You spend almost half your waking hours at work. Wouldn't it be great to have more joy in your life, more joy in your job – to actually love your job? What do you need each day to give you that feeling of satisfaction with your work and coworkers? That sense of accomplishment and purpose? The feeling your experience and skills are appreciated and are moving you to the next level?
These questions capture the key attributes you can use to evaluate if your career is one to love:
- Are you energized by what you do and feel fulfilled at the end of each day or project?
- Is what you do is important to you, and does it matter to your organization?
- Do your colleagues, department, or company recognize and appreciate the value you bring and how you work?
- Do they let you know both informally through supportive feedback and formally in your reviews and through organization recognition programs?
- Is the work you do seen as valuable capital that will lead to you getting opportunities for advancement in responsibilities, title, and compensation?
Take a moment to do a “check-in” and determine how your career scores on these attributes. If you can rate your career highly on these elements, your job "love factor" will soar. If you aren't scoring highly in some of these areas, what do you do?
Hope your boss and colleagues start noticing and appreciating your more? No. You are ultimately responsible for your career success and it’s up to you to make the most of it. You can’t wait for others to notice what’s missing and choose to “fill in the blanks” for you. Start networking to learn about different organizations and positions that could be a better fit and take charge of finding the next step in your career.
LaBarre Spence is a career specialist in the Graduate Business Career Services office, with more than 20 years of experience in the corporate world in the areas of quality, consulting, marketing services, training and development.
