What's the problem with being a Job Snob?

Are you a Job Snob? Would you rather starve than take a job that is considered low in status? Snobbery is alive and well and living in the new South Africa, feeding on social uncertainty. Everyone who is anyone is desperately seeking ways to form the 'exclusive' group. And the media have obliged! They have come to the party by ranking everything from schools to shoes, in an effort to tell us what is hot and what is not. Inventing fashion snobbery and even food snobbery is one thing, but when you do this with jobs, it is another matter all together.

So what is wrong with being a Job Snob? Snubbing jobs that you deem inferior, is not only destructive, but more importantly, it creates artificial work limits and unrealistic expectations. The many lucrative career hotspots taken up by foreigners are disdained by our locals who miss out on valuable experience and increased levels of competence. The type of jobs usually considered low in status are:

• Shift jobs - hospitality, retail, call centres.
  
• Beauty industry - hair, nails, face.
  
• Dirty or physically challenging jobs such as mining, plumbing, factory jobs,
  
• Minimum wage jobs that are considered hard work for little pay.

A good example is that of call centre jobs that many consider as low in status resulting in extremely high staff turnover. In India, call centre jobs are highly sought after career opportunities. Hence the 'call centre' industry is growing so much faster there than in our country, even though we have better infrastructure and as much, if not more, expertise.

Feelings of hopelessness and negativity are often the results of job snobbery You become what I call an 'UN' who is:

• Unemployed;
  
• Unhappy with your life;
  
• Unsatisfied with your career prospects;
  
• Unfulfilled in your work;
  
• Underpaid;
  
• Underperforming
  
• Underemployed.

The last thing we need in this country is job snobbery. It is dysfunctional thinking that is self defeating and evidenced by the 70,000 unemployed graduates in a country that is crying for skills. Feelings of superiority and exaggerated respect for status often keeps them imprisoned in a mental box, unable to spot or benefit from opportunities that may fit their level of competence and ability that abound. Constantly wishing for the greener pastures by ignoring the proverbial septic tank found there, keeps many people 'UNs'. Those who wallow in unfavourable social comparisons, creating self imposed job discrimination, often coupled with entitlement, freezes into inaction, dramatic disappointments and diminished performance. They take the road to nowhere, - no work, no prospects and no money, just miserly and hopelessness.

This self imposed, 'job apartheid', is a legacy from the old South Africa, where racial classification of jobs was the norm. It prevents you from entering the job market through available openings that fit your level of skill and competence. You can turn this malady around by becoming a snob detector. Look for work anywhere you can find it, even something unrelated to your degree. There is no shame in work, in any kind of honest work! Don't be afraid that you will be settling for something less than you dreams. Take a job, get into the game of work whichever way you can, learn as much as you can, from whomever you can, give of yourself willingly and unselfishly, get competent, execute your duties to the best of your abilities, stay positive, energetic and enthusiastic, and hopefully you will grow into a great career. Remember the words of Winston Churchill "Make a living by what you get, make a life by what you give."