Doing What You Love
Over the past few weeks, several friends and former colleagues have come to me to talk about their next job move. I am not sure what is spurring on the dialogue. My guess is a combination of an increased need for personal satisfaction in work, coupled with a new found confidence in the economy. Regardless, the conversations were interesting and healthy and got me really thinking about what makes people fulfilled in their work.
In all cases, I sensed that the people I was talking to were approaching their job search in the wrong way. There was too much focus on their specific skill set and targeting specific jobs. I suggested thinking about their search in a different way. First off, I encouraged them to think about what they were passionate about. What products, technologies, and industries were compelling to them and why? The next step I ask them to take was to try to find companies that fit into what they were excited about. Lastly, to look for open roles or people they knew in those companies to find out more or actually trying to find a specific role in the company. Obviously, a job search takes a lot of time and energy. It is important to think through why you want to leave your current job and be very thoughtful about thinking through what is going to make you fulfilled.
I have had many people in my life move jobs to make more money or work for a company that was “high profile”. While sometimes it works out, often times it leaves people pretty empty. Another friend took a pay cut to work for a company that was aligned to what he loved to do. He was a big cyclist and the company produces cycling clothing and equipment. He has been there for 6 years, and remains very happy. Make sure you think through what is important to you and have a well thought out preset criteria to help you with your evaluation.
Suggested Criteria:
The Mission/Vision of the Company
Are you excited about what the company does? Are the values of the company aligned with your personal values?
The People
Do you feel a strong camaraderie with the people you met and interviewed with? How about the person you will be reporting to? Would you want to go have a beer or a meal with the people on your team? Are the senior leader’s people you respect?
The Company Culture
How do others feel about working for the company? How does work get done? While you are in common areas do people seem energized to be there?
The Ability to Learn and Grow
Is the work challenging? Will you learn a new skill set or increase what you already know? Will there be opportunities for you to take on more responsibility (if that is important to you).
Other
Work life balance, commute, financial upside, travel, etc. What else is important to you and your family?
It is also important to have the right expectations about your job. Most people cannot be totally fulfilled just by their job. It is important to love what you do, but also to focus on having a rich life outside of work. Be sure you are clear on what you want from work before you change jobs. The grass is not always greener on the other side and often time people leave for all the wrong reasons. Be thoughtful and patient as you approach your job search.
I think it is extremely important to do what you love, after all, we spend the majority of our life doing what we do and doing something that bores us, irks us under our skin, leads to harmful stresses in all areas of our lives and can have serious effects on our family and social life as well as our personal health.
As a graduate student in the thick of my job search, your post made me think about the types of questions one can ask during an interview to try to get a grasp of how these particular criteria measure up. For example, to learn more about company culture, you might ask something like “how is success measured here?” Asking your interviewer what exactly it is that engages her and keeps her with the company can also shed some light on other areas, such as the people and the company mission. Does anyone else have suggestions on specific questions that can help the job seeker to better gauge the criteria Beth mentioned?
Chelsea – one question I liked to ask (and like to get) is: “what types of behaviors do the highly successful people engage in here” (or some variant). Not only does it position you as a person who is eager to do well, but you can learn a LOT about the culture of a place when you hear about how the most successful people are perceived and how people describe what they do. Hope that helps! Ps… good luck with the job search!
Daniel's question is a great one. I would also ask why the person has stayed at the company, what is the best part and job, what do they love about the culture and what would they change. Getting people to think about what really drives them to stay, be engaged and be satisfied in their work is really important. If they have a hard time coming up with the answers, you may want to dig a little deeper. Good luck Chelsea!
There's no question about it…. In order to be truly happy you have to love what you do. It's really not about '#title' or '#salary' or '#benefits' or any of the other common real-world-hashtags that people love to quote. If you are guided by your passions, your job won't seem like a task… and you'll have intrinsic motivation to strive harder. It's a win-win situation for all parties involved in the equation.
So true Daniel – I love this quote that David Ulrich used in today's post:
Friedrich Nietzsche notes:
He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.