Work

With the invention of self-driving trucks that deliver goods and computers to do many jobs that people once did on a daily basis, are we going to lose jobs that were once so important to the human race? Or are the jobs we’re doing simply changing?

More than a decade ago, people dove into the book GIG: AMERICANS TALK ABOUT THEIR JOBS. It was one of the first books that gave insight into the American working life, the average jobs that people did, and also, the exceptional jobs. We often think we know what someone does in their job on a day to day basis, but this book was a gold mine of information, getting right down to the truest nature of the work people were doing back then. Why don’t they have books like this available for teens who are trying to decide what to study in University? Would they really spend the next four years or more studying design, math, and history if they knew that as a professional architect, they might spend the rest of their lives designing school gymnasiums? Maybe a frank, open, joyous book about what jobs really entail, would focus young people and push them into the right careers in the first place.

The New York Times just ran a story about the jobs Americans are doing right now--middle class workers, and not high-profile positions. Are jobs changing? Are we as people changing? I know that if I had had a better idea of what librarians did before deciding on a career path, I would have gone in this direction immediately, instead of taking the long way round.

Do you have a similar story about finding a career that suits you? Would you have preferred to know what a job was really like before starting a study path? Tell us!

Looking for a job?

If you’re one of the many people out there looking for a job, you might be more concerned with actually finding employment that will help pay your bills and less interested in finding that “dream job”.  But many young graduates just fresh out of college and university are hitting the pavement right about now, hoping to find that perfect career in their field.  We have many books that will help you write the perfect resume,  help you on your job interviews and even sort out what you might like to do with you life, such as:

What Color is your Parachute? 2009 by Richard Nelson Bolles

Knock ’em Dead by Martin Yate

Encyclopedia of Job-Winning Resumes by Myra Fournier

But some people choose to take a different approach, such as Daniel Seddiqui who is traveling to 50 states, doing 50 different jobs in hopes of finding the career of his dreams. He performs work that is native to each area he visits.  His ultimate goal is to find work but along the way he hopes to enlighten Americans (and others, hopefully) to the diversity of the country, people and work that is being done.  You can follow his weekly updates, watch videos of jobs that he has preformed and view photos from the states he as visited so far on his website called Living the Map.

This is a fascinating approach to working, and one that could only work for the young and unattached, but it sends a message to everyone who has ever looked for employment.  Keep an open mind, be willing to work hard and don’t be afraid to try something new.