Since starting to write about job hunting many years ago, most of my attention has been directed toward the tactics of finding work. I’ve explored better ways to write a resume, get more interviews, network, interview better, negotiate a higher salary for yourself, work with recruiters, a host of topics that help people find work.
In addressing these specific topics, I have neglected one subject that it is critical when looking at a job choice.
That topic is whether your work nourishes your soul.
Maybe it’s a sign of my getting older that I realized this gap in my teaching or just an inherent wisdom that has been ripening as I have started to become involved with life coaching (Keep an eye out for the announcement of “No B.S. Coaching Advice,” the ezine, YouTube Channel, the website and the coaching practice” in the next few months. Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter on Facebook has already been changed).
I believe it is important to evaluate your professional choices in the context of your core beliefs and not just money, location and work.
Will you be doing work that excites you, fills you, helps you grow or is it just “bloodsucking dull?”
Do you get a sense of meaning from your work or is it another example of being, “the third drone on the fourth floor of the information processing factory.”
I know these are “First World questions” and that if you don’t have a job, can’t pay your bills and are at risk of losing your apartment or home things you probably can’t afford to consider.
Yet, at the end of the day, it is important to remember that each choice we make has a consequence and that you can do work that helps you expand or contract emotionally.
It is important to remember that your work can help you personally flourish or, like a vampire, eat you up from the inside.
Don’t neglect this part of your evaluation when deciding upon a job offer.
And to be clear, I am not telling you which is “the right choice.” I am encouraging you to make conscious choices, awake to the consequences to any decision you make.
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2013