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At first, I knew I wanted to help people and earn money. A lot of people I’ve been taking with, tell me they want that. However, I wondered why I wanted that. It turns out people want jobs for several different reasons. They either want a job, a career or calling. I think the first step to getting a new job/your ideal job is figuring out the why. What drives you, what inspires you, what questions are being answered by pursuing this career? What do you hope to contribute? If you can bring that awareness and passion into your job search, it will be much more successful.
First, determine what you want in a job.
-To pay bills
-To advance in a career
-To fulfill your purpose
Job
This group of people works for the financial rewards it brings. The nature of the work isn’t too important.
Career
This group wants to advance in their work-receive prestige, status and power. Here, people are much more invested in their work.
Calling
The last group would do their work for the sake of the work itself. They tend to love their work and would do their work without pay if they could afford to. They see their work as having a higher purpose, and that they are making a contribution to society.
This information is taken from Amy Wrzesniewski’s work and The Art of Happiness at Work.
What group do you fall into?
I think we’d all like to feel like this at work:
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Comments
02.23.10
GREAT thoughts here. I definitely see a distinction between those three elements, and I guess my take on things is the fact that we are always evolving our definition of both what we want, AND how what we want fits into what we are doing.
02.23.10
Nice. Accept it seems to me that many times when people define which of the three they are about, they tend to be stuck there. People with a dream say, "for now, I just want a job," and end up being stuck in a dead-end situation for 10 or 15 years as their dreams march passed. Then those who want a career end up married to it, and long to just make some money without all the heart ache.
Finally, those who pursue a calling, (as I think I have tried to do much of the time; this seems to be my group), often strategize towards such, and in so doing make themselves unmarketable in the standard "job" market. At least that has been my experience. Nobody hires dreamers, and such.
If one could pursue more than one of these, or alternate between them at will life would crush a lot fewer spirits, I think.
02.23.10
Hi Ty, Thank you for your thoughts. I think people sometimes give up their calling for a job and that is cool.
However, those who want a calling, may be "unmarketable," but I am not sure that is the case. If I was interviewing someone, and they show me passion and excitement with an ability to narrate why they did what they did and where they want to go, those qualities stand out. (assuming their skills are adequate).
Why do you think those who pursue their calling are unmarketable?
02.23.10
I didn't mean to suggest that people looking for their calling are, by definition, unmarketable. Rather, those that are trying to find a calling run a greater risk, (in my view) of becoming unmarketable, if they are not careful, than would those seeking either a job or a career. The tendency to wait for something that is more fulfilling, and not slum it in another job. (Because they may fear they will get stuck there, as I mentioned previously.)
I also think that many managers or companies would see such people as dreamers, and wonder why their resume was so thin. At least that is how it has seemed to me with my experiences. But if more people thought as you did, I think more people that were seeking a calling as opposed to just a job, would receive bigger breaks on their journey. I know I'd love to run into such a person in my various job hunts.
11.25.10
I am not sure that is the case. If I was interviewing someone, and they show me passion and excitement with an ability to narrate why they did what they did and where they want to go, those qualities stand out. virtuemart templates
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