The snot report....

Unfortunately these issues aint getting discussed in politics and the
elections much.
Those so and so presidential candidates should discuss fair trade,
restructuring the legal system,
to stop corporate and rich rigging the system and eventual destruction
of our national economy.
(Pretty Naive and idealistic idea).
Civic engagement is really low at this point in history, myself
included.

Gosh I got a raise to 12.50 per hour , base pay yesterday. Apparently
I have advanced as fast as humanly possible in the field of Gallup
telephone interviewing. Now I at least can get benefits, (insurance,
401k,, ) etc. It seems more feasible to get to the 20 dollar an hr
range, based on bonuses, performance incentives. I am waiting to see
if I get an offer for this QC job..(it is not academic by any means..
the University has a growing business with Dept of Defense contracts
and private sector contracts within the university. ). One benefit
is that a lot of people show up in sweat pants.. so allowances for
wardrobes are minimal. Down side, getting fat and lazy but they do
subsidize by 50 percent a membership in health club or YMCA? if you go
8 times a month. (Gallup is decent to employees according to what I
read, and is really growing, ). They are hard up for interviewers
right now. I think the big corps will be hiring gallup to rig the
market research for quite some time.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

On Jan 29, 11:06 am, Aging_Recycled_Scientist
wrote:
> Unfortunately these issues aint getting discussed in politics and the
> elections much.
> Those so and so presidential candidates should discuss fair trade,
> restructuring the legal system,
> to stop corporate and rich rigging the system and eventual destruction
> of our national economy.
> (Pretty Naive and idealistic idea).
> Civic engagement is really low at this point in history, myself
> included.
>
> Gosh I got a raise to 12.50 per hour , base pay yesterday. Apparently
> I have advanced as fast as humanly possible in the field of Gallup
> telephone interviewing.  Now I at least can get benefits, (insurance,
> 401k,, ) etc.   It seems more feasible to get to the 20 dollar an hr
> range, based on bonuses, performance incentives.  I am waiting to see
> if I get an offer for this QC job..(it is not academic by any means..
> the University has a growing business with Dept of Defense contracts
> and private sector contracts within the university. ).     One benefit
> is that a lot of people show up in sweat pants..  so allowances for
> wardrobes are minimal.  Down side, getting fat and lazy but they do
> subsidize by 50 percent a membership in health club or YMCA? if you go
> 8 times a month.   (Gallup is decent to employees according to what I
> read, and is really growing, ).  They are hard up for interviewers
> right now.  I think the big corps will be hiring gallup to rig the
> market research for quite some time.

Good luck with your continued climb in the world of interviewing
or QC or whatever. I may be joining you in a few months.

Cheers,
Russell
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

I will have to fill you in on the mind an behavior control management
consulting firms
like gallup are up to . They contract with outfits like Wells fargo
bank and
train the tellers to "greet the customers with a warm friendly smile",
"Makes you feel special".
Give me a freaking break, they only pay the tellors 8 dollars an hour
and try to incentivize them
with verbal strokes and little incentive check lists of things to do
to be engaged.
Its all part of the corporate machine rigging the game.
So I am kind of wondering if I will get back in a lab or have to keep
achieving with the Gallup polling
"Gallup strengths: Learner, Achiever, Discipline, Analytical,
Intellection. " Kind of an engineer or
scientist profile. The discipline and achiever thinking style keeps
me going with the ethical problem
I have with calling people up at 9:45 pm at night. Most people dont
realize the do not call list does not
include charities and opinion polling or market research (otherwise I
might not have a job at the moment).

God helps those that help themselves. The path to hell is paved with
good intentions. No good deed
goes unpunished. (OOOPs, that is not positivity!).
>
>
>
>
> > Unfortunately these issues aint getting discussed in politics and the
> > elections much.
> > Those so and so presidential candidates should discuss fair trade,
> > restructuring the legal system,
> > to stop corporate and rich rigging the system and eventual destruction
> > of our national economy.
> > (Pretty Naive and idealistic idea).
> > Civic engagement is really low at this point in history, myself
> > included.
>
> > Gosh I got a raise to 12.50 per hour , base pay yesterday. Apparently
> > I have advanced as fast as humanly possible in the field of Gallup
> > telephone interviewing.  Now I at least can get benefits, (insurance,
> > 401k,, ) etc.   It seems more feasible to get to the 20 dollar an hr
> > range, based on bonuses, performance incentives.  I am waiting to see
> > if I get an offer for this QC job..(it is not academic by any means..
> > the University has a growing business with Dept of Defense contracts
> > and private sector contracts within the university. ).     One benefit
> > is that a lot of people show up in sweat pants..  so allowances for
> > wardrobes are minimal.  Down side, getting fat and lazy but they do
> > subsidize by 50 percent a membership in health club or YMCA? if you go
> > 8 times a month.   (Gallup is decent to employees according to what I
> > read, and is really growing, ).  They are hard up for interviewers
> > right now.  I think the big corps will be hiring gallup to rig the
> > market research for quite some time.
>
> Good luck with your continued climb in the world of interviewing
> or QC or whatever.  I may be joining you in a few months.
>
> Cheers,
> Russell- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

On Jan 29, 12:40 pm, Aging_Recycled_Scientist
wrote:
> I will have to fill you in on the mind an behavior control management
> consulting firms
> like gallup are up to .    They contract with outfits like Wells fargo
> bank and
> train the tellers to "greet the customers with a warm friendly smile",
> "Makes you feel special".
> Give me a freaking break, they only pay the tellors 8 dollars an hour
> and try to incentivize them
> with verbal strokes and little incentive check lists of things to do
> to be engaged.
> Its all part of the corporate machine rigging the game.
> So I am kind of wondering if I will get back in a lab or have to keep
> achieving with the Gallup polling
>  Kind of an engineer or
> scientist profile.  The discipline and achiever thinking style keeps
> me going with the ethical problem
> I have with calling people up at 9:45 pm at night.  Most people dont
> realize the do not call list does not
> include charities and opinion polling or market research (otherwise I
> might not have a job at the moment).
>
> God helps those that help themselves.

Maybe. I pity the poor kid in a certain other forum who
apparently got the impression that a degree would lead to
good jobs and a decent income. It seems to me that that
is the new generalization of our "Big Lie". Sure, a student
ought to check out career prospects before committing to
a major, but against the general societal drone of "get a
higher education or be a failure" I can see how someone,
especially someone who is young, inexperienced, and
lacks mentors (including in the family), can be lulled into
the conclusion that education is a sufficient condition for
success (or at least what constitiutes success for most
people these days) instead of only a necessary condition
(truck driving, etc. aside).

> The path to hell is paved with
> good intentions. No good deed
> goes unpunished. (OOOPs,  that is not positivity!).
>

Tsk.

Cheers,
Russell
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

> It is such a moral crime when I see all these career brochures, books,
> programs on TV, blah-blah (and certain people who will remain nameless who
> overpromote "positivity") that nobody wants to talk about the reality of
> i) failure rates, ii) the failures are rarely connected with competance
> and willingness to work and productivity, etc., iii) the "inside secrets"
> about job markets, etc.

Of course they're never going to mention this sort of information on
television.

Only way to really find this information these days, is either finding
it online and/or talking to somebody who has first hand experience +
knowledge.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008, Aging_Recycled_Scientist wrote:

> Unfortunately these issues aint getting discussed in politics and the
> elections much.
> Those so and so presidential candidates should discuss fair trade,
> restructuring the legal system,
> to stop corporate and rich rigging the system and eventual destruction
> of our national economy.
> (Pretty Naive and idealistic idea).
> Civic engagement is really low at this point in history, myself
> included.
>
> Gosh I got a raise to 12.50 per hour , base pay yesterday.

Congrats!

Apparently
> I have advanced as fast as humanly possible in the field of Gallup
> telephone interviewing. Now I at least can get benefits, (insurance,
> 401k,, ) etc. It seems more feasible to get to the 20 dollar an hr
> range, based on bonuses, performance incentives.

Go for it!!!

I am waiting to see
> if I get an offer for this QC job..(it is not academic by any means..
> the University has a growing business with Dept of Defense contracts
> and private sector contracts within the university. ). One benefit
> is that a lot of people show up in sweat pants.. so allowances for
> wardrobes are minimal. Down side, getting fat and lazy but they do
> subsidize by 50 percent a membership in health club or YMCA? if you go
> 8 times a month. (Gallup is decent to employees according to what I
> read, and is really growing, ). They are hard up for interviewers
> right now. I think the big corps will be hiring gallup to rig the
> market research for quite some time.

Let your conscience be your guide.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

> > Only way to really find this information these days, is either finding
> > it online and/or talking to somebody who has first hand experience +
> > knowledge.
>
> Or, learning it the hard way, like I did.

I figured out this information from rumors in the gossip grapevine
from friends and colleagues, sometime in the middle of my time in
graduate school. By the time my papers were being published in
journals and when I was writing my thesus, that's when I knew very
much how things really worked. I figured that I already spent 2-3
years on some research which was already published, that I mind as
well just write it up and submit it as my phd thesis.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008, wrote:

>> It is such a moral crime when I see all these career brochures, books,
>> programs on TV, blah-blah (and certain people who will remain nameless who
>> overpromote "positivity") that nobody wants to talk about the reality of
>> i) failure rates, ii) the failures are rarely connected with competance
>> and willingness to work and productivity, etc., iii) the "inside secrets"
>> about job markets, etc.
>
> Of course they're never going to mention this sort of information on
> television.
>
> Only way to really find this information these days, is either finding
> it online and/or talking to somebody who has first hand experience +
> knowledge.
>

Or, learning it the hard way, like I did.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008, wrote:

>>> Only way to really find this information these days, is either finding
>>> it online and/or talking to somebody who has first hand experience +
>>> knowledge.
>>
>> Or, learning it the hard way, like I did.
>
> I figured out this information from rumors in the gossip grapevine
> from friends and colleagues, sometime in the middle of my time in
> graduate school. By the time my papers were being published in
> journals and when I was writing my thesus, that's when I knew very
> much how things really worked. I figured that I already spent 2-3
> years on some research which was already published, that I mind as
> well just write it up and submit it as my phd thesis.
>

Well, I gambled and got a good postdoc. Had luck getting pubs, and that
helped, along with more luck, to get my own lab for the next 15 years (but
at two sites) and funding for 10 of those years. There were people who did
better than I, and there were people who did worse. I've thought about it
all a thousand times. Fate, luck, trends.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

> Well, I gambled and got a good postdoc. Had luck getting pubs, and that
> helped, along with more luck, to get my own lab for the next 15 years (but
> at two sites) and funding for 10 of those years. There were people who did
> better than I, and there were people who did worse. I've thought about it
> all a thousand times. Fate, luck, trends.

How different of a game was it, back when you were in graduate school?

I remember when I was in grad school, there was constant talk about
there being mass faculty retirements in the 1990's and that I was in
the "perfect" place with the best opportunities. After I started
doing research, I started to hang around more with the postdocs in my
field, than other grad students. The postdocs knew a lot more about
the climate of new tenure track assistant professor openings in our
field, where I got the impression that the job market wasn't quite as
rosy as the propaganda. (Some of these postdocs went to Harvard for
grad school).

By the time the Berlin Wall came down with other communist regimes
falling in eastern Europe, that's when I had suspicions that there
would be possibly less funding for non-defense science. (By then I
already knew that non-defense physics funding was largely
"piggybacking" on defense funding, for many decades). Thinking that
the Soviet Union would possibly be still around in foreseeable future
at the time, I wrote up my thesis and got a job afterwards in the
defense sector thinking that there would still be significant funding
for defense type stuff. Things didn't happen that way, with the
defense sector downsizing after the collapse of the Soviet Union and
the first Persian Gulf war. By the time Bill Clinton was in the white
house, I was out of a job and looking for another job outside of
defense. (The younger lower ranked folks were laid off first at most
defense firms). The "peace dividend" put a lot of defense scientists
and engineers out of work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_dividend
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

On Jan 31, 12:12 am, wrote:
> I wrote up my thesis and got a job afterwards in the
> defense sector thinking that there would still be significant funding
> for defense type stuff.  

Did you get a job at a defense govt lab or in a private industry ?

> The younger lower ranked folks were laid off first at most
> defense firms.

My colleague told me that the management usually lays off the "senior
scientist" types first and keeps the junior level scientists, because
the junior scientists costs a thrid or half of the senior types, and
can job as good. And the job still has to be done. My gut feeling was
just like you said, however he referred to his experience at his
company.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

> Did you get a job at a defense govt lab or in a private industry ?

It was a private sector firm which got defense contracts.

> > The younger lower ranked folks were laid off first at most
> > defense firms.
>
> My colleague told me that the management usually lays off the "senior
> scientist" types first and keeps the junior level scientists, because
> the junior scientists costs a thrid or half of the senior types, and
> can job as good. And the job still has to be done. My gut feeling was
> just like you said, however he referred to his experience at his
> company.

At the place I worked at, the junior folks got canned first along with
a few senior folks who voluntarily took an early retirement package.
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report.... 

Pleast translate BOCIYAM..
>
> BOCIYAM  !
>
>
>
> > Cheers,
> > Russell- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
 >> Stay informed about: The snot report....