It’s the season again for a riot of new jobs. Whatever the statistics may show, the reality on the ground is that mobility in the organised sector has increased significantly.

Many business process outsourcing (BPO) outfits are offering some form of educational facilities as a recruitment bait. You work at a BPO for, say, three years. You acquire a diploma in, say, management during that period through a tie-up between the BPO and an educational institution. After three years, you can jump ship and join, say, a bank.

All this is serious stuff. But there is more to life than just work. Now that you have a chance, wouldn’t you like to belong to a really sexy profession?

What is it? We don’t have data for India. But research from the US gives the honour of the sexiest job to the fireman. This was the finding of a poll of 5,000 people conducted by www.salary.com.

Sexy, of course, means different things to different people. That’s why the 10 sexiest jobs do not come with the heftiest pay packages. Second on the list is the flight attendant. Curiously, the pilot didn’t make it to the Top 10. At No 3 is the CEO. He had to come in some place. Close behind is the reporter; some jobs are poorly paid, but still retain their charm. Cops, techies, accountants and chefs didn’t make it to the list.

While most people have taken the list with a laugh and a pinch of salt, computer professionals are aggrieved. They have been posting on the Net, asking what’s wrong with them. Perhaps the answer lies there. Most of the geeks I know can be remarkably aggressive in front of a computer screen. In real life, they are as bashful as Bengali brides.

THE X FACTOR

The 10 sexiest jobs

1.   Fireman 2.   Flight attendant 3.   CEO 4.   Reporter 5.   Interior designer 6.   Event planner 7.   Nurse 8.   Teacher 9.   Doctor 10. Lawyer

Source: salary.com

Richard Spitz of executive recruitment firm Korn-Ferry International feels that when the dotcom or another technology boom comes by again, the computer professional will become sexy once more.

Salary.com is not the only one into this sort of investigation. Redbook, a magazine for young, working mothers, has come out with a survey on which men make the best lovers. This was on the basis of a poll of 400 married women.

The magazine quotes psychologist Linda De Villers and the author of Love Skills: “It’s not surprising that what you do by day spills over into the evening. If he tinkers with intricate machines all day, maybe he’ll be gifted at navigating a woman’s body. If he’s got a job that’s very linear, very logical, then his lovemaking might be more formulaic or orderly.” The winners in the Redbook survey are artists, construction workers, contractors, truck drivers, mechanics and small-business owners.

Meanwhile, according to a poll of 40,000 users by dating and friendship website www.cupidbay.com, Americans make the best lovers. Indians were in second place. The Russians were third and the French and the Italians came in fourth and fifth. One conclusion: an artistic Indian fireman is the best in the bedroom. An alternative reading: the traditional Casanovas ? the French and the Italians ? were too busy making love to have the time to respond to such surveys.