America's Happiest Careers are Not About The Money

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41890356/ns/business-careers/
I recently read a article about a survey that was conducted revealing America's top ten happiest careers based on a variety of different questions that were asked to over 200,000 independent employee reviews from over 70,000 jobs all over the country to collect 1.6 million data points on nine different factors of workplace happiness.These included the employee's relationship with their boss and co-workers, their work environment, job resources, compensation, growth opportunities, company culture, company reputation, daily tasks and job control over the work that they do on a daily basis. These numbers were collected and averaged out to come up with a employee happiness rating for each job site. The results were very clear that even in tough economic times like were are in today happiness on the job does not just come from a big paycheck or even up there in the top three of what people find to make them happy while working. The top three things employees are looking for on the job are....

1.The specific tasks a job entails on a day-to-day basis.
2.How much control the employee has over his or her daily tasks.
3.Relationships with co-workers and customers, including supervisors and colleagues.

How much money a job offers obviously is a important factor when deciding on a job but it is clear that even with a big paycheck it is not enough to consistently satisfy workers. Careers in biotechnology were ranked number one followed by customer services and education employees. "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 Heidi Golledge the CEO of CareerBliss. Biotechnology offers a lot of control over what they do while on the job which is also an important factor. I was pretty surprised with customer service being number 2 on the list as the happiest jobs. To me that line of work tends to be more stressful and doesn't pay that well but being able to talk to people everyday and valuing co workers more then other industries led to that ranking.  Education was another occupation that  caught me off guard in contrast to biotech in education employee boss relationships were not important. Teachers value the work they do, the way they work, and the people they were with. The final 7 jobs that closed out the top ten were  administrative, purchasing, accounting, finance, nonprofit, health care and law. A lot of these types of jobs surprised me a lot because i thought most of these were high stress low paying jobs, but i guess that shows to prove that money isn't the only thing people look for in a job. What are your most important factors when looking for a job? Is money on the top of the list?            

In Response to Chris Hill

Are you happy with this change in business or do you prefer to go out and do your shopping, banking, or socializing? 

 The way business, shopping, and socializing is done this day and age is being able to do it as fast and efficiently possible. It seems that every year a new product or service comes out that is somehow faster and operates differently then before. I like and dislike the way things are becoming with technology and relying on computers in order to operate. It is much more convenient to be able to get everything you need done just at home and not going through a hassle, but at the same time i miss the days where not everyone was attached to there computers or cell phones. Today if your without a phone or computer you are completely out of the loop and it makes it almost impossible to be able to contact anyone. It is pretty crazy to think about how much we have developed technologically in just ten years. In 2001 the i pod just came out now we are developing into a world where the internet operates through everything and the expansion of 3d tv's and video games has exploded. When I saw a computer competing on Jeopardy the other day I really thought about how times have changed and what the future holds for us. Its scary to be relying on something that could crash one day so heavily, but I don't see technology slowing down anytime soon. Is technology moving in the right direction?

Money and Happiness

There have been many arguments and studies about whether money can buy happiness or not but there still has not been a set conclusion. This article http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2016291,00.html talked about a resent analysis that was done about the subject. The results of 450,000 participants being asked questions about there overall happiness and there income showed that $75,000 a year was the benchmark of enjoyment for there lives. I don't necessarily agree with this because there are plenty of people out there that do not make that much money and still go about there lives happily because of other factors that have a bigger impact then income like being healthy, having a family, or just being lucky enough to have a roof over there head everyday. Our society in America definitely has become one of class and because of that people feel they are always in a position to try and out perform others. This is a problem that some other countries do not deal with and that is part of the reason why studies have shown that were not the happiest country in the world. We may be the most powerful and one of the most prosperous, but that doesn't account for being healthy and other key essentials to living a happy life. I believe that money can buy happiness in the short term but when it comes to long term overall happiness money can only take you so far. The reasons that higher income can bring short term enjoyment is because you will have enough expendable cash to do what makes them feel good instead of dwelling on what is upsetting them. Money can make you feel really good and powerful, but cannot supply a person with what emotionally makes people happy in the long term like family, friends, and less stress. I have noticed that sometimes the wealthiest people are the most stressed because of not having the basic necessities to be happy. It is easy to hide how you really feel behind a lot of money but when it comes down to it there are more important things to worry about besides trying to get to that $75,000 a year. Do you think that money and happiness relate to each other?

In Response to Chris Cheevers Post "Mobile Marketing"

Mobile marketing is definitely on the rise due to technology in phones, computers, i pods etc. If marketers begin to increase advertising through text messages and other mobile ways of communicating I too will find it very annoying. I can see it happening in the near future though because  phones is where the people are. Everyone I know has a phone and receives text messages on a daily basis. In order for mobile marketing to take place though there should be restrictions on what advertisements are being sent out and who receives them, but that will be hard to monitor because once its out in the mobile world who actually knows who will see it.

Do you think mobile marketing will be more common in the near future?

Global Management

Managing in a global work environment definitely requires a unique set of skills to adapt to various cultures besides the one your comfortable with. Globalization has increased dramatically in the last couple years as markets get bigger and companies expand to different parts of the world. IBM for example has been sending executives to Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East to get to know more about the decision makers in those markets and how IBM can adjust to better there future. IBM is trying to get ahead of the game to learn about emerging markets because they know if they want to continue to be successful they will have to win more contracts from small and medium sized businesses overseas, not just the large ones. Today's global business environment makes the job of the manager more complex and difficult. Few businesses are immune from globalization's influence as they expand into new markets, outsource across borders and encounter foreign competitors. The most difficult skill that managers must develop is different communication styles for each culture, that is extremely important because what one country thinks is the appropriate way of doing something could be very different from another. For example in Latin America most of the time business transactions are done over time, based on trust. As a manager you won't be able to just fly down there say what you need to say and expect immediate results, patience will be needed. In China the concept of micromanagement is the applied. Generally speaking, direct reports expect to receive specific directions and detailed explanations from their managers, not broad goals.  It is very important as a manager to learn about the different cultures you will be around or else it will only lead to jumping to the wrong conclusion causing failure. You need to get to know the people you are going to be working with just as you would anywhere else. Managing within a different culture is really only an extension of what managers do every day, and that's working with differences.
What do you feel is the most important quality a manager must have when working globally?

McDonald's Getting Bigger

Not surprisingly McDonald's is getting bigger in other countries in the world, but this time they are going to Japan a place where a healthy eating and lifestyle are a way of culture. Japan has a strong reputation of having one the healthiest countries in the world by staying away from fast food and focusing on smaller portion sizes and other options like rice and fish, but not this time. McDonald's Holdings CO is Japans top restaurant chain by number of stores rolled out its Big America 2 campaign last week, featuring four burgers named after U.S. locales. All four of the burgers are over 550 calories and not a typical meal you would expect on a Japanese plate but it is becoming very popular and I expect Japans obesity rate to increase within the next couple years. In tough economic times people go for the cheap food like McDonald's because you get more for your dollar even in a traditional country like Japan. As many flaws there are with McDonald's they have always had a very strong marketing campaign which is why they operate in over 100 countries and 6 different continents worldwide and have been very successful doing it. Every time I see a advertisement for McDonald's either on TV or somewhere else the people always look like there having a great time and the food looks really good. It makes people want to go there just because of the enjoyment of eating a big burger is perceived to be. There are a lot of social irresponsibility when it comes to the fast food industry in ethics and the environment. Factory farming is a huge issue that is not often recognized because people don't take the time to go behind the scenes and question what is in the food there about to eat. A lot of the time all that is cared about is how fast they will get the food and how good it tastes. The way McDonald's operates is not changing because not enough people are demanding that there should be change and more healthier options available so there just making a smart business decision and staying with what is working and operating the cheapest and most efficient way possible. I don't see Japan being anywhere near the U.S in obesity rates but it is hard not to predict a increase when more fast food chains are available and people are going to them regularly. If more and more fast food chains keep opening up worldwide there could be some dark days approaching for both the health of the people and the environment. Do you think Japans obesity rates will ever be close to the U.S?

response to Eric Bergstroms "super" marketing

I completely agree with your main point that marketing owns the Super Bowl. Advertisors spend 3 million dollars for a 30 second commercial on Super Bowl sunday because they know that it could potentialy make or break there company. This is a event that marketers would be crazy not to put forth there best effort to promote the right way because over 100 million people tune in for the super bowl almost as if it were a holiday. Studies have shown that about 25% of people that watch are doing so just for the commercials alone. Throughtout the years the underline strategy of how Super Bowl marketing was done is to keep the commercials under rap until the game to keep people wondering, but in 2011 the strategy seemed to switch due to social media like facebook and twitter. For the first time some campaigns were aired before the super bowl and will continue to be aired weeks after as well. There are crowd-sourcing campaigns that draft fans into contributing to the broadcast ads, Facebook efforts, and Twitter-based stunts to build bonds with consumers. The Volkswagon Darth Vador commericial generated 6 million views 2 days before the Super Bowl and will continue to be watched after. The marketing strategy in 2011 may have changed the way marketers expand there campaigns in the future. Do you think that is a better idea to get your advertisement out there before Super Bowl or keep it under raps till the game?