Management Perspective

A hitchhiker’s guide to liking your job

Over the years, a number of young people have asked my advice on career matters, including which job to take that will fit them and make them happy. OK, so when do the hard questions come?

Actually, I have one piece of advice that I always give in this situation that has served me well. It’s a bit of an over-simplification, but the simplest solutions are often the most elegant, easiest to implement and produce the best results.

Early on, it’s much easier to know what you don’t like than what you do. You simply don’t know yourself well enough nor have significant life/work experience on which to draw. Today’s reality dictates you will have several jobs during your career. In each one, start keeping track of the things you really don’t like, and vow not to accept a new job with any of those distasteful features.

Sure, all jobs inherently have similar things we don’t like. It’s work, not play, after all. I’m talking about knocking out those factors that really bug you, ethically, culturally, environmentally etc. that eat at you and just don’t match your evolving sense of self.

You’ll certainly discover plenty of things you like as you move through your career and it’s important to pursue them. But if you also concentrate on eliminating the dark side, you’ll find a few jobs into it, you may really dig what you’re doing.

-Fred