give training. Training takes too long and is expensive. They want that person to get to their desk on the first day on the job and get to work without asking questions. I have encountered that kind of company. I was hired to work on a ticketing system and could not grasp the whole thing in the 3 days I was there. There were too many variables involved in order to get a good feel of the system. The company wanted someone who can "Hit the ground running". I had no documentation to read up on, just shadowing the person who was in charge of the ticketing system so he could then move on to work on SAP implementation.
Companies want to make the money RIGHT NOW!! They do not want to wait for the person to learn the system. They want someone who can do it right now.
I bet that if companies would hire more learners, our economy might get better and better than before 2008.