Janet Collins
Billy MThe Most Trusted Professions!
June 19th 2008 09:56
Although I am a full blown sceptic of surveys and the stories that evolve from them telling us what we all think, I will confess to usually reading them anyway, especially if they give me a bit of a laugh. I have to admit - this month’s Readers Digest story drawn from their annual survey on “Australia’s Most Trusted Professions” made me chuckle.
The list consists of 40 professions. I have read these in previous years and remember them only very generally. What I do always notice is that generally professions that could be classified as “caring” are usually towards the top and others that more obviously need us for our money or something else tend to fall towards the bottom. Topping the list were the ambulance officers, followed by firefighters, pilots, and nurses.
I did notice a few things this time that I hadn’t noticed before that surprised me. One of them was that police officers in tenth place were more trustworthy than teachers, childcare providers, psychologists and social workers. Another was religious ministers who, at number 28, fell just behind financial planners, eight places behind judges and the judges were one place in front of hairdressers. The same ones make it to the end of the list every year starting with journalists at number 35, followed by real estate agents, sex workers, car salesmen, politicians and telemarketers.
Very amusing stuff! The survey gives us lots of ammunition to use against friends and associates that just may hold down some of these ill thought of professions. All jokes aside however, it always seems to be those in the least trusted professions whom we also hold in the highest esteem - lawyers at 31, CEOs at 33, journalists at 35 and politicians at 39. People in these professions – from my experience – seem to attract a lot of respect, often quite undeserved.
I don’t know of too many lawyers or journalists who are too embarrassed to make in known what profession they are in. The same can be said of CEOs and politicians who generally are regarded as the epitome of success.
I have often met incredibly savvy people who do jobs we regard as menial. I have also met people holding down successful careers and I wonder how they survive. More than that, the most baffling thing is that we associate character traits with professions at all. We all do though. I can only guess that this is because at some time or another in our lives, there are professions we really need.
And the bad news is I didn’t find “bloggers” on the list. Maybe it’s because many don’t know about this noble profession yet.
The list consists of 40 professions. I have read these in previous years and remember them only very generally. What I do always notice is that generally professions that could be classified as “caring” are usually towards the top and others that more obviously need us for our money or something else tend to fall towards the bottom. Topping the list were the ambulance officers, followed by firefighters, pilots, and nurses.
I did notice a few things this time that I hadn’t noticed before that surprised me. One of them was that police officers in tenth place were more trustworthy than teachers, childcare providers, psychologists and social workers. Another was religious ministers who, at number 28, fell just behind financial planners, eight places behind judges and the judges were one place in front of hairdressers. The same ones make it to the end of the list every year starting with journalists at number 35, followed by real estate agents, sex workers, car salesmen, politicians and telemarketers.
Very amusing stuff! The survey gives us lots of ammunition to use against friends and associates that just may hold down some of these ill thought of professions. All jokes aside however, it always seems to be those in the least trusted professions whom we also hold in the highest esteem - lawyers at 31, CEOs at 33, journalists at 35 and politicians at 39. People in these professions – from my experience – seem to attract a lot of respect, often quite undeserved.
I don’t know of too many lawyers or journalists who are too embarrassed to make in known what profession they are in. The same can be said of CEOs and politicians who generally are regarded as the epitome of success.
I have often met incredibly savvy people who do jobs we regard as menial. I have also met people holding down successful careers and I wonder how they survive. More than that, the most baffling thing is that we associate character traits with professions at all. We all do though. I can only guess that this is because at some time or another in our lives, there are professions we really need.
And the bad news is I didn’t find “bloggers” on the list. Maybe it’s because many don’t know about this noble profession yet.
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