AnonTechie writes "In business, intelligence is always a critical element in any employee, because what we do is difficult and complex and the competitors are filled with extremely smart people. However, intelligence isn't the only important quality. Being effective in a company also means working hard, being reliable, and being an excellent member of the team. Companies where people with diverse backgrounds and work styles can succeed have significant advantages in recruiting and retaining top talent over those that don't."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Dunbal on Friday February 28 2014, @05:51PM
Welcome to the race to the bottom.
How about - do your job at a higher quality than your competitor?
(Score: 0) by crutchy on Friday February 28 2014, @10:44PM
There will always be someone that is both cheaper and better than you or I... always.
There's nothing wrong with the pursuit of perfection, but if at any point you assume you are better than everyone else such that you can demand a higher salary, you might be surprised when you lose your job to cheaper labour.
I realise inflation is a reality, but it's not a good reality.
We all like to increase our standard of living, which requires ever increasing salaries, but in business labour is simply an expense, and in tough times expenses are cut. If you are an employer and you find someone to do a job at a lower cost than what you're paying, you would be stupid not to look into it.
The problem for Americans (and Eurpoeans and Australians, etc) is that in this increasingly globalised world without commercial borders, as skills are tending to balnce, standards of living need to balance too. There are some extremely smart and hard working Chinese out there who will always offer a better service than anyone expecting a high standard of living because these Chinese workers have come from low standards of living (by comparison).
It isn't so much a race to the bottom, but a great global equalisation. You can fight it, but you can't win.