This is possibly
old news, but I found it kind of amusing:
Biotechnology ranked the No. 1 happiest job in America, according to
CareerBliss. “In biotech, the people that they work with, and more specifically the person that they work for, tends to rank higher in terms of importance, and employees are overwhelmingly happy with those conditions,” says Golledge. Biotechnology employees were also among the most happy with their daily tasks and the level of control they feel they have over that work. She adds that the field of biotechnology is currently a growth industry, which makes growth opportunities in the field another key ingredient to its workers overall happiness.
While I might agree with CareerBliss' assessment of what makes for happy employees (i.e. enjoying what you do daily, independence, relative intelligence of coworkers), I find it interesting that they fail to recognize the potential for job insecurity that comes with working in biotechnology. I also find it interesting that "customer service representative" is one of the happiest careers in the US. If so, I think we're in trouble...
I find 3 of those careers hard to believe actually: customer service, admin and biotech (do admin assistants have a large amount of independence?).
ReplyDeleteTeacher must even be dropping as budgets are squeezed - not as secure and higher pressure than it used to be.
Obviously they're talking to biologists.
ReplyDeleteSince I do work at a small biotech (thanks partly due to a certain Chemjobber...) I would like to chime in. About the job insecurity, here's the way I see it; since job insecurity exists pretty much in every sector these days, I might as well work at a place where I am happy and feel valued before I finally lose my job. In fact, hypothetically speaking, I would rather work in a vibrant, caring, intellectually alive environment with 50% job security than in a dull, thankless and intellectually dead environment with 80% job security.
ReplyDeleteBoy, these are their top 5? I can think of plenty more I'll bet they didn't consider: stand-up comedian, paid consultant, ghost writer, groundskeeper at Yankee stadium, sensei, pro golfer, and Paula Deen all spring to mind as happy careers.
ReplyDeleteCustomer service is tough. I was happy once I was done with the customer service part of my previous job.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the job insecurity that I mind. It's the implied life insecurity that comes with the knowledge that likely, when you're 50, no one else will ever hire you in the field. And then you still have 15 more years to go to retirment. As far as I know, the time of career death in chemical research seems to me to be in the early to mid 50s and that's way too early for me. Come on, I just graduated and I want to have money to do other things when I'm older.
ReplyDeleteI know I shouldn't think about those things while I'm still young, but being really poor while your body is falling apart is not fun.
And you know, thay say that a beggar's best customers are those who are afraid to end up being in their shoes at some point... I consume horror stories about mid to late career laid-off pharma chemists like lines of premium Columbia coke laid out in neat lines on a sparkling clean granite tabletop of a bathroom sink in a posh New York nightclub.
Uncle Sam,
ReplyDeleteWhile a valid concern, I hardly think that's unique to chemistry. In fact, I feel most careers are privy to this trend except for a select few careers. It gets harder to find work as one climbs the ladder and earns more income as well as gets older in most professions.
So I guess what you're saying is that it is worthwhile to become an academic (professor or technician-type) after all... Oh crap. And I was taking it easy because I thought I was leaving. Now I have to start playing the game again.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe I can convince the girlfriend to become a professor for the purposes of financial security while I do other stuff. Of course then, I have to marry her and I better do it quick. I'm not likely to find such perfect future professor material ever again. Plus all the other stuff that makes us get along so well and makes her the woman I am clearly unworthy of most of the time (I love you honey! In case you guess my identity). Shit...
How does this ring thing work anyways? How the hell do they always know the right size in all those movie scenes?
i "It gets harder to find work as one climbs the ladder and earns more income as well as gets older"
ReplyDeleteThat's the key. It's not that you're 'overqualified', whatever that invented American concept means (no, seriously, how can you be overqualified? You can't do the job all of a sudden or something?), but it's the fact that they think they have to pay you more money. Okay, fine, just pay less money. The increase of 'inflation' to the salary will be fine. I'm sure most people won't mind as long as they get to keep a good job into their 60s. Plus the company will probably save money as well since they don't have to retrain new people and there is a lot of continuity in the workforce. What the hell is this bullshit about firing you when you get older for no other reason?
uncle sam,
ReplyDeleteUsually you pick out the ring together, but they can be resized pretty easily.
Thanks for the info.
ReplyDelete