Worth studying?

Picture from http://www.digitaltrends.com/gadgets/gadget-usage-causes-lack-of-sleep-study-finds/

Since I have arrived in Brasilia, Brazil, I started to look for jobs. Of course, in Brasilia, the most bureaucratic city in Brazil, the majority of jobs are government's. If you are not Brazilian you should know you need to be approved in tough exams in order to join the government force.

That's what Im doing at the moment: studying for the exams. The thing is I'm a bit frustrated. The reasons are as follows:

1) The competition is far worse than anything else you are aware of (except for navy seals recruitment)

2) gov jobs are a dead end for someone's career

3) public administration in Brazil doesn't function well, actually it is horrible

The competition for those jobs is high and jobs in private companies are quite competitive too, but the salaries in government are a lot better than in most private companies. The job market situation in Brazil lately is favorable mostly to jobs in demand, such as hospitality, retail, and on the other end, technicians and engineers in constructions and stuff. It's hard to pay rent and support a family with an initial - and average - private company salary.

When Fernando Collor was president, he signed a law to give stability to public workers not only in the federal sphere, but to all others linked to government - public banks, post, police and so on. That decision relieved workers about the possibility of getting sacked (almost impossible). If anyone imagined something like pursuing a career in government, it has been revoked from constitution, then you are stuck in the position you applied for in the exam day til retirement. 

All this turns productivity at work pretty bad, no, maybe, terrible! When you work in a job you CAN'T get fired, then you know things aren`t right. Carlos Osmar Bertero, in a World Bank and Brazilian government request, in 1994, made a document (sorry, it`s in Portuguese) where he expresses his opinion on public management in Brazil - in brief: "Almost all things that oppose the common sense are practiced. Performance and quality of services to the population are poor and the costs to the nation are not low." 

I think you get my point. Well, now, excuse me, I have to go back to my studies.

100% Pure New Zealand

New Zealand was a good ride. One week and a half of short trips and sightseeing. Before that, I was living in Australia for a long while, and, my apologies to all, I thought both countries would be the same. I mean, there is a sense of community between the two nations, and it caused me to think they were one.

Of course, they are not the same. Different history, different politics, industries… Different mentality. Yes, it does make a difference. Not staying as long there as I did in Australia, I could not say whether there was a huge difference between societies or not. It is too short a time to tell.

What I could see was the sightseeing, and the difference was there. Auckland – the city that I stayed the most – has billboards displaying reasonably good ads. They were quite intelligent and cheeky. There was something inside of me telling 'I kinda knew it'.

Billboard near Halminton, NZ.

What I’m saying is, Australia's advertising industry compared to New Zealand's is creatively poor ( not only New Zealand ). I wanted to stay In Australia for good, but thankfully I did not. My aim was building a career in marketing and advertising. I do not think I would be happy there. On the other hand, I heard about New Zealand’s advertising, and I liked it.

                               Billboards near Beach road,in Auckland,NZ.


It is not only me saying Australia does not make good advertising. The British media coverage website, The Drum, reveals that in 2009, the ASB, the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau, received 4000 complaints in relation to bad ads. In 2008, the same association in the United Kingdom, got 2500 viewers complaints.

Australian tourism campaigns turn out to be known for bad taste, instead of good publicity. This opinion is also shared on the Truth.Travel website. There is also a channel on YouTube on bad Australian ads called Badaussietelly. No need to say anything else perhaps.

New Zealand ads are fun and witty, and this is something Australia is finding hard to be. In this sense, only an alternative Aussie TV program about advertising, The Gruen Transfer, would bring the discussion on prime time, and talk about it. Nonetheless, it pokes its jealous finger on NZ’s ads.