Continuation of this series. The last thing is – A Job.
One’s job decisions are easily swayed by outside stimuli. And really, what isn’t? Dually, it’s easy to make job decisions based on the group, and sometimes important to listen to the group if everyone has the same grievances about the job. Some key, change-inciting events:
- A favorite co-worker leaves, one that you heavily depended on to get you through the daily stresses of work.
- Your favorite manager/supervisor leaves
- A new supervisor comes in that you DO NOT agree with
- You feel (and many coworkers agree) that things just don’t seem to be going in a very positive, long term sustainable direction
- You’re just not getting satisfaction from your job be it long term growth or personal development or a bad social culture
- Everyone is making a move or changing direction and you want to join the party
The list could go on. The key is to sort through the “well, everyone else is doing it” to find the “well, what’s good for me?”.
Unless you find yourself in a position where everyone from your school or in the town works at this one place after college, then you’ll oftentimes find yourself at a job where you’re the odd kid out until you find your job crew. The people that you connect with on a job can make for an interesting group.
Made up of people you might not otherwise have made the effort to interact with, you’re connected by one thing: “you all chose this job for a reason right?” In some cases, that reason is only the paycheck, but in other cases, you were all drawn to this place by the company mission, the innovation at the company is invigorating or the way in which the company does business fascinates you. More than likes and dislikes, you’re all there because of a shared interest or passion. (A double-edged sword because though your passions may align, your personalities may not).
To strike out and pursue something else or to stay in a place even after all the people you have known are gone can make for quite a personal journey. You meet and interact with people at different stages of life who can teach you what you should and shouldn’t do by following their actions and their words. If a company has a high turn over rate, you learn to interact with many different kinds of people. If many people stay for the long haul, you learn to build strong and lasting work relationships, or how to interact with and succeed even with those that many times you may not agree with.
The point being, for worse or poorer, if you make job decisions independently of the personal and professional relationships that you have already fostered, you can tap into some very important social and emotional coping skills and build resiliency that can really serve you well wherever life takes you.
So while it may seem daunting to start a job at a company, town or country that you are not familiar with, or to stay on at a place even after everyone that you know has left, don’t let the search for normalcy stand in the way of potential adventure and long term career fulfillment.
Caia Rose 