Envy: Why Many Folks Will Never Get Hired

I’ve never understood the hatred of the rich. “The rich just get richer” we’re told, in the same tone of voice as if they were saying, “They just killed my mother.” But so what if the rich get richer. It doesn’t affect my life if Warren Buffet gets another half billion this year.

Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com), Michael Dell, and Bill Gates have all made our lives better. Not to mention H. Ross Perot, Wayne Huizenga (Blockbuster, AutoNation, and Waste Management), and I forgot the folks at Google. They earned their money by serving us better products and services. Where would our lives be without these rich men?

“The rich use their riches to influence politics!” cries the left. Well, duh. What do you expect them to do? The left uses every dollar it can muster from unions and donors to do the same thing. That is called political freedom of speech.

I still have my home and my income. I am still free. No rich person enslaved me to get his riches. (If they did enslave someone, then they are not rich people, they are rich criminals.) Still, a large portion of the population equates riches with evil.Yet these same people tell you that they would like to be rich! They buy lottery tickets (a tax on the mathematically challenged), subscribe to investment newsletters, and buy courses on how to get rich in real estate, currency markets, and foreclosures.

So why the hatred and name calling? I think it is envy. It is the belief that there is only so much success available in the world and the rich have taken more than their fair share. It is the belief that if we can bring someone down, we elevate ourselves. Not so. Envy brings down the envious.

Envy is an acid that eats away at one’s soul. Instead of worrying about how much the rich own, we should be thankful for what we have.  If you are reading this blog on your own computer with internet access in your air conditioned home, most of the world considers you quite rich. Running water? Refrigerator? Now you are very rich.

But since this blog is about employment issues, let’s look at how envy factors into an applicant’s job hunt. After attending some “job club” meetings, I can tell you the envy level is high. Job clubs are where unemployed gather to exchange information and best practices about gaining employment. Instead they often degenerate into gripe and whine sessions. Questions put to the speaker are often, “Why won’t the rich pay more taxes so we can continue our unemployment?” These same people tell me they hate capitalism, yet they are trying to find a “good job” in a capitalistic society.

In interviews, we try to put our best foot forward. We put on a psychological mask, as it were. However, a good job interviewer is skilled in getting a real glimpse behind that mask. With probing questions learned from experience or training, the interviewing panel will keep the job hunter off balance. And when someone is off balance, he seeks to center himself in his real identity. So, those attitudes peek out.

And when they peek out, that applicant is silently marked off the list. I’ve talked with several anti-capitalist job hunters who moan that they are never chosen even though their qualifications match exactly what the company put out in the want ad. There is more to a good employee than a set of skills.

No senior manager wants to hire negative people. Envious people are no fun to be around. And no boss wants someone working for them who thinks the bosses and owners are evil because they make more money and believe in making a profit.

So unless the envious people can hide their attitudes (unlikely) they are destined to be underemployed in corporate and small business America. Perhaps that is why so many go into education and journalism.