Working Wounded: Finding a Job to Love
June 23, 2006 — -- WOUNDED: I've never had a job that I really liked. Mostly it's been just drudgery. Is it really possible to find a job that you enjoy?
ANSWER: Your e-mail reminded me of Gary Brunner. According to the News of the Weird, he is the latest person to go into a police station to ask if there were any warrants out for his arrest. Unfortunately for Brunner, there were. He was promptly arrested on old charges of drug possession.
Brunner would have probably been better off -- and probably still a free man -- if he had started his research into his own criminal history with a long look in a mirror instead of a conversation with a cop. And it's no different when you are looking for a job. It's easy to decide on a job based on what's available instead of starting the job search process with a hard look in the mirror. I've included some questions to consider below. For more, check out Robert Bramson's book "What Your Boss Won't Tell You" (Fireside, 1996).
Do you like to work alone or in groups? As I write this column, I'm alone in my apartment. I've learned that I really like to work on my own. What kind of working situation do you enjoy the most?
Do you like knowing what you'll be doing every day or do you like surprises? There are some jobs that are totally predictable -- like working in a rehabilitation hospital. Sure people make progress, but often it is in small incremental steps. But many other jobs are always a surprise -- like working in an emergency room where you'll never know what is about to come through the door. Ask yourself what works best for you.
Do you like to be in one place or travel around? I've got a bit of the travel bug. If I go a few weeks without going on a trip, I begin to get antsy. Do you like to be in one place or do you enjoy hitting the road?
What are you good at, and where have you been successful in the past? Just because you have done something before or have been successful doesn't mean that you have to do it for the rest of your life. But it's often easier to find a satisfying job when you have a base of experience that you can show to employers. So start with what you know, but don't feel that you have to be stuck there forever.
What are you doing when you lose track of time? One of the best indications that you enjoy doing something is that you lose track of time. Pay attention to those times and then see if there is a way to get paid to do it. I've done it, and so have many people that I've met through the years. Dreams can come true.
Follow these tips and you just may find yourself in an arresting job.
We'd like to hear your strategy for getting the right job. I'll give an autographed copy of "Working Wounded: Advice That Adds Insight to Injury" (Warner, 2000) to the best submission. Send your entry, name and address via: http://workingwounded.com or via e-mail: bob@workingwounded.com. Entries must be received by June 28, 2006.
Here are the results from a recent workingwounded.com/ABCNews.com online ballot:
What is the most important thing to do just before you start a new job?
- Homework on the company, 40 percent
- Homework on the competition, 6 percent
- Relax, 53 percent
Our winning strategy for starting a new job well comes from D.A. in Chicago:
"The key is to listen to everyone. Customers, future co-workers, vendors -- anyone who will talk to you. At the same time, don't be bound by what anyone says. Listen and judge for yourself. I've found that 50 percent of what you hear about a job is wrong, but it's your job to figure out which 50 percent."
MySpace might mean plenty of space and no job. … Recruiters are online, too.
- 77 percent of recruiters polled use search engines to learn more about candidates
- 35 percent have eliminated a candidate from consideration based on the information uncovered online
- 26 percent had eliminated a candidate last year
From: ExecuNet
Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, speaker and internationally syndicated columnist. His newest best-seller, "Gray Matters: The Workplace Survival Guide" (Wiley, 2004), is a business comic book that trades cynicism for solutions. Ask Bob a question: bob@workingwounded.com or http://graymattersbook.com. ABCNEWS.com publishes a new Working Wounded column every Friday.
This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.
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