Originally Posted by Val
Has anyone seen Thomas Friedman's facile analysis about employment in today's Times? It's risible. But the comments are bodacious.
Friedman has a follow-up column that makes sense to me. People are irritated by Friedman for good reasons (he is a pompous name-dropper) but also for bad ones (he accepts that we live in a market economy).

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/the-internship-not-the-movie.html
The Internship: Not the Movie
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
New York Times
June 8, 2013

Quote
Since so many internships are unpaid these days, added Sedlet, there is a real danger that only “rich kids” can afford them, which will only widen our income gaps. The key, if you get one, he added, is to remember “that companies don’t want generalists to help them think big; they want people who can help them execute” and “add value.”

But what, they were often asked, does “add value” mean? It means, they said, show that you have some creative flair — particularly in design, innovation, entrepreneurship, sales or marketing, skills that can’t be easily replaced by a piece of software, a machine or a cheaper worker in India.

HireArt heard from many people, as did I, who have been out of work for six months or more and can’t get an employer to even look at their résumé. That is no coincidence. No employer will say this out loud for legal reasons, but if you’ve been out of work for six months or more, they won’t even look at you because they assume nobody else wanted to hire you. This is a tragedy that may need a public policy fix. In the meantime, what to do?