Friday, April 06, 2007

Happy Jobs

What is a happy job? A Clickjobs.com ad on TV goes this way:

“Mr. Happy Kumar is SO happy with his job that he can’t see millions of opportunities around him. Don’t make the same mistake. Clickjobs.com”

In this ad, Mr. Happy Kumar is smiling throughout the ad, he is not tantalized by offers like a big car, big pay check or a big position, and therefore this ad concludes he is making a mistake.

Then there’s another ad from Timesjobs on TV which goes this way:

“Salary is making you feel smaller? For better paying jobs, log on to timesjobs.com”

Is there anything wrong with these ads? Or is it just me who find them wrong?

What is a happy job? Most of us, who have spent long enough time in the industry, would agree that a happy job is the one which keeps you challenged and which turns out to be rewarding. We all keep looking for a happy job. If Mr. Happy Kumar is happy with his job, there must be a reason why he is happy. If he is not ready to look at another opportunity, and is smiling all the way to his work and is also happy at work, the job must be quite a good one. Why is it a ‘mistake’ that he is not looking elsewhere?

I would have understood if the ad was a little different. If it was Mr. Sad Kumar who is not happy with his job, and is NOT looking at millions of opportunities, then it would have made sense.

Most of the present generation engineers are turning out to be clueless about what they want. Except for some smart ones, most engineers consider a high paying job as the best job. There is already a big problem with the Indian young engineers, they hop jobs like anything. They are ready to take up a new job even for a paltry increase in the salary. Some of them are not just concerned what kind of work as long it is a high-paying job. Some ‘smart ones’ stay at each job for six months and then hop to another. They keep doing this to keep on increasing their salaries. Added to this is job hopping attitude is their appetite for investments into real estate and automobiles which tend to keep their hunger for increase in salaries ever higher.

Such ads are adding to fuel to the fire. Or are they targeting the right customers?

Is salary the only criteria for choosing another job? Should lower salary make you feel small? Only the guys at timesjobs.com seem to understand the real pulse of the young engineers.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

For the ClickJobs ad even i was wondering why is it a mistake to have a happy job? Then i thought its only me who is not getting the idea they r conveying. TimesJobs ad is a badly shot one. Dont like it. Yes the ad might be targetted to the "young engineers" who wants to get married soon. I personally like the monster.com's "caught in the wrong job" ad which has some sense to it.

Sujai said...

Umesh:
Yes, I like that Monster.com ad- 'caught in the wrong job', which makes more sense.

Anonymous said...

The clickjobs ad is just about misunderstood. They are just trying to convey that one musn't be too complacent with the job that they are having now. They must always be on the lookout for new opportuninties, that would be much more challenging and also help them grow. The ad just asks people to be open to new jobs and opportunities even if they are happy with their jobs.

Buddha said...

There are two kinds of people in this world - one who hate their jobs and two who passionately hate their jobs :)

There is no "happy job" as a whole. We need to find parts that make us happy in our jobs and just accentuate them.

It is so important to find your passion and follow it. Money could never be your passion :) except if you are a hedge fund manager.

There is a difference between job and work. Read "Future of Money" to read about it.

I am really worried about Bangalore's IT professionals since this whole services based model is not sustainable. What would happen when that first wave of layoffs hit Bangalore? We in India are not used to those economic cycles as much as Silicon Valley is. Hope we all wake up and try to find out our real passions and start creating products and innovating in a true sense before that shock happens.

Anonymous said...

usually marketing warfare happens with leader vs challenger. in this context the real challenge itself is who is no.1. Is it naukri or monster or timesjobs. All claiming to be No.1

Added to this there are two more silent players clickjobs and jobstreet slowly catching the niche market.