Conceit is not a qualification.
I notice something which may not be all that surprising, nor expected, but some of you may not be aware. Peer to peer job searching and discussion forums often make for very big-headed and conceited people. Not too long ago someone once said in a past thread on this website, that a person thinks they've owned a monopoly on the adminstrative assistant market of knowledge and experience to be the only ones supposedly qualified to work that type of job. Conceit - is the direct opposite Envy, one of the 7 deadly sins. Neither one wears well on a person. _________________________________________________________________________________ So my question is this : Does anyone else notice on this message board or others, people who act as if they are the sole proprietors of knowledge, skill and qualifications of a particular job they happen to be working or worked? Don't you just want to knock their block off? I do. As I said before, I believe just about 90% or more of the occupations that exist are doable by just about anyone. Regardless of wether you have the money to sit in a college classroom for four years or not. The arbitrary type of person should agree it's possible for anyone to do the job they do, but if you covet it so much as if to stand atop some high horse and proclaim yourself the only one while no one else comes evenclose. I submit that says a lot about how little you are qualified, not how much. You have one problem with your premise. The market. The employers within the market set the minimum qualifications for any job. Minimum qualifications include:
I would say that you have another problem in that your number is to high. 90%? No maybe 50%. There are so many specialized jobs that one cannot do without education and / or vocational training. To name a few:
Just to name a few. I am sure that others could think of more. The fact is that most jobs that have greater than minimum wage rates associated with them require the applicant to aquire skills. The more money that you can demand in the market the more of these specialized skills you would have aquired and the longer you would have been in the market. Generally "pay" equals "value". So in many cases you are right any person could likely do these jobs, however they would first need to acquire the skills. "So in many cases you are right. Any person could likely do these jobs, however they would first need to acquire the skills." I do not agree. Not everyone is capable of acquiring required skills because of various limitations including lack of aptitude! In fact - there are people in this world, including myself, who could not work at Burger King or McDonald's for the same reasons. To say that anyone can acquire skills that are required for a particular occupation or career is to trivialize that job or career. For example - not every office support person can become a successful administrative or executive assistant. There are so many facets to that career and much more is required than knowledge of software programs and a pretty smile with a bubbly and energetic personality! People need vocational counseling and testing in order to make the right career choices!
Bunzo
Here's some questions for you: Isn't it a conceited person who puts wrong words in someone's mouth and says that someone said they have a monopoly on a particular job when they never said that? I certainly do not have a monopoly on the administrative professional path but I do believe 25 years of progressive experience means I know a lot about the career as opposed to someone with only 6 days experience. Isn't it a conceited person who thinks he can do 90% of the jobs in the U.S.? No one else here makes such a high and mighty claim. For someone who is unemployed and has limited experience, that comes across extremely conceited, don't you think? I'd like to see you come to my office and work as an attorney or even a paralegal and see how long you'll last. :) If you have not been in the shoes of someone who is in a particular position, what makes you more knowledgeable than that person and how can you possibly know what that person encounters in that position on a day-to-day basis?
I'm going to knock off a few pegs from that list by using my own father ( deceased ) as an example. Neither a high school graduate, a college graduate, or even a certified technician, he was able to repair automobiles ( gas tank welding ), fix various plumbing ( sinks and kitchen counter tops ), and as well re-wire ( electrician ) a certain number of rooms whose ceiling lamps caught fire throughout the house. So your premise is again faulty as the blanket statement you wish it were. All others need not even try? Give me a break. #7 Ship Captain #9 Teacher and #10 on your proverbial list Accountant ( i.e. number cruncher ) Let's go through them one at a time working backward from what is ( contrary to your opinion and others, is the easiest on the list ) ______________________________________________________________________________ What does it take to be a number cruncher? Attention to detail, knowledge of accounting laws, rules and regulations in accordance with the ever changing IRS tax and securities structure, the latest tax and accounting software, installation and upgrade are rudimentary tasks, but the main principle is that your numbers all add up and you don't get an untimely visit from the government like one company not too long ago - Authur Andersen ( Enron 2002 ). What does it take to be a teacher? An interest in working with children, a temperment just about everyone has if they are or will desire to have children themselves, nothing else really. But because education is one of society's second-tier concerns behind Illegal Immigration and The Iraq War, a lot of local and state government emphasis is on ensuring those who wish to enter the education profession with children in grade school K-12 are extremely educated and knowledgable in all general disiplines. I submit that if it wasn't for an anxiety riddled public of women - be they married, divorced or single parents, teaching would be no more, no less a complicated profession than technology work. Lastly, what does it take to be a ship's captain? Nothing beyond a knowledge of nautical mapping, the rules regarding water ways, canals, local, regional and international zones. Not to mention an ability to steer the boat. The medical profession is one I have a high respect for, as I said, only a few career jobs like - I put in that small 10% area, a person must go through years of schooling, continued education, experience, familiarity, lectures and internships with hospitals, clinics or other medical facilities like morgues. Figuring out what's wrong with a person can never be as simple as replacing a microchip on a printed circuit board.
I knew it wasn't long before you took the bait to come in this thread and defend yourself, concordently, I knew it wasn't long after I printed this thread that you would some how apply the analysis and the question to me. You are among other things, extremely predicable. Let me be the first to say. - thanks very much You're all too funny! You bet I'm going to bite on that lame response. Yes, I know I am predictable but then that is a good trait. So what are your good traits? You haven't shown any yet on these forums, Mr. Name Caller, I Know More Than Everyone Else Even Though I Don't Have a Job and Only Have Limited Experience xttwo. Your message to LValDean doesn't cut it. What your father did has nothing to do with it. You said that YOU can do 90% of the jobs out there. You can't back it up because that is why you avoided every question I asked you. As for accountants, you do need further education to get an accountant position. Many times you also need a CPA. As for teachers, you need further education, a number of whom who do go further and get MBA's. You are not going to become a teacher without the higher education. I stand by what I said before just by observing your behavior on these forums so far and how you communicate -- you would never cut it as an administrative assistant, and you certainly would not make it as an accountant or a teacher. So no, you cannot perform 90% of the jobs out there. A lot of older men out there can do a lot of different things because years ago they HAD to. My dad doesn't have a high school education or anything higher and knows how to fix autos, trucks and tractors. He knows how to do construction. He knows how to do plumbing and wiring too and has done it throughout his own home. He has a commercial driver's license and drove big rigs for several years all across the country. You're saying you can?
I suppose you either fail to take note the part where I gave respect to the medical profession, or among your many attributes, you're ignorance preceeds them all. ( as I've stated plenty times over ) As I've said more than once. I have no desire to perform a whole host of jobs as careers. I simply make the case that they are in fact - doable. Maybe not for a waste of time like 20 years or more, but just a few. My in grown skills specifically are interchangable but mainly relate to technology, computers, computer networks, software systems, installation, maintenance, troubleshooting and all other areas of the same genre'. An ability to think. An ability to reason. An ability to analyze and ration. An ability to keep a level head. All of these things make for me being a good ( most likely better than you ) administrative assistant, medical assistant, engineering assistant, office clerk, networking assistant, assistant bookkeeper, assistant this or that. As I said, I'm not looking to own the company, or be it's chief financial or executive officer, just a small workplace I can be satisfied with one or more levels and pay grades above the broom closet with which I refuse to believe is impossible, regardless of what fluff-a-nutter lugnuts like you continue to say. Last thing to say regarding the analysis and point I made initially. I said people like you on the high horse. I'm dynamic and diverse, Im also pragmatic enough in those types of jobs, security ( 1999-2005 ) computer assembler ( July - August 1994 ) business forum assistant ( May 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 - 2007 ) to say if I can do it, anyone can. Plain and yes, ( believe it or not ) Simple. - thanks very much
I'm not saying I can, I know I can. I don't look at an automobile in awe of such a higly complex bucket of bolts built by aliens. It's no different or complex a product as anything else, since it's not alive, one mistake won't kill it. If it can be assembled, it can be maintained. And I didn't need to sit in a college classroom to figure that out. The same goes for houses, boats, electrical wiring or computers. This whole nonsense about qualifications is just another way for hiring managers to feel important and worthy of their meaningless over-amounted paychecks. You said it yourself, your father wasn't much in the academic department, neither was mine, my father's highest achievement was being a former vietnam veteran before he died. If he can be what he was, I can be the same thing and leave the upscale high society snobs to the over priced enviorment of college. I don't need it. Never did and probably never will.
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