Don't worry be happy

                    Cartoon by Matador. Email: matadorcartoons@gmail.com


Steve Jobs quit, but not the way we think. His illness is the reason why he "leaves" Apple, but soon we gonna see him in October launching the new iPhone and in 2012, offering one more iPad.


His story is quite phenomenal; A garage-company turns to be a big rival of Microsoft.


Tim Cook, the "replacement" person, is someone markets are going to respect, but he doesn't quite properly fill Jobs' shoes.


What we gonna see next is Apple's stocks shaking a bit, but steady, as the second most valuable company in the world.

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 If anyone imagined something like pursuing a career in government, it has been revoked from constitution, then you are stuck in the position you applied for in the exam day til retirement.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.

How did you go on the interview?

I have been through many interviews. Of all kind. Retail, hospitality, marketing (the most), and few others I can't remember. It's the real thing for some people, for others not.

For me it's one of those moments that your life passes by in front of you. If you fail, you are out. Time for you to leave the stage. Give room for someone else.

Ok, i went too far, but sometimes...

Just to remind you, I have prepared and rehearsed many times, and was happily faced with positive 'uh-uh', 'yeah', 'very good'. On the end I haven't had the response I had hoped for.

It's disappointing, and everbody knows if you try, push it, you gain confidence, and you make it at 'extra time'.

A job is mostly what you put into it - once you are there, you will learn it the company's way, reproduce it, and if it goes standard, yes, you are cool. So why the drama?

You will do what the company demands. Jobs are mostly reproduction of what has been done. I agree that in the marketing position you are expected to win markets, achieve KPIs. Not all companies go the extra mile for champions - there are not so many 'olympic' workers outthere.

Scientific jobs are the real Herculean jobs! They are so many. These are the jobs to change the world, and qualification is all they are about.

I believe the world has a large amount of people that are keen, and enthusiastic to go the extra mile once they are given the opportunity (I'm counting the obvious academic background or work experience.)

I get embarassed by questions that I listened to so many times before in interviews, "have you disagreed with your boss?", "why you want this job?" among other examples.

Your job won't revolutionise my life, and I'm probably not the hero of the new millenium. I think here in Australia, 50% or more of the population do what they don't like to do, or didn't study to do so, according to a survey on Triple J, aussie radio.

The employer and I, we help each other. We might achieve our individual goals, if this is together, then it's amazing.