Money or Interest in a Job ?

More on jobs and Prof Walter Theseira.

Commenting on the results of a survey carried out on people's perception of jobs, the professor thinks it is hard to separate interest from salary. He opines that people's so called interest in a job may have aligned with the salary and lifestyle it offers.

"As an interviewer for students admissions, I never cease to be amazed by the number of students who sincerely tell me they have always found, say, accounting interesting."

To the good professor, he can not imagine there are people who can find accounting interesting alluding that accountants just work for the money. I have a good laugh and recall the reasons underlying my choice close to forty years ago.

Yes accountancy was my first choice followed by Arts & Social Science I think. I had attended some Book-Keeping classes prior to that and thought it was not a difficult subject. In those days, Accounting graduates can find jobs relatively easier than say an Arts graduate who very often ended up being a teacher. Moreover, though I like History I did not like it as an examination subject and though I was interested in Social Sciences I did not like the pay of Social Workers.  I actually fit into the professor's description.

Thinking back, the way we perceived a job was really quite different from that of our children.  Foremost in our minds was to relieve the financial burden of our parents. Hence a stable and permanent job in the Civil Service, termed as an Iron Rice Bowl, would come as a huge relief to our parents who have struggled to bring up a brood of children.

I think we also didn't place so much significance on job fulfillment as our children. We didn't think of a job as consuming our life. To work is just to earn your keeps and bring home the bacon, that's it. One can find interesting things to do outside work and focus on family life for example. Somehow we are not so ambitious or is it just me. We are prepared to wait it out for that promotion or advancement in job scope. However work environment including affinity with colleagues mattered quite a fair bit. Unlike the millennials few embark on career changes to pursue jobs that are well-suited for their talents and interests.

So for those of us accountants who discovered our interest in Accounting was none other than an interest in getting the money, how did we survive the boredom throughout a lifetime career? I can't really answer this question because mid way I moved on to Treasury,a finance related field. Similarly many accountants too morphed into a more managerial role.

One avid accountant hoping to inspire young entrants says "Accounting is the language businesses speak" just like "language is to writing a book". Well, while I can't muster enough romantic energy to say the same of Accounting, I honestly think some people do have the aptitude and attitude to love writing and reading financial statements that tell all about a company's state of affairs.

As for me, it helped me to achieve the means to retire earlier; and then emulating the millenials try to chase my own dreams.