Swearing at work boosts morale
Sun 16 Dec 2007 – 0.05
Fuck yea, it does! A new AP story discusses how swearing at work can lead to increased spirit and morale, building team pride and personal relationships. Makes sense to me — sometimes the only word for a given situation happens to be a curse, is that so bad? It’s just a matter of context, just like in the real world.
And don’t forget to check out the video of The View ladies talking about the subject. As usual, Elisabeth overreacts and agitates that stick up her ass.
posted by Scott in careers.
Starting Salaries lose to Student Debt
Mon 29 Oct 2007 – 10.06
In a moment of sober obviousness, I present recent findings about how student debt has blown up so massively that starting salaries can no longer keep up. Or the other way ’round, depending on your point of view. As a twentysomething with loads of student debt (approximately my current annual salary’s worth), this is an issue that hits home.
Have a read of the article on Education Portal. Most of the depressing data comes from a study by Project on Student Debt.
Between 2005 and 2006, average student loan debt increased 8 percent. In comparison, staring salaries increased by only 4 percent. The worry is that it will become more difficult for graduates to manage debt and pay it off in a timely fashion.
posted by Scott in careers, personal finance.
Wed 24 Oct 2007 – 12.54
This sounds like the sort of fishy pseudo-science that can be used to bolster spin and skew data for government grants. I saw we investigate the allegations of WebMD (via CBS news)and their study of how most Americans enjoy their work.
Since 1972, an average of about 86% of Americans say they are satisfied with the work they do and nearly half of them say they’re very satisfied with their current job. In contrast, only 4% say they are very dissatisfied with their work.
I honestly find that shocking. Having read in publications such as Wired Magazine about “duppies” (Depressed Urban Professionals) and with movies like Office Space becoming the battle cry of our generation, I don’t see how so many folks can enjoy their job.
Perhaps ignorance is bliss:
Workers in South Central states from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee had the highest rates of job satisfaction.
By the same logic, I suspect that New Yorkers are unsatisfied because this city lives up to my motto: “Satisfaction is the death of desire.” Draw your own conclusions.
posted by Scott in careers, personal finance.
How Not To Interview For a Job
Thu 18 Oct 2007 – 11.38
posted by Scott in careers.
10 Dumbest Job Interview Moves
Sun 14 Oct 2007 – 9.43
Now, I’ve been on a many job interviews, and some went much better than others, but I never wound up in any of these bonehead situations. Here’s a sample:
7. “… delivered his entire cover letter in the form of a rap song.”
Check out the full post from CNN Money
posted by Scott in careers.
The Vanishing American Vacation
Wed 19 Sep 2007 – 11.52
Now that Summer is over, I can adequately reflect on the fact that I truly need a vacation. I didn’t get to go away this summer, save for that weekend in Toronto (which was mostly spend on the bus), and apparently I’m not the only.
Compared to people in other developed countries, Americans don’t ask for more vacation time, don’t take all the vacation time their employers give them and continue to work while they are on vacation.
Says Don Monkerud of AlterNet. Check out the article for more of the bad news.
So are you, the young professional, falling into this same trap that has already claimed out parents? I surely hope not. As for me, well, I plan on taking the entire month of December off.
posted by Scott in careers, life.
Wed 29 Aug 2007 – 19.46
lifetime appointee, bitch
With all the stress of finding and keeping a job these days, it’s good to know that there are in fact still some posts where you can pretty much decompose in the job and can’t be sacked save for the most intense of circumstances.
While it may benefit the individual who enjoys a lifetime of slacking off, it paints our society into a corner when all of our nurses, civil servants, judges, union labourers and university professors lose their sense of competition, and thereby lose their edge.
Forbes has the article and explains in greater detail about those and other jobs. Have a look.
posted by Scott in careers.
Office Workers Waste 2.1 Hours a Day
Thu 02 Aug 2007 – 14.46
Skipping the irony about how I’m currently blogging this at work, I found it interested that a new Inc.com article illustrates how twentysomethings squander 2.1 hours of their work day. Lucky for business owners, the trend seems to decay with time:
20- to 29-year-olds said they waste an average of 2.1 hours per day. The amount of idle time drops off as employees grow older, with the 30-39 age group reporting 1.9 hours of the day wasted and 40- to 49-year-olds reporting 1.4 hours.
I think the reason for this is now that we grow older and therefore more mature, but rather because as we advance in the business world, our job itselfs becomes more of a waste of time. Think about your office — everyone with gray hair counts “schmoozing” as a major part of their job. Talking, having dinners, going to presentations/meetings, etc. That’s a all a waste of time if you ask me. Twentysomethings are the ones with their nose to the grindstones, so maybe we need those 2.1 hours a day to fuck around on Facebook and read blogs (like this one).
Your thoughts? Are we wasting too much time, or just the right amount?
posted by Scott in careers.
American Workers Give Aussies Bleak View
Wed 01 Aug 2007 – 16.06
Three low-paid American workers have travelled to Australia to tell Aussies about the dangers of non-unionised working conditions, and to scare them into a better future by avoiding the whole poor-workers-in-a-rich-country thing that has many Americans by the bollocks.
The three Americans were an example of what Australians could expect in the future… Australia is becoming more and more like the United States and these workers are here to tell us how hard it is to be a low paid worker in a rich country … they provide a warning that life could get a lot tougher for Australian working families if the Liberals are re-elected and they make further unfair changes to the IR laws.
That’s funny because here in the States it’s the exact opposite where the conservatives, not the liberals, are the ones promoting the free-for-all economy (at the expense of workers). Ok, no politics on this site, just pointing this out as a commentary on American working life.
posted by Scott in careers, personal finance.
Tue 31 Jul 2007 – 11.55
Summer is supposed to be the time when people relax. We take days off, we go to the beach, we drink lemonade on people’s back porch and talk about nothing.
Um, yea. Not quite.
posted by Scott in careers, life.