May 27, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Hi Ken, of course there are tradeoffs...but from what I have seen..people are a lot more happier working in countries where there is some minimal job security and basic benefits. From what I know only the smartest among us survive and gain from Corporate America majority just keep going from job to job and are constantly on the edge for survival. To my mind salaried jobs are just not the thing in this country - if you want to be happy here you have to learn to do something on your own, that is all.
May 27, 2010 at 1:21 pm
From what I know only the smartest among us survive and gain from Corporate America majority just keep going from job to job and are constantly on the edge for survival.
Or the lucky among us. Just as I had better skills than some of my working cohorts when I was unemployed I'm sure there's someone currently out of work now who is as good as me at what I do.
August 14, 2011 at 2:15 pm
It's more than a year since this editorial was published, so I'm joining in the discussion extremely late.
I tend to be a bit like Andy Warren - surprised at someone not caring what the job is, as long as it patys enough. And I'm appalled by people who take the attitude "if it ain't in my job description it's not my problem" which, judging by the comments to date, seems to be a pretty common attitude. I don't mind being asked to do things that don't fit my job description: after all, that's only fair given that I would never accept being told I wasn't allowed to do things that didn't fit my job description. In recent times, wanting to do things outside the scope of my job description hasn't been a problem - being VP of R&D or Technical Director or similar tends to carry an pretty broad job description - but I've sometimes found myself being asked to do things I haven't a clue how to do (I think learning opportunity is the right way to look at that, but it can be very hard).
When I was young, I interpreted my job description (whatever it said) as including an injunction to do what was best for my employer, and another injunction to make very sure that I got things right. Acting on that interpretation earned me the respect of my colleagues and of my managers, and ensured that i enjoyed myself because I was always learning new things. It didn't stop me screwing things up - it just made sure that when I did that I took it as my responsibility to fix them, and to fix them in such a way that the people who came after me would not make the same (or even similar) mistakes.
What jobs will I do? Anything that fits my job requirements for a job. These requirements fall into two parts. First, what were (a few of decades ago) called hygiene factors: enough pay to support myself and the family on; enough free time so that I remember I have a family, and meet them now and again; all those things which ought to be so obvious that no employer who fails to provide them ever manages to hire anyone. Second, what were called motivators: things like enjoying what I'm doing, spontaneous (non-contractual) rewards when I do something beyond the call of duty, good interpersonal relationships at work, the opportunity to learn new things, the opportunity to discover/invent new things, and to gain the respect of my peers.
What tasks will I accept as part of my job, whether or not they are written into the job description? Anything that I can see needs doing, or that someone I trust convinces they believe needs doing, that I am capable of doing, and that needs to be done by me either because of my particular expertise or because no-one else is available to do it - but while that "no-one else is available to do it" includes "the sanitation engineers went on strike for no good reason" it includes neither "the sanitation engineers went on strike because the management laid so many off there were not enough left to clean the toilets" nor "we have no-one to do this because we don't want to pay for it to be done". I won't accept a job where the main role is something that would bore me rigid, nor accept "it needs doing" as an excuse for a manager to stick me premanently (as opposed to for a short period) with a job that bores me rigid.
Tom
August 15, 2011 at 7:00 am
Tom.Thomson (8/14/2011)
It's more than a year since this editorial was published, so I'm joining in the discussion extremely late.I tend to be a bit like Andy Warren - surprised at someone not caring what the job is, as long as it patys enough. And I'm appalled by people who take the attitude "if it ain't in my job description it's not my problem" which, judging by the comments to date, seems to be a pretty common attitude. I don't mind being asked to do things that don't fit my job description: after all, that's only fair given that I would never accept being told I wasn't allowed to do things that didn't fit my job description. In recent times, wanting to do things outside the scope of my job description hasn't been a problem - being VP of R&D or Technical Director or similar tends to carry an pretty broad job description - but I've sometimes found myself being asked to do things I haven't a clue how to do (I think learning opportunity is the right way to look at that, but it can be very hard).
When I was young, I interpreted my job description (whatever it said) as including an injunction to do what was best for my employer, and another injunction to make very sure that I got things right. Acting on that interpretation earned me the respect of my colleagues and of my managers, and ensured that i enjoyed myself because I was always learning new things. It didn't stop me screwing things up - it just made sure that when I did that I took it as my responsibility to fix them, and to fix them in such a way that the people who came after me would not make the same (or even similar) mistakes.
What jobs will I do? Anything that fits my job requirements for a job. These requirements fall into two parts. First, what were (a few of decades ago) called hygiene factors: enough pay to support myself and the family on; enough free time so that I remember I have a family, and meet them now and again; all those things which ought to be so obvious that no employer who fails to provide them ever manages to hire anyone. Second, what were called motivators: things like enjoying what I'm doing, spontaneous (non-contractual) rewards when I do something beyond the call of duty, good interpersonal relationships at work, the opportunity to learn new things, the opportunity to discover/invent new things, and to gain the respect of my peers.
What tasks will I accept as part of my job, whether or not they are written into the job description? Anything that I can see needs doing, or that someone I trust convinces they believe needs doing, that I am capable of doing, and that needs to be done by me either because of my particular expertise or because no-one else is available to do it - but while that "no-one else is available to do it" includes "the sanitation engineers went on strike for no good reason" it includes neither "the sanitation engineers went on strike because the management laid so many off there were not enough left to clean the toilets" nor "we have no-one to do this because we don't want to pay for it to be done". I won't accept a job where the main role is something that would bore me rigid, nor accept "it needs doing" as an excuse for a manager to stick me premanently (as opposed to for a short period) with a job that bores me rigid.
This is a very positive way to look at. I wish I'd read this post 15 years ago. Of course, I probably wouldn't have thought it was a good post 15 years ago. 😛
Sometimes you have to learn these things over time. Although a wise person is able to learn through the experience of others.
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