JOBS STUDENTS JOSH : MONUMENTAL MASTER ESSAY

 

The Fashion for Passion : The pitfalls of loving your job a little too much.

BACK in the dim and distant  past, job candidates had interests or hobbies. Those interests could be introspective : reading a book was a perfectly acceptable way of spending your spare time. NO LONGER.

TODAY, you will probably be asked if you have a ''personal passion project'', and the more exhausting your answer sounds, the better. Go white-water rafting, preferably with orphans. Help build motorway crossings for endangered animals. If you must read, at least do so in the original.

PASSION is becoming a staple workplace for success. A new piece of research from Jon Jachimowicz and Hannah Weisman of Harvard Business School includes an analysis of 200 million job postings in America.

It finds that the number which explicitly mentions ''passion'' rose over time, from 2% in 2007 to 16% in 2019.

CAREER websites offer helpful advice on how to come across as passionate about deeply ordinary pursuits. Here is a suggestion from one site on how to talk to prospective employers about putting things into an oven.

''I love the process of researching new recipes and testing them out. I've been writing up my experiences with baking for the past three years ......  I'm very detail-oriented, and love the scientific aspect of baking.

However, I'm also a very social person, and use my baking as a chance to get together with friends and family.'' Do not say : ''I just really like cake.''

ONCE inside an organisation, passion for the job also seems to be a good way to get ahead. 

Another paper by Mr. Jachimowicz, along with Ke Wang of Harvard Kennedy School and Erica Bailey of Columbia Business School, found that employees who were regarded as more passionate than their peers got more positive feedback as well as more promotion and training opportunities.

Other research has found that workers who cry at work are more highly regarded if they attribute these displays of emotions to caring too much.

On the surface the fashion for passion makes sense. Better, surely, for an employee to be enthused than not. Most workers want to do a job they love; most companies want a workforce that is committed and motivated.

The case for unbridled energy is particularly strong for certain types of companies. There is a reason why startups do not embrace the cult of the occasionally interested founder.

But passion can also warp judgement. For firms, the obvious pitfall is rewarding commitment over competence. Just as that note-taking, detail-orientated baker could be churning out the world's most disgusting profiteroles, the super-keen employee who volunteers for everything may not be that great at their job.

This Monumental Essay to continue. The World Students Society thanks author Bartleby, The Economist.

Headline, March 17 2022/ ''' '' DOLLAR SMILE DOMAIN '' '''

''' '' DOLLAR SMILE

 DOMAIN '' '''

EVERYONE'S PROBLEM EVENTUALLY : '' OUR CURRENCY - YOUR PROBLEM '' : That is how John Connolly, America's Treasury secretary, described the dollar to European leaders in 1971. The phrasing was apt.

His boss, President Richard Nixon, had suspended the convertibility of the dollar into gold and demanded a change to the exchange-rate system established in Bretton Woods in 1944. Other countries were told to strengthen their currencies, or America would subject them to trade restrictions.

Compliance followed in short order. By the end of the year, the Smithsonian Agreement had devalued the dollar by around a tenth against key foreign currencies.

Today's exchange rates are mostly floating, set by the market rather than at crunch talks. Yet once again a weaker dollar is prompting sighs of relief. Last September the DXY, a gauge of the dollar's strength against other currencies, was at its highest in 20 years.

The yen had tumbled; the pound at one point looked like it was racing towards parity with the dollar; the euro spent a few brief spells below it. Since then, the greenback has weakened : measured by the DXY, it is now 10% below its recent peak.

A MIGHTY DOLLAR CAUSES no end of problems. Poorer countries tend to borrow in the currency. When it strengthens, these debts become heftier. Even in rich countries, where governments mostly issue debt in their own currency, a stronger dollar squeezes corporate borrowers.

Analysis in 2020 by Matteo Maggiori, Brent Naiman and Jesse Schreger, three economists, showed that in Australia, Canada and New Zealand more than 90% of the corporate bonds held by foreigners were denominated in outside currencies, typically dollars.

It is not only debtors that suffer. Commodity prices are quoted in dollars; when the currency strengthens they get dearer. American exporters become less competitive, as their products are more expensive for foreigners.

American investors with overseas assets have their returns eaten away. Good reason, then, for the cheering at the greenback's retreat.

UNFORTUNATELY, the relief may be temporary. To see why, consider the sources of the dollar's strength.

One is monetary policy. Throughout 2022, America's Federal Reserve raised rates higher and faster than other central banks. This made the dollar a good target for a ''carry trade'' : selling a low yielding currency to buy a high-yielding one and pocketing the difference.

A second source is fear. Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China's unsustainable ''zero covid'' policy and the teteering of the global economy towards recession all ratcheted up markets' anxiety levels.

In anxious times investors tend to reach for the perceived safety of American assets. A final source is America's economy. In part because of higher energy prices and the country's status as an energy exporter, it seems in better shape than much of the rest of the world's.

True, the pace of the Feds tightening is slowing, and its governors expect rates to peak this year. But they expect that peak to be higher than investors do, at above 5%, and that will be maintained longer before being cut.

Were the market to accept the central bank's view, the carry trade might yet have another leg. So may the fear trade, which is dependent on the progress of an unpredictable war.

Even an American recession may not dent the dollar. The greenback tends to do well both when America's economy is motoring ahead and when it falls into a downturn, a phenomenon currency traders call the '' dollar smile ''.

If American growth is sputtering, the global economy is likely to be in jeopardy as well, enhancing the appeal of dollar assets as havens.

Yet the best argument that the dollar will strengthen is investors' conviction that it won't. In Bank of America's recent survey of fund managers, a near-record proportion thought the greenback would weaken.

Among forecasters surveyed by Bloomberg, a data provider, the median projection is for the dollar to fall against every other major currency this year, and to continue to drop after that.

With some $6.6 Trillion traded against other currencies every day, it is difficult to imagine that at least some bets have not already been placed. The more that have, the greater the potential for a rise.

Shortly after the Smithsonian agreement was struck, speculators threw the currency markets back into chaos by forcing the dollar to devalue further, eventually breaking the Bretton Woods system altogether.

NOWADAYS, the greatest pain would come if the dollar were driven in the opposite direction. Investors could be in for a shock.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Global Finance & Economics, continues. The World Students Society thanks the author, Buttonwood - The Economist.

With most respectful dedication to the Leaders, the Global Economy, National Economies, and then Students, Professors and Teachers of the world.

See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society - the exclusive ownership of every student in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

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