Career not Job?

Job ? Career? Calling?

A man came upon a construction site where three people were working.
He asked the first, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am laying bricks.”
He asked the second, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am building a wall.”
As he approached the third, he heard him humming a tune as he worked, and asked, “What are you doing?”

The man stood, looked up at the sky, and smiled,
“I am building a cathedral!”

Research by Amy Wrzesniewski has focused on how people derive meaning from their work, which can broadly be categorized in three groups: the experience of work as a job, career or calling.

People who view their work as

a “job” see it mainly as a means of income.

A “career” is work framed as a stepping stone along an occupational trajectory.

A “calling” occurs when someone believes in the meaning of the work they do, regardless of pay or prestige.

Somewhere along the line, we started to see career-oriented as the only valuable approach to work. Ms Wrzesniewski’s research suggests otherwise. And my experience makes me wonder why we stress “career-oriented” so strongly.

If we see value in all three, employees, managers and companies can benefit. Imagine a well-balanced team, or workforce, where we have a mix of people who are happy where they are and keep adding continuity, experience and value; people who want a career contribute to the team for a while and then add different value to the company in another role; or a person with a calling can be inspired to dedicate most of her life to this particular job or company.

This article gives you information about the three approaches to work; and some suggestions for how managers and individual contributors can receive and offer value with any of them.

Job
I’ve generally found that if a person says work is a job, we think less of them. We expect them to lack dedication. But is that true? If I have a job that is satisfying and enjoyable, but it’s not the most important thing in my life, can I do a good job? Of course I can. Will I refuse to ever work an extra hour, give creative input? Of course I won’t. We seem to relate a Job orientation to lack of willingness to work. Those things are unrelated.

Hiring managers make the mistake of thinking someone who stays in a role for a long time, or whose five-year plan doesn’t include significant advancement somehow doesn’t have enough to offer. Sometimes this might be your best hire. I worked in a large corporation where the sales team were supported by a team of people whose responsibility was to generate leads. They were encouraged to have a career orientation. In fact, the hiring manager was proud of the fact that she told interviewees they wouldn’t “have to” stay in the job too long. That immediately told them the job wasn’t a good one; and encouraged them to always look for an “escape”. So the department never built up any accumulated experience. Every member of that team was a perpetual beginner. In general, the sales team did NOT feel well-supported. There were some great people on that team; but they never stayed long enough to form a true partnership with the people they supported. Career orientation can be too much of a good thing. Click here to read more…

Contact Details:
Mustang PPD
13-4211 Millcroft Park Dr,
Burlington, Ontario
Zip Code: L7M 3Y9
Business Phone: 416-220-9671
Business E-mail: aileenmcnabb@mustangppd.com