If your job fits, you are connected …
How true this is in your job or career. Finding the right fit in a job, a career – or even a company – -is critical to success. Sadly, many don’t find this. They continue in the same old job or career, unhappy, unfulfilled and unproductive. This affects them in many ways – not only while working, but socially, at home with family and with friends. The sad fact – many know they don’t fit their role but don’t do anything about it.
You can see it in others too, those you know and those you just meet. Being in a role where one does not fit “sticks out”. It is like being dressed to the nines with shoes that are too small. You look good on the outside but sure hurt on the inside. Perhaps this is you – or someone close to you.
So just what is “fit” to your career or job? And how do you find it?
Psychologists have studied this question for years. It was thought that experience and education were top drivers of fit and productivity. But this has been proven to be not accurate. Analysts evaluated education as a driver for fit – it was not. They studied experience in the job – again not a driver.. They studied gender, ethnicity and age – no drivers there.
What they did find and validate over and over again, is that those who were successful and productive in their job or career clearly “fit” the job – defined as a job or career that matched the personality, interests and situation of the individual. Conventional measures – experience and education — played a secondary role.
To be successful in a given job or career, it must fit who you are (personality) , what drives you (interests) and your needs (situation).
Personality – A critical match or fit for success. We all have a primary and secondary personality type. Some are introverted, some extroverted, some practical, some resilient. It is critical to understand your type(s) through validated assessments, and then map careers or jobs your personality matches. For example, resilient people do well in managing, leading and sales. Practical people — best in administrative, procedural or planning roles.
Interests – Being in a job or career that matches your interests truly will fuel your passion for the job, and your success. If you are not interested in what you do, you won’t connect and be productive. Again, through assessment, the answers are available. You can start the exercise by writing down all your interests as well.
Situation – The harsh realities of life are critical to understanding in this process of finding fit. You may be great as a doctor but reality precludes you from chucking it all and going to medical school. Issues in income requirements, geography, elder or child care and much more need to be considered. Your values, ethics, motivations (and demotivators) are critical as well.
To find fit, one must look at the complete picture – not just pieces.
It has been said that if you find a job or career that you are passionate above, you will never “work” another day in your life. It can be done. It takes your commitment, open mind, the science of assessments and professional assistance if you need it to get the answers. It may very well be that you are in the right career, but not the right job on a day-to-day basis. It may also be the fact that you have just grown bored with your work and need a new challenge. There are just so many possibilities.
If I have described you, I hope you are motivated now to start change in your career life – and find your passion. It is never late to be what you might have been (that’s posted right in my office). Start today. Reinvent yourself. Find passion. Love what you do and enjoy your life.
About the Author:
Dan Moran, president and found of Next-Act (www.next-act.com), has spent the last 30 years managing, motivating and developing people from all walks of life. During this time, he has mastered an understanding of what is critical for success in career planning, searching for jobs and opportunities and planning for second careers – or next acts. Dan has assisted several hundred individuals achieve fulfillment in their career or a better job.
Dan has appeared on the national broadcast of The Monster Show (www.Monster.com) broadcast in over 100 US markets, American Out of Work (PBS), and was filmed and produced as a job search expert in Job Hunting: The Ten Best Steps to Success. He has been a frequent radio guest on a number of radio stations nationally as well as locally and regionally, and has appeared in many interviews on career and business issues on local and national radio and television. He is a regular columnist and guest writer for several publications on career and human resource issues.
Moran has authored The New Art of Hiring Smart, now licensed internationally as a training tool, and is currently working on his next writing Achieving Career Leadership: The Seven Principals of Successful Career Leaders for publication this year.