Monday, August 5, 2013



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Build a Career Worth Having

We live in a time of chronic dissatisfaction in the workplace. Gallup's 2013 State of the American Workplace study found that as many as 70% of working Americans were unfulfilled with their jobs, 18% to such an extent that they are actively undermining their co-workers. This is a marked increase in workplace dissatisfaction from 2010, when Conference Board found that 55% of Americans were dissatisfied with their jobs.
How can we explain this? Certainly factors like the sluggish economic recovery and stuck wagesplay a role, but I think the real answer is even more straightforward: It's not clear how one designs a satisfying career in today's professional culture, especially if lasting fulfillment (as opposed to salary maximization) is the goal.
At my company, ReWork, we connect talented professionals to meaningful work opportunities at companies that are making substantive social, environmental, and cultural progress. Based on our conversations with over 12,000 professionals and hundreds of hiring managers, we've gained insights into what's lacking in the traditional approach to career planning, and how professionals can create careers with an ongoing sense of purpose. Here's my advice:
1. See your career as a series of stepping stones, not a linear trajectory.
There's an implicit view that careers are still linear. Sure, many people accept that the career ladder is broken, but most still attempt to somehow increase the "slope" of their career trajectory.
They wait until they are unhappy, look around for opportunities that seem better than their current job, apply for a few, cross their fingers, and take the best option that they can get. Then, they toil away until they are unhappy again, and the cycle repeats. Though this approach can increase your salary over time, studies show that, once you make more than $75,000, more money doesn't correlate to happiness or emotional wellbeing.
Most people end up with a career path of somewhat arbitrary events that, at best, is a gradually improving wandering path, and, at worst, is just a series of unfulfilling jobs
The solution to this dismal cycle? Let go of the idea that careers are linear. These days, they are much more like a field of stepping stones that extends in all directions. Each stone is a job or project that is available to you, and you can move in any direction that you like. The trick is simply to move to stones that take you closer and closer to what is meaningful to you. There is no single path — but rather, an infinite number of options that will lead to the sweet spot of fulfillment.
2. Seek legacy, mastery, and freedom — in that order.
Research from authors such as Daniel Pink (Drive), Cal Newport (So Good They Can't Ignore You), Ben Casnocha and Reid Hoffman (Startup of You), and Tony Hsieh (Delivering Happiness) shows that there are three primary attributes of fulfilling work:

  • Legacy. A higher purpose, a mission, a cause. This means knowing that in some way — large or small — the world will be a better place after you've done your work.

  • Mastery. This refers to the art of getting better and better at skills and talents that you enjoy using, to the extent that they become intertwined with your identity. Picture a Jedi, or a Samurai, or a master blacksmith.

  • Freedom. The ability to choose who you work with, what projects you work on, where and when you work each day, and getting paid enough to responsibly support the lifestyle that you want.
The order is important. People are fulfilled most quickly when they first prioritize the impact that they want to have (legacy), then understand which skills and talents they need to have that impact (mastery), and finally "exchange" those skills for higher pay and flexibility (freedom) as they develop and advance.
People don't typically have just one purpose. The things you're passionate about — women's health, early childhood education, organic food, or renewable energy — are likely to evolve over time. And it's important to develop a high degree of freedom so that you're able to hunt down your purpose again when it floats onto the next thing. This means being able to do things like volunteer on the side, go months at a time without getting a paycheck, or invest in unusual professional development opportunities.
3. Treat your career like a grand experiment.
In my experience, people who are successful in finding — and maintaining — meaningful work approach their careers like a grand experiment.
All of the things you think you know about what you want to be doing, what you're good at, what people want to hire you to do (and at what salary), how different organizations operate, etc. are hypotheses that can be validated or invalidated with evidence — either from the first-hand experience of trying something (including bite-sized projects), or second-hand from asking the right questions of the right people.
The faster and cheaper that you're able to validate your career hypotheses, the sooner you'll find fulfillment. You don't have to take a job in a new industry to realize it's not for you. You can learn a ton about potential lines of work from reading online, having conversations, taking on side projects, and volunteering.
And a bonus — by doing your homework on what's actually a good fit for you, you won't waste your time applying to jobs that you aren't competitive for. And like any good scientist, you'll achieve a healthy detachment from your incorrect hypotheses — they are just par for the course, after all.
I use the word "grand" to describe this experiment because the reality is that your career is not just a way to earn a living. It's your chance to discover what you're here for and what you love. It's your best shot at improving the world in a way that is important to you. It's a sizeable component of your human experience, in a very real way. As such, it should be an adventure, with a healthy bit of magic and mystery along the way.
So if you're one of the many who find themselves on the path to meaningful work — remember to enjoy the journey, don't give up, and don't settle.
More blog posts by Nathaniel Koloc
Nathaniel Koloc

NATHANIEL KOLOC

Nathaniel Koloc is co-founder and CEO of ReWork, a mission-driven recruiting company that specializes in sourcing purpose-driven professionals for companies operating in the purpose economy.
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COMMENTS

Showing 10 comments

  • Sreenath Nair
    Hi,
    Loved reading the blog... especially point number 2. It is simple logic and very true... even though I am still not so cleared on the third point and its connection with second... can someone help me here pls. 
  • Srikanth Rajagopalan
    Great post, Nathaniel, though easier said than lived.
    I suspect that a lot of us get into the trap of linear, traditional, "safe" career paths, either because we're too lazy to try something different, our worse, we haven't introspected enough to uncover what we really want from a career.
    The most dangerous place on this planet is your own comfort zone :)
  • Mpallotto
    I couldn't agree more. Look at Jim Casey that started UPS? It wasn't just a company to him, it was so much more. It was a family. His company thrived because he created his legacy then everything else.
  • Miranda Daniloff
    This approach makes so much sense. Re-framing career management this way, opens up lots of possibilities for women and men looking for more time for family life.  Especially for those who have small children and elderly parents.  There is no reason why stepping stones can't include freelance, or reduced hours. www.beyondworklifebalance.com
  • Nathaniel Koloc, Building ReWork, which helps young professionals find meaningful work with high-impact companies | @BeUnreasonable & @StartingBloc Fellow | #MSLS
    Miranda, couldn't agree more. Small stones (part-time work) can be just as catalytic, enjoyable, and worthwhile as larger ones - especially if they facilitate a certain lifestyle. Thanks for the comment!
  • MicJohnson, Social Connector/Small Business Advocate/KU Enthusiast/Cancer Volunteer
    Excellent post, Nathaniel! I've gone down the career journey that you've described...Would love to talk to you sometime about that journey and maybe it will help some of the people you work with. Guest blog post? Interview? Whatever you think may best serve your audience.
  • Nathaniel Koloc, Building ReWork, which helps young professionals find meaningful work with high-impact companies | @BeUnreasonable & @StartingBloc Fellow | #MSLS
    Absolutely, just shoot me an email at nathaniel.koloc[at]rework.jobs and we'll figure something out. Thanks!
  • BAndersen6
    Great post .. thanks for this
  • Zaher
    Indeed, job is our vehicle to change the world to the best. Unfortunately this luxury is not at everyone's reach. Scenarios where our decision on what and where to work are still in dominance for more than a dozen of reasons. Any suggestions on how to better incorporate this factor to our career journey( not our career roadmap)?

  • Nathaniel Koloc, Building ReWork, which helps young professionals find meaningful work with high-impact companies | @BeUnreasonable & @StartingBloc Fellow | #MSLS
    Thanks Zaher - I hear you. The majority of people face a situation where they have to take jobs (perhaps ones that aren't fulfilling) in order to pay rent, pay back student loans, etc. Understanding the dynamics I wrote about won't help as much in the near term, but it will help in the long term. What's so liberating about the stones metaphor is that it shows the truth - that if you're proactive and thinking ahead, it is possible to trade-up on your job, eventually finding stones that you like better and better. The need to earn is very real, but that doesn't mean that the source of your income can't change over time. Hopefully that helps a bit.
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