Americans talk about their jobs

This week I would like to introduce you to an amazingly brave soul namely Janice Lejeune who despite being deaf-blind works as a merchandise handler.

Her life story reads something like this:

For many years she was a housewife and mother. One day she divorced and because of both acute loneliness and financial difficulties, she went through a training programme for disabled people. Finally, after some time searching for a job, she got hired as a merchandise handler.

Reading what she says you can sense that not only does she adore the buzz of working, but she also is tenacious to carry out any arduous task she might receive.

Another crucial aspect of her job is the working climate as all her colleagues are very caring without being overprotective which makes her feel over the moon almost every day on her job.

The only thing that is a crying shame for her is the fact that although she could no more stop working than a fish could stop swimming, she is only a part-time employee. Nevertheless, she is very proud of everything she has achieved so far as apart from working she is also studying for her General Education Development Degree.

While reading her life story, I had to fight back tears so touched was I by everything this woman was talking about. I must admit that I find it extraordinary that a woman with such a ghastly illness has the stamina to push boundaries and make her dreams come true. Such stories are the ones that restore my belief that only the sky is the limit for anyone who is conscientious enough.

Sources:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?job_did=J8C5RG63WKZQ10499T2&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=2ed2941042cc47249a671961a51f388b-232337471-JF-5

the description of the duties of a merchandise handler

Americans talk about their jobs

Follow me today on my journey into the merciless world of corporate identity consultants about whom I hadn't had the remotest idea until I read the story about Jonathan Chajet.

Basically, according to Wikipedia,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity) corporate identity is all about an organisational philosophy in a corporation which should make the achievment of business objectives smoother through branding and trademarks.

Corporate Identity is seen as constisting of three parts:

1. Corporate design (logos, uniforms, etc.)
2.Corporate communication (commercials, public relations, etc.)
3.Corporate behaviour (internal values, norms etc.)

Chajet, on the other hand, who is an old hand in this business, feels it is all about humanizing corporations. In other words, it is about finding redeeming values in a company and express them in as few words as possible.

In the story Chajet uses Nike to exemplify what corporate identity is or actually, better to say, what it should be. As you all very well know, Nike has its ubiquitous slogan "Just Do It." While most people subconsciously find it to be just another slogan, the truth is that it is far more than that. It is a philosophy which makes sense to anyone. If, for example,a professional athlete questions his life (waking up at four a.m., training for eight hours a day etc.) he'll remember the maxim "Just Do It" and he will do it. Or if a couch potato reads these three simple words, he may be motivated to get off the couch and go running. Everybody in the world can relate to that slogan. It's as simple as that.

For me this whole story about corporate identity and the people behind it is unparalleled. Such a job where you are responsible for a company's success is bound to be exciting yet nerve-racking. Still, I would gladly take such an responsibility on me and endure the ebbs and flows of being a corporate identity consultant. I guess, I would like to have a job which would get my adrenalin going from time to time.

New vocab:

benchmark (noun, adjective and verb respectively):a level of quality which can be used as a standard when comparing other things:
Her outstanding performances set a new benchmark for singers throughout the world.

ephemeral: lasting for only a short time:
Fame in the world of rock and pop is largely ephemeral.

Americans talk about their jobs

Hello all and let me introduce you to Michelle Passoff who had worked in the particularly stressful world of PR until, turning forty, she decided that she desperately needed a change of scene.

So she asked herself the big question- What kind of business does the world need today?

The answer, which sprang to her mind, was that the world is in need of clutter consultants. So, she has become one and a really famous one on top of that, consulting private clients on ways of getting rid of their memorabilia.

Passoff even wrote a book on the topic of clutter management entitled "Lighten Up! Free Yourself from Clutter" which readers on amazon.com describe as inspirational and life-changing.

Anyway, let's move on to the description of Passoff's working strategy for each hour of which she charges 75 dollars. First, she gives the client homework where he/she has to contemplate about his/her goals. Bearing in mind the goal which is most crucial to the client at a certain time, the house is freed from clutter.

What's more, she even reveals to each and every single client the nine principles for cleaning clutter:


1. Handle one item at a time
2. Create a path for everything
3. Once you've cleaned an area, don't stow away clutter there anymore
4. Remember that like-kind things go together
5. Take breaks
6. Be thorough in cleaning one area at a time
7. Dispose of things with some ceremony
8. Don't be afraid of the empty space your cleaning has created
9. Congratulate yourself when you make progress

What I could deduce from the text is the fact that Passoff is really keen to help people who need her and satisfied with her job both professionally and personally. However, although clutter consulting is gathering momentum as a business niche in the USA, teaching people the basic skills of organizing, it is beyond me why people would pay extortionate sums of money to a perfect stranger so as to get something done they could easily do by themselves.
I guess, this is the way the world goes nowadays where people cannot even deal with their own chores by themselves, let alone with some more monumental problem.

If you wish to read more about clutter consulting, visit these two sites:
http://www.theclutterconsultants.com/pages/about.htm

http://working.canada.com/toronto/resources/career/atoz/story.html?s_id=zpbHOU3Kj4X24IvnMKqlSA2L6uIRLMkCIvESNJK7OemagRtW4VoBIQ%3D%3D

Americans talk about their jobs

This posts, as you may have guessed from the picture above, will be all about the book "Gig-Americans talk about their jobs".

Why do I want to write about it?

Ever since I first read a few excerpts from "Gig", I have been captivated by its topic namely the unscripted stories of American people about their jobs. This book has something illuminating as well as something charming about it.
The real stars of the book are the interviewers and the editors who have done a wonderful job tracking down people from all walks of life.
"Gig" lets the people from the street be heard and unearths a often forgotten truth-work defines who we are.

Anyway, each week I'm going to write entries about a job description in "Gig" that intrigued me, saddened me or made me explode with laughter.

This week let me introduce you to the complex world of software engineers, or, in the world of Dzeudet Hadziosmanovic.
Dzeudet emigrated to the USA from Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) during the war for independence as software engineers were highly wanted then in America.
For me it was absorbing to gain an insight into the world of software engineering thanks to the text. Dzeudet says that all of the s. engineering market is in American hands and that his work is basically to translate real world into numbers, which is hard to do most of the time, but even harder it is to complete software as you must imagine every single thing the user could do on a keyboard. (especially if he/ she is as clumsy as me)

What I also found remarkable about the text is the way Dzeudet juxtaposes Bosnia and the USA which are a far cry from each other. While in Bosnia he worked less and earned less, while in America the situation is the opposite. In Bosnia he was living under socialism and health services and education were free and the retirement secured. None of it is the case in capitalist America which is for him more efficient, but takes to much of your life.

Still, judging by his own example, he holds the American Dream still to be living.