Work appears to be one of the essential parts
in the life of most people. As we spend
so much time of our life working, it sounds reasonable that we’d better find
the job that makes us feel happy with.
In "Gardeners and
florist 'UK's happiest workers'", the
City & Guilds online survey shows
that gardeners and florists are the happiest workers in UK because of the autonomy
over their day, whereas, bankers were the least happy. Nick Bradley, group director at
City & Guilds, says in the article
that "It's particularly interesting to see that those
who have taken the vocational route are happiest and feel the most pride in
their work; there's certainly something to be said from learning specific
skills and working your way up the career ladder."
I am now still wondering that what kind of jobs could make me
happy with. I am not talking about occupations, but I mean characteristics of jobs.
I will make it clearer by giving my experiences as an example. I used to work in 2 Japanese companies, and both
of my jobs, in each company, were totally different. My first job after
graduating was design engineer. For this job, all I had to do was just sitting
in front of the computer and drawing the structures of air conditioners. In the first place, I was very happy because, by
working with this company, I had a lot of free times as I could easily finish
all of my assignments so early before due time, and I really enjoyed drawing.
However, one year later, I felt extremely bored, so that, I decided to quit this
job. My second job was production planner. Working as a planner, I was terribly
busy since there were several difficult things to do in very short and
strict time, before I could finish a weekly production plan. Then I always complained
about my job. However, I could stay in this company for four years, which really amazed me and my friends. Therefore, nowadays, I am still unsure that
which kind of jobs I prefer.
According to the City &
Guilds online survey result in "Gardeners and florist 'UK's happiest workers'", the majority of workers in UK, who participated in this survey,
say that they satisfied their job because "they had ability to control their daily schedule" and "were able to use their skills
every day". After reading this article, I get an
idea that although I could control my daily schedule very
well in my first job, I was still
unhappy with it because I used only one skill, which was drawing skill, to
easily complete my work, and that was not enough. In contrast, in the second
job, I had a lot of chances to use several of my skills, for example, language
skill, computer skill, and presentation skill, Nevertheless, I still complained
about my job since almost all of my works were scheduled strictly and I was expected
to submit them on time precisely, so I could not control my daily schedule by
myself. Therefore, right now, I can answer the question of myself that a job
which is very challenging, however it should be flexible, could make me happy
with.
__________
Reference
In my ideas, I think that the most unhappy career is dentist because of stress and pollution from the odor of patient's mouth which my friend who works in this career always complain about. lol
ReplyDeleteLucky me, I enjoy my work even I have to work more than 10 hours per days. I love pets so I'm so glad to ease their pains and kill their illness by my knowledge and skill. But, actually, I quite dislike the owners of them more because of their fussy behavior.lol
I hope one day you'll find your right job that you want to work for your whole life.^^
Mo. thank you so much^^.
DeleteCongratulation that you have already found the job that you are pleasant to do in very long hour.
It reminded me of a couple of the discussions on people's interests - the pleasure that comes from cooking, making cards, knitting, crocheting, and the like. Similarly, people who pursue a vocational career like gardening are creating something with their own hands and they see something useful come into being under their hands. That gives me pleasure. I'm not a very good cook, but I like to sit down at a meal with friends, even a simple meal, knowing that I've created it. On my annual visits to Australia, the rituals include not only meals out, but a round of home cooked meals: there is always a large family dinner at my mum's place when she prepares and cooks a full meal with appetizers, roast duck, pudding, and all the trimmings; there is always a breakfast with one of my sisters who does traditional bacon and eggs followed by pancakes; and my youngest brother always makes a special effort to do a brunch with cheeses, pâtés, salamis, olives, figs and other finger foods, followed by a very rich chocolate cake. As we are currently reading in "Symbolic Systems and Meanings", food certainly serves more abstract purposes than simply filling our bellies and providing nutrition in my family, for whom every special occasion, even a visit from me, is marked by food rituals which vary to symbolize relationships, groups and identity as a particular type of Australian family with a particular cultural heritage. And I guess the fondness that some of the younger members have for beer and McDonalds over wine and salami is symbolic of generational change.
ReplyDeleteWhat a horribly long paragraph. Had I known how it was going to grow, or reviewed before clicking "Publish", I would have broken it into at least two.
DeleteI totally agree that work should fit in the daily schedule, and allow us to use various skills.
ReplyDeleteI used to work in 3 different company; architecture design, interior design, and engineering company. But I never got a chance to be busy with my work. Because of I had a bad luck or good luck to got in while the company has no job. I had to sit on the chair for 8 hours a day, it's so boring. SO, if I have a chance to work again I will say good bye with the job that offer me on a chair.
ReplyDeleteI think that the colleague is another important factors affecting happiness of working life. If you can get along with your colleague very well, it make you feel stronger to tolerate other problems.
ReplyDeleteI partly agree with you because of my experience. That is, I used to work in one organization and had very good colleague who stand besides me in both good and bad situations. But I had a very fussy and prejudice boss that we couldn't get along with her. Finally, my colleague and I had to resign from that job.
DeleteSo I think that it's not only good colleague but also good boss. ;-)
I totally agree with Mo. My boss was the main reason that made me resign form the last company. Until now, I still wonder why she did not understand the condition of my work while she had done the same things as me before. She complained about every thing all the time as if she had nothing else to do. All of my colleagues were really sick of her. I promise myself that if one day I have a chance of being a boss, I will never do the same thing because I don't want to hurt anyone.
DeleteI agree with Peter's idea. In Korea I would spend my free time to reform furniture or painting on something and making cotten dolls as a hobby. Though I was just a beginner whenever I finished a work I was happy with that. The conentration on a work helped me getting out of the stress of everyday's routin.
ReplyDeleteI have thought many times about my ambition of jobs. Now I choose academic field, which I still don't know whatever will be in the future. And it's probable to change again if I find the one I really love.
ReplyDeleteMy other choices are a job in a restaurant as either a chef or an owner, one in book store, and farm. I often feel relax when being near and having a chance to cook myself a meal as same as when in a book shop I feel like a separate world from outside. The last idea of my career, farming, is the most relaxed choice I think in my head and plan to do when I become 50.
The most boring for me is office work that I have experienced and endured for the past full year and I never think of it. Even though it provided me a lot of skills, being in a 9-hour working system is not okay for me. I need something more flexible.