From Job To Job Around The World

From bestselling writer David Graeber—“a master of opening up thought and stimulating debate” (Slate)—a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs…and their consequences. Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.” It went viral. After one million online views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer. There are hordes of people—HR consultants, communication coordinators, telemarketing researchers, corporate lawyers—whose jobs are useless, and, tragically, they know it. These people are caught in bullshit jobs. Graeber explores one of society’s most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln. “Clever and charismatic” (The New Yorker), Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation and “a thought-provoking examination of our working lives” (Financial Times).

Higher education systems have changed all over the world, but not all have changed in the same ways. Although system growth and so-called massification have been worldwide themes, there have been system-specific changes as well. It is these changes that have an important impact on academic work and on the opinions of the staff that work in higher education. The academic profession has a key role to play in producing the next generations of knowledge workers, and this task will be more readily achieved by a contented academic workforce working within well-resourced teaching and research institutions. This volume tells the story of academics’ opinions about the changes in their own countries. The Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey has provided researchers and policy makers with the capacity to compare the academic profession around the world. Built around national analyses of the survey this book examines academics’ opinions on a range of issues to do with their job satisfaction. Following an introduction that considers the job satisfaction literature as it relates to higher education, country-based chapters examine aspects of job satisfaction within each country.

What Does It Mean to Have a Job? In book two of the series "My Job: Real People at Work Around the World," author Suzanne Skees profiles fifteen professionals from all corners of the globe, seeking to understand how our work shapes our lives. The fascinating people that Skees meets work in all kinds of industries: health and recovery, education and finance, agribusiness and processing, tourism and culture, and diplomacy and peace. MY JOB explores the dignity, identity, economic viability, and inherent challenges of each occupation, asking such provoking questions as: How has the definition and notion of a job shifted in recent years? How does one land in a particular job, and what causes one to flourish or flounder in it? How does our job shape our sense of identity? ​As Skees explores how our experiences, interests, and views help determine the career we pursue and how the career, in turn, continues to shape our identity, readers just may discover that while the fields, countries, and cultures we work in are different, the intricate ways in which our work effects our lives are universal.

Ever wondered what it would be like to be a street magician in Paris? A fish farmer in Norway? A costume designer in Bollywood? This playful and accessible look at different types of work around the world delivers a wealth of information and advice about a wide array of jobs and professions. The value of this book is twofold: For young people or middle-aged people who are undecided about their career paths and feel constrained in their choices, A World of Work offers an expansive vision. For ethnographers, this book offers an excellent example of using the practical details of everyday life to shed light on larger structural issues. Each chapter in this collection of ethnographic fiction could be considered a job manual. Yet not any typical job manual—to do justice to the ways details about jobs are conveyed in culturally specific ways, the authors adopt a range of voices and perspectives. One chapter is written as though it was a letter from an older sister counseling her brother on how to be a doctor in Malawi. Another is framed as a eulogy for a well-loved village magistrate in Papua New Guinea who may have been killed by sorcery. Beneath the novelty of the examples are some serious messages that Ilana Gershon highlights in her introduction. These ethnographies reveal the connection between work and culture, the impact of societal values on the conditions of employment. Readers will be surprised at how much they can learn about an entire culture by being given the chance to understand just one occupation.

This is the first book to focus on the scope of social work practice within military settings from an international perspective, and therefore addresses what has been a significant gap in the literature. Given the critical support needs of military personnel and their families worldwide, and the expanding role of social work in responding to these needs, this book offers a comprehensive global understanding of the common military social work (MilSW) practices with active duty military service members and their families, as well as the forms of practice and approaches that are unique, or potentially transferable across nations. Based on a systematic inquiry conducted by the Editors, there are at least 25 countries that have social workers working directly within their country’s military in either a civilian or uniformed capacity, or both. This book includes contributions from experts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, and the USA, who describe various aspects of the MilSW role within their country and the research that informs what military social workers do. The MilSW similarities and differences among these countries are highlighted, including developmental milestones, practice settings, practice orientation and approach, ethical dilemmas, military to veteran transition support, and past and current challenges. Experts from countries that do not yet have MilSW but are interested in developing it (Japan, Ukraine) or are in the process of establishing this area of practice (Slovakia), also contribute chapters about these developments and the evidence base that supports this direction. Military Social Work Around the Globe is a valuable resource for social work programs and essential reading for instructors and students in MilSW electives and specializations. It is also pertinent reading for occupational social work and international social work courses. In addition, this book is an important source of information for military social workers who would like to gain insights into existing programs and the possibilities for international collaboration, and for countries interested in developing MilSW.

The rules for finding work once seemed pretty straightforward. In this myth-busting book, Author R. William Holland, a human resources insider, shows job seekers how those rules have changed. A clear resume, rehearsed interview answers, and face-to-face networking are no longer enough to land the job of your dreams--or even any job, for that matter. The key, rather than to emphasize past accomplishments or education, is to sell your value to prospective employers. In Cracking the New Job Market, Holland introduces the prevailing rules of this new approach to job seeking and equips readers to master the skills required for success. You’ll learn how to gather information on what a prospective employer finds important; emphasize key skills, accomplishments, and qualities in tailored resumes; tell the right stories during your interview; identify the intersection between personal talents and what the marketplace needs; unlock the networking power of social media; and negotiate the best possible offer. With enlightening insights and practical tips, this book delivers job-hunting strategies that actually work and can help you landing a great job--even in a challenging economy.