You're Hired. You're Fired.

On this blog, we talked about some jobs and discussed issues that affect our world of work nowadays.

We don't know what will happen in the future. However, we can predict an increasing in unemployment not only because of the world crises, but also because it seems a natural process in our society: technological improvements continuously decrease the work force needed in almost every jobs, while world population continues growing.

Hence, in the future unemployment will naturally increase, which means we should try to regard it differently.

One thing is certain: we are all hired for a job: improving the new world of work with our own work.

We hope you have learned something useful.

Thank you!

Discrimination in the World of Work

After the I World War, the ILO, which stands for the International Labour Organization, was created. One of the most important rights this organization tries to achieve is equity among workers.

However, this right is not always respected. Actually, there are still several types of discrimination in the world of work, specially, in the process of hiring.

For example, gender-based discrimination is still very common nowadays. I am not referring only to developing nations; in developed countries men still earn more than women, sometimes even in the most common women’s jobs. Besides, in the process of offering a job, employers hire men more easily than women, especially in areas dominated by men.

Another type of inequity in hiring is age discrimination, which happens in our country. As we see many factories closing, many middle-aged men and women became unemployed. For them is very hard to compete with younger workers in finding a job. In fact, some employers include age limits in job advertisements.

Race and nationality also may contribute to different treatment in the world of work, mainly because of stereotypes. This can affect hiring, for example when an employer exclude members of a certain race because of his particular position or because his clients’ position.

All this types of discrimination are prohibited by law. But the truth is that curriculums are not always analyzed in an objective way and contracts are design depending on racial, gender or age preferences, meaning that one person’s skills, experiences and accomplishments are not the only reasons that affect hiring.

Sources:
http://prorev.com/2009/04/men-earn-more-than-women-even-in-most.html
http://articles.directorym.net/Employment_Discrimination_in_Hiring-a956279.html
http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/lang--en/index.htm

Healthy...healthy

As I said on other post, I worry with the animals, but also with people, especially with their food! So, now I made my decision, after many indecisions, and I want to be nutritionist.

Nutritionist is the specialist who works to food safety and dietary care. One of the biggest health problem on this century is obesity. In Portugal, 31,5% children 7-9 years old are overweight.

Too much work contributes to a poor alimentation. Most of the times the meals have to be fast(fast food) or people don’t even have time to eat. Yes, because the problem isn’t just eating too much ... not eat, is as disturbing as the rest!

I think that people neglecting their alimentation, and there are more and more eating disorders!

So remember, ‘We are what we eat’.



Sources:
http://www.obesidade.online.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=97&Itemid=39

The More You Work...

On my last post, I talked about two problems in our Portuguese lazy minds. However, I didn’t want to say we work less time than we should. In fact, I believe we work too much hours.

If we take a look at the most developed societies, such as the Nordic ones, we will see they are starting to work less hours. That is because working too much is bad for both heath and work performance.

Studies show that people who are addicted to work – workaholics, they are called – are stressed, have trouble sleeping and have a poor health. Besides, this people can’t spend enough time whit their personal life. A person in such pressure is not able to give his best at work, meaning that his productivity is lower than in a well-rested person.


Although we are not workaholics, Portuguese people do work too much hours. The consequences of having long timetables are increased in repetitive jobs, like employments in industry.

Besides working too much time, usually we can’t choose our schedule. Actually, in Portugal, there are few companies which offer a flexible timetable. This affects workers’ performance because they may have to work in their less productive time of the day. It may also be harder to balance personal and professional life, when people have rigid schedules.


So, if an employer wants productive well-rested employees, he should give them flexible schedules, with time to rest and enjoy life. The same is applied in the relationship teacher/student!

After some time...

...The more you work, the worse you produce.
...The more you work, the less you live.

Sources:
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workaholic
http://jn.sapo.pt/PaginaInicial/Economia/Interior.aspx?content_id=960548

Veterinary...

When I was a little girl, this job really fascinated me!! My passion with animals began soon, since I remember!

I loved when I went to my grandparents' farm, give corn to the chickens, play with the rabbits, run with the dogs, etc. Here, I was in my world.

On these days, I said that I want to stay there, to care for animals.

With time, I changed my ideas but I still think that this is a prestigious job. Be veterinarian is care for animals, but mostly do it with love!

Many animals are abandoned, especially in summer when their owners go on holiday. Some of them are treated by veterinarians, others not resist! I love animals and that’s why I admire this job…

Image: http://brucefong.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/veterinarian-3.jpg

Unemployment

Unemployment is when a person available to work but is without work. Actually, the unemployment is growing up quickly, in Portugal and from all over the world. On our country, we have the unemployment centers full of unemployed people. The question of the unemployment is linked to the financial crisis.


As you can see on the graphic, the unemployment rate in the world is the largest in recent years, and is expected that is going to increase the next year.

Part-time jobs

Today, many teenagers have a part-time job, even while they’re studying or on vacations. In the consumer society we live is not easy to satisfy all the wishes that children and teenagers do!

Get a part-time Job is a good way for teenagers learn the value of money and the important role it plays in everyday life.

To spend money is necessary win it! There are many activities that young people can do, and at the same time they earn money, gain professional experience and they are more independent of parents. The effort that young people do to earn this money, make them give more value to it and learn to deal with financial issues in the future.

There are many activities such as gardening, babysitting, working in libraries, cafes or restaurants, petsitting .... Etc

‘A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Action Please’

There are two big problems in the typical Portuguese mind:

First, he has the ability to blame others for everything that happens to him. If he is fired, he will blame the employer, he will blame the government or he will blame the crises, but never himself.

Secondly, although every Portuguese wants to find and have a good job, the majority of us don’t want to work at all.

This mentality had brought us to the country we have today, one of the most less developed countries in Occidental Europe.

However, not every Portuguese has our typical way of thinking. In fact, an increasing amount of people is joining a new state of mind: entrepreneurship.

This concept is based in the idea that it’s always possible to innovate, it’s possible to create and implement new ideas in the world of work.

Nowadays, entrepreneurship is no longer a choice, it is actually an emergency. It is essential to create new businesses.

This innovative way of thinking can be positive in both personal and economical levels. For the entrepreneur, this process can be positive if he creates his own business, being able to make his own money without depending on the jobs offered by others. The creation of new business means that new jobs are created and new markets are developed, which will help increasing economic growth.

Because innovating and creating enterprises is so important, efforts are being done in order to teach students how to be entrepreneur. Actually, some universities in Portugal are giving its students some notions about this process. But, there is still a long way to go in order to change Portuguese lazy minds.

Source: http://www.empreendedorismo.pt

Curriculum Vitae

The Curriculum Vitae is an elaborated document, in sum and ordered shape, used on the more varied situations, like employment solicitation, tenders, papers sent to Congresses or symposiums, works on technical-scientific and literary, etc...

The preparation of a Curriculum Vitae depends of the profession and experience of each.

The curriculum vitae should contain the Identification, a Professional overview, the professional formation, the vocational training, the work experience, other qualifications and possible intervention in the Field and Technical Research.



Source: Curriculum Vitae. In Diciopédia 2008 [DVD-ROM]. Porto : Porto Editora, 2007. ISBN: 978-972-0-65263-8

Teacher

Our professional life started when we are 5/6 years old, and we went to school. The school is our second home, and we spent most of our days there.

Study is our work, although some people don’t realize. So, if our work is study, and it is what we need to have a good job in future, our teachers are the responsible of our success.

This job is one of the oldest jobs and the most important too, because all others depend on it!The role of the teachers is to transmit us her/his knowledge, but also help us to build as persons! Yes because, as I already said, we spend much time at school.

But I think that to be a good teacher, is necessary a huge passion for this job, and be patient to deal with children and teenagers everyday... Yes, I know that sometimes it's really hard!I think that this job was and remains very important, because they are who makes us the employees who we’ll be in future.

Image:
http://www.napavalley.edu/pic/1738/college_students.jpg

‘Brain Migrations'

As you may know, the world of work is affected by an unequal distribution of wealth: the most powerful countries usually have the best work conditions while the poorest nations can’t guarantee work opportunities to their citizens. Still, that doesn’t mean the poor nations can’t train high qualified professionals.

What high qualified people do when they can’t find a good job in their countries? Well, a great number of individuals move abroad, in a process called brain drain.

But lack of opportunity isn’t the only cause of this human capital emigration. Low salaries, conflict and political instability also may contribute to this process, especially if people are from developing countries.

Leaving a country is completely justified if qualified people can’t find a good job in their own countries. However, brain drain may lead to unpleasant consequences.

First of all, developing countries which are affected by this process lose work force. For example, a huge amount of health care workers leave African nations to work in Europe, meaning that these countries’ health care systems became even poorer.



On the other hand, the situation in which nations receive high qualified workers is called brain gain. At first sight, this process seams great to these countries because they receive an extra human capital. But, if there is not a lack of workers in the ’receiving country’, some people will be unemployed.

Take Portugal as an example. A lot of highly skilled African and Brazilian professionals are coming to our country, which means that some Portuguese will need to emigrate because they have their places taken by foreigners.

International Organizations are trying to minimize brain drain by creating better work opportunities in developing countries. However, every worker has the right of emigration and that is something we shouldn’t try to fight.

Sources:

http://images.google.pt/imgres?imgurl=http://snhs.georgetown.edu/gujhs/vol3no1/images/braindrain.gif&imgrefurl=http://snhs.georgetown.edu/gujhs/vol3no1/index.html&usg=__zXOZRcTW1agjv3JLR3XGPCf807Q=&h=208&w=211&sz=9&hl=pt-PT&start=18&um=1&tbnid=riu916Lsmn4qbM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbrain%2Bdrain%26hl%3Dpt-PT%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_drain#Brain_gain

The immigrants

Every day, from all the world, people is moving to another country, looking for better life conditions and for opportunities. The people from Portugal goes principally to Switzerland, France, Canada, Luxembourg...
On our county, for example, people comes principally from Ukraine and is integrated with people from their country. This people, in the majority of times, don't bring their family. They come alone and try to find some friends...
Here, on our county, they find work on farming. When they have enough money, they come back to their family.
Normally, the Ukrainians here stay more than two years.

Sometimes people have to change their life to live and give something better to their family.

You’re Fired. You’re Hired.

You’re fired. You’re hired. What a big difference!

Unfortunately, the first sentence is very common in today’s world of work. Actually, we often heard news about factories closing, leaving hundreds of people unemployed. Besides that, a large number of high qualified people have low paid jobs in which their qualifications are not even required. On the other hand, some people choose to leave their countries in order to work in their areas.

However, not everything is bad in our new world of work. There is an increasing diversity of jobs, which allows people to specialize in areas they enjoy, education is getting better and there is a will to create opportunities for every worker.

Our purpose is to make you aware of the new world of work, its pros and its inconvenients.

We hope you enjoy our blog and find it useful to make a choice in the future!