Bestselling author Tyler Cowen on Is work fun

Bestselling author Tyler Cowen on Is work funBestselling author Tyler Cowen on Is work funThe following excerpt is reprinted from BIG BUSINESS A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero by Tyler Cowen. Copyright 2019 by the author and reprinted with permission of St. Martins Press, LLC.Is work fun?Yes, running a business is rewarding for the CEO, but what about the workers? Worker exploitation is one of the oldest charges levied at capitalism, and it persists through the current day. For instance, in a recent Times Literary Supplement review of books about work, Joe Moran summed it up bluntly These books are about the misery. David Graeber, in his recent highly popular book, says it all in the title Bullsh-t Jobs A Theory. Jeffrey Pfeffer, from the Stanford School of Business, calls his latest book Dying for a Paycheck, even though there is established evidence that unemployment is worse for yur health than working.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard coverin g Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreId like to suggest that productive work is one of the most fulfilling sides of our lives. For the most part, it makes us happier, better adjusted, and better connected to the social world. It gives balance to our home lives. It helps us realize who we are as human beings. This is one of the subtler ways in which capitalism is a creator- namely, a creator of our better selves.Ill get back to those points, but in the meantime I do need to put some bad news on the table. Its called work its also called labor. Those are not in every way positive words. If you said to a friend (or, rather, an ex-friend), Being with you is work, it would not be an entirely positive comment. Or it might be said that you labor under a delusion, but no one would say that you labor under a happy or ecstatic feeling.To oversimplify by only a bit, they have to pay you to do it. And that suggests work is not in every way fun. Furthermore, for mos t people work is the main way that they interact with business on a daily basis, which means that business is associated with the activities that take some of the fun out of our lives. Bits of fun are drained on a very regular basis, often five days a week, but the paychecks arrive less frequently in most cases and often by the less visible means of direct deposit. So the stresses and tedium of the work are for many people more vivid than the wages they earn. And that in sum is one reason business is not entirely popular with the American public- or, indeed, with the public elsewhere in the world. Business is like the parent who tells you that you cant have everything you want all the time.Some recent studies and surveys illustrate the potential burden of work. edel laureate Daniel Kahneman and economist Alan Krueger measure our daily affective experiences by having people wear beepers that go off at irregular intervals, at which time the people record what they are doing and their feelings. You can think of this as a technique for measuring moods. But the researchers ask about more than just the subjects feelings at a given point in time they also ask how happy people are with various aspects of their lives. The study thus considers both momentary pleasure and the overall feeling of satisfaction from a life well spent, because happiness isnt just a single thing with a unidimensional scale. For this study, the researchers recruited 909 employed women with an average age of thirty-eight and an average household income of $54,700.And what did the researchers find? The highest-rated activities, from most favored to less favored, were intimate relations, socializing, relaxing, and prayer/worship/meditation. In the middle of the list were watching TV, preparing food, and talking on the phone, among other mundane activities. The bottom five were childcare, computer/email/ internet, housework, working, and- dead last- commuting.So working is next to last in terms of producing a positive mood, and that is sad news. But that doesnt mean we dont like work it only means we like other things better. And in fact, when you drill down, the ratio of people who have positive feelings about work to those who have negative feelings is just over 3.5 to 1. (Thats not as good as the5.10 to 0.36 positive-to-negative ratio for intimate relations, but sex always was going to beat out work anyway.)Consider also that the saatkorn data tischset shows people spending 6.9 hours a day working, whereas prayer/worship/meditation is done only about 24 minutes a day. Presumably that is because you are paid to work but not paid to pray. If people prayed 6.9 hours a day, most of them probably would find it less intrinsically rewarding, and arguably it would have a much lower score. (If you are wondering, intimate relations averages 12 minutes a day, and that too might be less popular if it were at 6.9 hours a day.) In that regard, work doesnt do nearly as badly as those num bers at first seem to indicate. People are doing so much of it precisely because it has a high net reward, even if not all of that reward is direct fun in the moment. Furthermore, work is often an important pathway toward both intimate relations and socializing, the two highest-rated activities on the list that induces many people to work more than would otherwise be the case.Do note an important caveat namely, that the women in this study were polled only on workdays. Had they been polled on weekends, perhaps work would seem a bit more welcome and a little less burdensome. How would children have done as a source of pleasure if the queries had been posed on the weekends too? We just dont know.It is interesting to see what the authors find about work as a source of lifetime satisfaction compared with immediate mood. Some of what we do, such as caring for our children, seems more importantfor lifetime satisfaction than for fun in the moment, as having kids can be pretty stressful. Wh en it comes to work, the same is true a good job boosts overall feelings of satisfaction more than it helps our immediate mood. On this measure, the benefits of work are again higher than they may look at first.I am not trying to whitewash the burdens of the workday and the workplace. Nonetheless, a lot of the other evidence points us toward the more positive side of work. Work provides us with a lot of what we value in life, including affirmation of our social worth, a structure for problem solving combined with rewards, and an important source of social interactions with (sometimes) sympathetic or like-minded others. Many jobs are creative 82 percent of all workers report that their jobs consist mainly of solving unforeseen problems on their own.3Plus there is always the paycheck. Its not just the food and rent the money from work often gives us the means to make, keep, and stay in touch with some of those friends we value so much. In this regard, the value of work and the value o f friends are by no means so separate. Of course, these benefits from work are no accident in large part they are created by employers to try to lure more talented workers. That is exactly what competition requires. Even if the bosses do not explicitly plan all of the social benefits of work, they allow them to persist and grow, for the purposes of worker morale, recruitment, and retention.Another way to think about the non-pay-related benefits of having a job is to consider the well-known and indeed sky-high personal costs of unemployment. Not having a job when you want to be working damages happiness and health well beyond what the lost income alone would account for. For instance, the unemployed are more likely to have mental health problems, are more likely to commit suicide, and are significantly less happy. Sometimes there is a causality problem behind any inference- for instance, do people kill themselves because they are unemployed, or are they unemployed because possible su icidal tendencies make them less well suited to do well in a job interview? Still, as best we can tell, unemployment makes a lot of individual lives much, much worse. In the well-known study by economists Andrew E. Clark and Andrew J. Oswald, involuntary unemployment is worse for individual happiness than divorce or separation. Often it is more valuable to watch what people do rather than what they say or how they report their momentary moods.The aggregate data on work hours are striking, and they show that Americans have fairly positive attitudes toward work. For instance, if we consider weekly work hours per American, that number rose from 22.34 in 1950 to 23.94 in 2000, hardly a sign of work falling out of fashion. Over this period, too, large numbers of women came into the workforce, many because they wanted to work and earn their own incomes. The reality is that preferences for work havent declined nearly as much as commentators had been predicting earlier in the twentieth cent ury. Earning and spending money is fun, and many jobs are more rewarding, more social, and safer than they used to be. Even with much higher living standards now than in the immediate postwar era, Americans still basically want to stay on the job.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Interim Management Consultants Can Help Employers Shoulder a Long Hiring Process

Interim Management Consultants Can Help Employers Shoulder a Long Hiring ProcessInterim Management Consultants Can Help Employers Shoulder a Long Hiring ProcessThe U.S. economy has added more than 2.3 million jobs since the beginning of 2015, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and employers keep adding positions. The problem, however, is that many businesses find it challenging to fill those roles. Unemployment is also low, which means there are fewer candidates available for hire.As Robert Half senior executive director Paul McDonald noted in his coverage of the November 2015 jobs report, hiring is extremely competitive right now, which means the hiring process often drags on much longer than most companies anticipate.McDonald paints this picture of the hiring market in his post I cant tell you how many times I have encountered employers who are downright shocked that a job has remain unfilled for weeks - and, very often, months - on end. They had visions of bringing in someone right away and hadnt planned to be without a core employee for so long. Their current team is being asked to work shorthanded and running the risk of burning out. Worse, theres no relief in sight.McDonald points to job candidates ability to be selective in this market as one of the main reasons that many employers are struggling to hire for key roles. He notes that it is not unusual for highly skilled professionals actively looking for work to receive multiple offers. And passive job seekers often need to be convinced of the benefits of changing companies.Immediate business needs can add pressureIf your organization wants to hire specialized talent, particularly for senior-level roles, it is entirely possible that you will need to wait longer than expected to fill a position. While you might not be able to expedite the hiring process to meet your preferred timeline, your firm doesnt have to leave critical roles open - or put important business on the back burner.Augmenting your staff with an interim management consultant is one solution while you conduct a search for full-time candidates. These experienced professionals can take on essential roles, from accounting manager to chief financial officer.This staffing management approach can help employers facing a long hiring process to avoid making a snap decision that could lead to a poor outcome, according to McDonald Its tempting to bring someone - anyone on board when workloads are piling up, and your employees are unable to absorb even one more task. But desperation can easily lead to bad (and costly) hiring decisions.If engaging interim help during a protracted candidate search sounds like the right approach for your business, McDonald recommends enlisting the help of a staffing specialist.Additional resourcesHow Project Consultants Can Turn Your geschftsleben Problems Into Wins 3 Case Studies This post provides an overview of three ways that interim management and project consultants from Robert Half Management Resources have helped employers handle specific business initiatives and improve their bottom line.Robert Half Management Resources Areas of Specialization Whether your organization is expanding, consolidating, restructuring or undergoing a complex systems conversion, or preparing for an IPO, we can provide highly skilled senior-level professionals with extensive experience to help move your business forward.2016 Robert Half Salary Guide Foretells of ConsultantOpportunitiesResearch for Robert Halfs latest Salary Guide for accounting and finance suggests that many employers will need to engage skilled consultants next year. Read this post to learn which specializationsare expected to be in high demand.A Move to Consulting Attractive for Most Financial Leaders Are you a financial executive who is considering the consulting path? If so, you are not alone. According to our research, more than eight in 10 CFOs said consulting is an attractive car eer for senior-level accounting and finance professionals. This post explains why.

Zhang to Receive Fitzroy Medal at the Honors Assembly

Zhang to Receive Fitzroy Medal at the Honors Assembly Zhang to Receive Fitzroy Medal at the Honors Assembly Zhang to Receive Fitzroy Medal at the Honors AssemblyXiang Zhang, Ph.D. Xiang Zhang, Ph.D., the Ernest S. Kuh endowed chair professor at the University of California Berkeley, and seven other engineering luminaries will be recognized by the Society this year at the ASME Honors Assembly. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with the 2014 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, which is being held in Montreal from Nov. 14 to 20. Dr. Zhang, an ASME Fellow and resident of Alamo, Calif., will receive the Nancy DeLoye Fitzroy and Roland V. Fitzroy Medal for his pioneering contributions in metamaterials and the creation of the first optical superlens to overcome the fundamental diffraction limit in imaging and for the invention of plasmonic lithography technology to advance nanoscale manufacturing, which is important for microelectronics and data st orage applications. Established in 2011, the Nancy DeLoye Fitzroy and Roland V. Fitzroy Medal recognizes pioneering contributions to the frontiers of engineering leading to a breakthrough in existing technology or leading to new applications or new areas of engineering endeavor. In addition to the position of Ernest S. Kuh endowed chair professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, Zhang is a distinguished researcher, a pioneer in metamaterials and a world leader in nanomanufacturing. Zhang also serves as director of the Center for Scalable and Integrated Nanomanufacturing, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, and director of the Materials Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Zhangs transformative research in optical metamaterials, nano-optics and photonics has had a profound impact on optical science and technology. His groundbreaking demonstrations of optical metamaterials include the first magne tic response of metamaterials at far-infrared frequencies, which opened the door to the worldwide pursuit of optical metamaterials. Using composite metamaterials, Zhang was the first researcher to overcome the fundamental limit of diffraction, solving a 200-year-old aufgabe and bringing about a shift in engineering materials design and applications. Based on this breakthrough, he created the first optical superlens, the first 3-D bulk metamaterials with a negative optical refractive index, and the first optical invisibility cloak. Zhang also pioneered a new nanofabrication technology and coined the term plasmonic lithography. With its ability to reach down to 10 nanometer scale, this technology will provide an effective solution for nanoscale manufacturing, which is critical for electronics manufacturing and the magnetic storage industry. In addition to having his work covered widely in the international media, Zhangs negative refraction breakthrough was selected by Time m agazine as one of the Top 10 Scientific Discoveries and one of the Best 50 Inventions of 2008. The superlens was among Discover magazines Top 100 Science Stories of 2007 and RD Magazines Top 25 Most Innovative Products of 2006. A member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and Chinas Academia Sinica, Zhang is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Optical Society, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics Engineers (SPIE). He has been a member of the ASME Nanotechnology Institute since 2003. Zhang earned a bachelors degree and a masters degree in solid state physics from Nanjing University, China, in 1985 and 1988, respectively. He earned a masters degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1992 and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley in 1996. The ASME Foundation is the proud supporter of the ASME Honors and Awards program through the m anagement of award endowment funds set up by individuals, corporations or groups. For more information on the 2014 Honors Assembly and each of this years award recipients, visit www.asmeconferences.org/Congress2014/Honors.cfm.

5 Inspirational Quotes to Help You Navigate a Career Change

5 Inspirational Quotes to Help You Navigate a Career Change 5 Inspirational Quotes to Help You Navigate a Career Change Changing careers involves a lot of adjusting. You may feel alittle lost along the way. You might even have moments when you think itd be better to throw in the towel.Dont give up Dig deep for motivation, never forget why you started this journey, and keep goinguntil youve accomplished what you set out to do.When I need motivation, I like to collect inspirational quotesI can refer back to when I feel my drive start to wane. Here are five of my favorites - maybe they can help you, too1. It Takes as Much Energy to Wish as It Does to Plan. (Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States)You cant just sit at a job you hate, daydreaming about a different job, and then go home to daydream some more. You actually have to dosomething if you want to get that different job.Make a plan. It doesnt have to cover your career change from A to Z it just needs to entail some k ind of action you will take in the real world. Then, once youveaccomplished that plan, start the next one.The key is to keep moving. Instead of getting bogged down in endless fantasizing, be energized by the momentum you build bit by bit as you navigate through the process. If youve actually done something to make your career change a reality, youre already ahead of the curve. fruchtwein people just accept that their work is a drudge and get on with it day in, day out.2. Whenever You Become Empowered, You Will Be Tested.(Caroline Myss, Author)Atremendous rush of excitement comes over someone when they decide to dedicate their time and energy to pursuing their true passion. However, things will get tough along the way. You may have to give up personal time to do some training or gain experience. Youll probably be pressed during interviews about why youre making this change now. Your family or friends may think youre making a mistake and withhold their support.All those things are tes ts of your sense of empowerment. Youveallowed yourself to want more out of your work. That makes you different from most people, and you will meet resistance because of that. Some of that resistance will be positive, as when hiring managers want to make sure youre clear about what you want. Some of theresistance will just be envy and cynicism. Its up to you to hold onto your sense of empowerment through it all.3. Dont Stand in the Corner Waiting for the Chance / Make Your Own Music, Start Your Own Dance.(Madonna, the Undisputed Queen of Pop)Lifted from an infectious but mostly forgotten tune called Spotlight, these are lyrics to live by. Madonnas material is full of positivity, drive, and ambition - no surprise, considering shes still a force to be reckoned with more than three decades into her career.Whenever you feellike giving in to doubt - whenever youre ready to throw your hands up and say, I guess it just wasnt meant to be - resist it. Go back to that place of self-discover y where you first decided to embark on this new adventure. Recalibrate and try a different path. Whatever you do, dont just stand around hoping for opportunities to come. Put on your favorite 80s beats, roll up your sleeves, and get back out there.4. We Must Be Willing to Let Go of the Life We Planned so as to Have the LifeThat Is Waiting for Us.(Joseph Campbell, Author andProfessor of Comparative Mythology)It takes guts to try something new, especially in your career. Fear of failure or, even worse, obsessing over the correct way forwardcan lead to inertia.When a change is important to you, you may want to control everything, lest you make a mistake that could jeopardize your success.However, one of the most important components of a successful career change is the willingness to get lostand explore. Dont be afraid to backtrack and start again. Approach every opportunity with a fresh perspective. Let go of your anxiety about not knowing what youre doing and just do it. You cannot r each a new destination by walking someone elses path.5. You Dont Get What You Wish for. You Dont Even Get What You Hope for. You Get What You Believe.(Oprah Winfrey, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Talk Show Host)Anyone who has ever achieved anything will tell you about the importance of knowing they wouldmake it in the end. There are plenty of quotesthat refer to this principle, but none sums it up better thanOprahs triple-punch reality check about the difference between wanting, hoping, and believing.Psychologists tell us our chances of making it in a life-or-death situation go up or down according to what were thinking. In other words, if you anticipate youll make it, you have abetter chance of making it. If belief can help save your life, imagine what it can do for your career change No matter how many stumbling blocks you come across, know in your gut that success is already yours. You just havent arrived yet.Rui Betencourt is the editor ofRuibetencourt.com. Follow him onLink edInandTwitter.

12 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing Your Résumé

12 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing Your Rsum12 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing Your RsumWriting a rsum can be a daunting task. It has a style unlike virtually any other document you are likely to write. Consequently, many people rely on either preconceived ideas or stock templates when setting down their credentials for a new position, dooming themselves to a mediocre product from the get-go.We often carry around outdated concepts when we dont keep up to date with current trends. Todays quality rsums have dispensed with objective statements, and must contain far more information about your accomplishments than your responsibilities. To stand out from the competition you must convey your personal brand, highlight your skills and explain the results of your work. And at the same time, your rsum should be formatted to be applicant tracking system (ATS) friendly.Rather than just trying to initially compose a document in rsum format, it is often very helpful to first create a background document you might think of as a well of information from which to draw. To get organized, begin by creating topic headings for each of the sections of the rsum Professional Experience, Skills, Education, Certifications Training, Volunteer / Community Activities.Compose bullet points where you highlight each of your major accomplishments. And fill them in with a longhand version of what you did, how you did it and what happened because of your activity.Dont worry about conforming to the space limitation of a page or two in this private document. Just pour out your story on to several pages, and then you will be able to cull the highlights for your finished product. Moreover, having thought about and articulated your experiences you will also have taken an important step forward in preparing stories to tell when you get to interviewing for coveted roles.In each section or bullet point of your rsum well, answer these questions as best you can1. How did you get this job? What does the company do? Who buys its products or services?2. What are your major responsibilities? What have been the biggest challenges you faced in accomplishing them? What did you do, and how did it turn out? What resulted from your actions?3. What are you most proud to have accomplished in this role?4. How have you saved your employer time or increased productivity?5. What have you done, to increase sales or revenue for your employer? How did you go about doing it? What tools, skills, knowledge or software did you utilize?6. What have you done, and how did you do it, to decrease costs or expenses for your employer? Again, what tools, skills, knowledge or software did you utilize?7. How have your accomplishments in this role stacked up against others in your department, company or industry?8. Why is your employer better off because you were hired?9. What did you start or set up that became a model for others to copy in other locations or companies?10. How did you make life easi er for your boss, your peers or others with whom you worked?11. How are you viewed by your boss, peers and those you supervise?12. What is your reputation among your vendors, customers or clients? Why do they have this opinion of you?Your rsum well will likely turn out to be several pages long. Then, you can draw from it the main substance and ideas that emerge from your self-reflection.Once youve completed this preliminary document and are ready to write the rsum itself, determine for yourself the overall impression of what you want to create in the mind of your reader. With this in mind, go back to highlight all the things that youve written that will contribute to someone coming to the conclusion you seek. Now you are well underway to figuring out what to include in the bullet points you will be fashioning.Bear in mind, employers are ultimately far less concerned about reading a listing of your current and former job descriptions than coming to understand how you have fulfilled y our responsibilities in a way that sets you apart from everyone else. That is why each bullet point should be in what professional rsum writers call a STAR format that conveys succinctly your Situation, Task, Action and Results.When you go about the task of rsum creation this way, you will create a document that will interest its readers to invest far more than the six to 10 seconds they give to your competition.Happy hunting

Instant Solutions to Truck Driver Resume

Instant Solutions to Truck Driver Resume Usually, you could have to travel a very long distance. You will also have to possess information regarding different routes and secure driving on long hauls. Owner-operators need to have a fantastic business sense in addition to truck driving experience. An individual must also contain the educational achievement of the person in the truck driving resume. If you state your purpose is to locate a job for a courier, but youre asking for a commercial truck driver job, you could also get skipped over since it wont look like youre as interested in the particular job thats available. Therefore, if youre an aspiring truck driver and searching for truck driving employment, you can discover suitable jobs online. Theres a scarcity of truck drivers so companies have prove to be extra flexible. A superb truck driver resume, the saatkorn as all other resumes, requires you to be honest and straight forward. An expert truck driver is all the above, and more. If you are searching for samples resume for truck driver then look no more. In summary, look at the digital world to take a look at a truck driver sample resume. Youre all CDL truckers, and that means youll have the exact same sort of trucker resumes. All you will need is the suitable Class A or B CDL license depending upon the kind of truck you will operate. Get the Scoop on Truck Driver Resume Before Youre Too Late Your truck driver resume must start out with a proactive career objective at which you can slightly touch on your major abilities or expertise to show your competency from the start. If youre a trucker trying to find a new job, always make certain your resume is updated and accurate. A great dispatcher learns the the inner workings of the company and often are going to have the chance to move up within the organization. Build your resume today and find the work soon The very first contact between a business and yourself is made with the aid of a well- structured resume. Several trucking businesses provide training periods that permit to make a commercial driver license. There are several jobs in trucking industry its merely a matter of locating the perfect one for you. Resumes have the exceptional ability to capture the interest of recruiting authorities, and the trucking sector is the same. Want to Know More About Truck Driver Resume? Our resume builder gives you tips and examples on how best to compose your resume summary. Developing your resume is important. The company was established by Al Schneider in the calendar year 1935. You should make certain that you include each organization and employer youve worked for. Training and experience permits you to move forward with confidence. You may also see Chef Resumes. Resumes have changed a tiny bit and really once you submit your resume, especially if it is a job which is advertised you truly dont want to wind up in the slush pile. Youve got to drive for extended dist ances which usually means you need to sit for extended hours. Dont overlook to place the previous position which you just held. Furthermore, you can find out more about transportation careers on Monster. Its necessary if you fill out an application for a position.

Jobs on the rise unemployment rate drops

Jobs on the rise unemployment rate drops Jobs on the rise unemployment rate dropsPosted October 13, 2011, by Josie Chun New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that 100 000 new jobs have been created in the last three months, bringing the unemployment rate down to 5.7 per cent in November from 5.8 per cent in October. The data was positive in most states, with unemployment falling in NSW from 6.1 per cent in November to 6.0 per cent in October, and from 5.7 per cent to 5.4 per cent in Victoria. The rate also fell from 3.7 per cent to 3.5 per cent in the Northern Territory, and remained the same in Tasmania (5.4 per cent) and the ACT (3.6 per cent). On the other hand, the rate rose from 5.3 per cent to 5.5 per cent in South Australia, from 5.0 per cent to 5.2 per cent in Western Australia, and from 6.0 to 6.1 per cent in Queensland the highest in the country. If the positive trend in most of the country marks the turning of the tide, then Australia may well avoid the 6 .3 per cent expected unemployment peak an estimate that was revised down from more dire