You may not think that you are doing what you want when it comes to your career. You may have taken the first job that was offered to you in the hopes you would find your way towards doing something you loved. You may have gotten a job and been so successful making great money but woke up one day to discover that you really can’t stand all of the corporate politics you’ve had to put up with over the years. It may be that you have been doing the same job for so long you forgot what really made you happy and engaged in your work? When it comes to digging deep into your career choices, there are a few simple truths that you need to explore in order to ensure you are on the right path for you.

1. Am I happy? First question you should ask yourself is if you are happy going to work every day and if so, make an inventory of what it is that makes you happy about your job. If the answer is that you are not happy, make the same list of items that are challenges for you in your job and see how you might be able to reflect on why those particular issues are coming up for you now.
2. Do I feel like I am making a difference? Whether you are just starting out in your career or are a senior leader in an organization, there comes a time in anyone’s career where you wonder whether all of your hard work can make an impact on you, your company and the people you support. When your work no longer holds meaning and you can no longer make a difference, then it’s time to re-examine just what you want from your job.
3. Am I motivated by my work? You may be motivated by the paycheck, or the year-end bonus or just being part of the creative and collaborative process at work that you don’t need much else to get you going. Whatever motivates you in your job, take stock in it and be honest about your intentions. It’s okay if money is your motivator. No one is judging you. Being honest about what drives you at work and this simple truth will help you achieve happiness in your job.
4. Do I care what others think? Making sure you are picking a job and sticking with it based on what you feel is important for you and not what your spouse, parent, sibling or peer thinks is crucial if you are wondering whether you are in the right place. Doing anything because you are doing it for someone else denies you the happiness you seek if what you are doing is not what you love.
5. What will I want my career tombstone to read? When it’s all said and done, how would you like your career epithet to read? Does it read, “Great worker, always showed up to work on time and was responsible” or, should it read, “Great innovator who followed his/her dreams through creativity and joy.” Remember how you write the end of your story has as much to do with how you will live the rest of your career life and how you will be remembered for your accomplishments long after your career is over.

We all have truths we live by but knowing how to use them to help guide you and keep in you check about your career choices is taking the next step towards being honest with yourself.

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When you think about your job and how you show up each day for work, do you consider yourself SFW? For those of you who are not familiar with the abbreviation, SFW stands for “Safe For Work.” It’s an ever-changing world out there. What once was norm, (take the staff in “Mad Men” for example), drinking, smoking and having sex in the office was probably not condoned but it certainly was encouraged. It’s indeed a different time and a different place. With mandatory sexual harassment training, non-violence in the workplace seminars, and adopting “safe” work habits, it’s no wonder more people choose to work from home!

For most of you your job defines how you choose to spend your life. For some, it is something you need to do in order to survive. Your career may take many shapes over the years as you grow, learn and develop new skills and a higher level of experience. One thing does not change however are the expectations of how you need to behave and perform when you physically show up for work. You may have some control over who you work for, what projects you get assigned and how much money you earn. You do not however have much control over the way in which you are expected to act at work.

Examples of work habits that would deem you not-SFW might include:

1. Inappropriate pictures, photos or desktop screen savers
2. Twitting for the sake of twitting
3. Binge watching ANYTHING
4. Surfing the net
5. Online shopping or auctions on eBay
6. Video games
7. Habitual posts and friending folks on Facebook
8. Checking out who viewed your LinkedIn profile
9. Overuse of bitly
10. Fantasy-anything

Showing up for work does not mean you are about to do a life-sentence. You are expected to be engaged even if the mood or the work does not particularly suit you. Knowing what you can and can’t get away with at work will help you know your limits and boundaries. Some workplaces have a more relaxed approach to being able to do any of those things listed above. Others have strict firewalls that will alert the IT department if you are meandering in a restricted area when you should be working.

It’s not that you wanted to work for Big Brother but today companies are expected not only to protect their employees but also the company’s bottom line when it comes to work productivity and accountability. If you are tired of being held to a different standard and feel that your work environment is too restrictive for your creative soul then maybe it’s time to find a way to work from home or find another career that affords you more flexibility. No one wants to feel trapped or tied to a desk but knowing what is expected of you will help you define what work environment is right for you. Knowing how to be SFW before you say yes to your next job offer might make you love to show up for work each day and not open you up for a legal nightmare if you just can’t seem to follow the rules.

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There are degrees to every ones level of happiness when it comes to appreciating their job. In the HBO series, “Happyish” they refer to it as a “joy ceiling” – the highest level of happy you can possibly expect to achieve. Some people have high and low “joy ceilings” based on how they choose to deal with the ups and downs life throws at them. So, what’s your joy ceiling? When you describe your relationship with your job would you use words such as joyous, jubilant or jovial? Or are you just “happish”?

They say it doesn’t matter what you do in life so long as you are happy. Some say it’s the passion in your work that should drive you and make you content no matter how much you get paid, where you work or whom you work with. Maybe that works for some people but does it work for you? When you think about all the options and career choices you could have made, did you choose wisely or just fall into your career? It doesn’t really matter how you got there. What matters is what you do when you show up.

You can make the best and worst of any situation based on your “joy ceiling.” You can embrace change at work as a new opportunity, a challenge or a just another piece of BS you have to deal with to get your lousy paycheck at the end of the week. So many people work because they have to not because they want to. Name the last person you spoke to who said they worked because “they loved what they did” not because they needed to make a living and you probably have met the only person in the Universe with a high enough joy ceiling to not give a crap about what others think.

It’s hard to imagine what your life could be like if you were truly happy in your job? Do you ever fantasize what that might feel like just for fun? The next time you are having a day from hell, allow yourself to meander awhile in the fields of fantasy and just think about anything other than what you are doing. Here are a few steps to help you along the way:

1. Close Your Eyes & Breathe: When you are having a particularly bad day take yourself someplace quiet, close your eyes and take a few deep belly breathes to center yourself. When you’ve had enough air not to feel faint, start to imagine that you are in your “happy” place wherever that is and see what comes up for you. It might be you are on a beach, on top of a mountain, or at home. Wherever you land just imagine if everyday at work looked something like this how much better would your work-life experience be?
2. What Are You Doing? If you had nothing but time what would you love to do? Would you binge on Netflix or would you write, create art, put a business plan together or build a car? If you had the luxury of doing what made you happy-what would you be doing?
3. Come back: Now that you’ve spent a few minutes imagining your perfect, happy existence-does it give you any insight into what you might try your hand at if you had nothing but your giddy, happy self to deal with?

Knowing that you can make any situation bearable is one thing, but realizing that it is possible to be truly, deliciously, deliriously happy is quite another. Next time your job makes you want to plunge yourself deep into a depressed state, take a minute, breathe it in and go to your happy place for inspiration.

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Do you possess a good sense of self? Do you have a filter and understand when a boundary has been crossed? When it comes to your job search, the interview process and negotiating a job offer, how much is too much and do you know where you need to draw the line before you are considered unreasonable? When it comes to knowing what you want or don’t want from your next job, knowing how to show up without sabotaging your efforts is a good first step to ensure you are not blowing it before you get your foot in the door.

You may have only one shot at getting the job you want. Knowing how to work your job contacts without becoming an imposition is a crucial part of the job search equation. You may have been referred by someone you trust for a job you are interested in or you may want to reach out to someone through your LinkedIn network but are afraid to make a move. You don’t need to be a great networker but you do need to know whom to ask for help and when. Using the “three times a charm” rule means you can reach out to follow up and send an inquiry when there is 1) a job you are interested in applying for, 2) a follow up is required after a job interview or 3) you are negotiating the final details of your job offer. When it comes to managing your job search and offer there here is a fine line between being assertive and being annoying.

As it relates to the job interview process, having at least three shots to follow up on a job you’ve interviewed for is not unreasonable. If it is radio silent after you’ve applied to a job or you have gotten the message that they like you but are interviewing other candidates, waiting awhile to follow up in a positive way is acceptable. Asking permission to follow up in a specific time frame is reasonable even if it’s considered your third and final shot. You should make sure you ask for feedback if further time is needed and be polite about any necessary attempts to reach out again. Following up works both ways. If you are not interested in a job or you find out information about the position that no longer makes you a viable candidate best to cut yourself loose and not drag out the process. Being courtesy will go a long way when it comes to accepting your next job.

If you are at the final stages of the interview process and get a job offer that is less than what you want, it’s okay to ask for more as long as you are clear and you manage your expectations accordingly. If you ask for double the offer you are probably not going to get it. Knowing how much is reasonable based on doing some homework in advance understanding your worth in the market place is an important part of the negotiation.

Knowing how much is too much in any negotiation is vital for your success and ability to ask for and get what you want. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want as it will be given! You just need to be aware that asking is not the issue but setting your expectations on appropriateness is and as long as are aware of your boundaries you should be in good shape.

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Prom night, party rentals, invitations, commencement speeches, long walk to the podium, framing your diploma, parties again, hot summer fun with friends and then…? You are not what your parents made at least not when it comes to your potential career choices. You stare at your resume, uncertain as to whether you put your educational successes first or highlight all of the summer internships you’ve had leading you to this point? Nothing makes sense. One minute you were having a blast and now you have to get serious and actually put all those years of study to some good use-after all EVERYONE is watching your next move!

Not that you need any more pressure than you already have right? Recent grads are entering the workforce in droves and older workers are not retiring fast enough to make room for you newbies. Now what do you do? If you are lucky enough to have a job then maybe you stick to it for awhile even if you are not that happy. Or, maybe you decide to hit the road with the band for a few years and sew your wild oats so to speak-let the job rush die down a bit? Or maybe you get cracking and figure out how to make the best of a depressing situation and find a job before your parents kick you out of the house.

You have undoubtedly by now read everything you can get your hands on regarding how to network, how to put a resume together, how to dress for an interview and of course how to accept a job offer when presented to you. So, I don’t want to cover old, tired ground, but here are a few things to think about that maybe your teachers, career books and advisors have not shared with you until now:

1. They Lied To You: Well, maybe not intentionally but yes, job search is not what it once was. You have to do more than apply for jobs on the Internet or through referrals from your college career counselor you have to hit it hard and be smart about it. Sending mass amounts of paper into the ether is not going to raise the odds any although it might sound impressive when someone asks how you are doing on your job search. You will likely NOT get a job using only this approach. You need to work every and ANY connection you have and make a short-list of jobs, companies and contacts that you need to target like a sniper getting ready for combat. Get in the door any way you can and in person-use your computer for research and make sure you work all your connections!
2. It’s Harder Than It Looks: As much as you think you are the best thing to graduate school and had the best grads, securing the job you want at a decent salary to pay the rent is harder than it may seem no matter what they told you. You are competing against yourself as well as all the others who are pounding the payment no matter how qualified you think you are. What does this mean? You should not quit before you even start but you should be realistic about your expectations. If this means you have to take, yes, wait for it, another internship to get your proverbial foot in the door-do it! You are not only competing against other recent grads, folks who have a few years under their belt but those baby-boomers who just won’t retire. It’s a tough out there and if you think your high grads, good school and strong work ethic are enough to land you a jog think again. You need to be creative and flexible about your approach to finding and accepting work even if it’s not the job you really want or the company you desire. You have got to build the foundation of your career and a resume full of summer jobs is not going to cut it against all the others who are battling the same job fight. Pick wisely, but by all means pick. Sometimes you got to start somewhere and getting a job on the resume may be your only option so loose the pride and take the job.
3. End of the Rainbow: You have to make sure that no matter how hard it gets know that you may fail a few times before you find the success you are looking for. Being afraid to fail will inevitably lead you down the wrong road. Starting out is usually the hardest part of any project or venture you take on. Knowing that there is always an option to every job even if you have to accept a job that is lower in salary, responsibility or title-it’s okay. Take the job. Start your career. Worry about finding the end of your rainbow later. Don’t delay until things are perfect because they will never be perfect. You can change your mind later but the key is to choose and to make the best choice available to you at the time.

Fear is a good motivator even if it makes you realize that the normal, safe and appropriate job search strategies might not always be your best option. Realizing that sometimes you have to think creatively and assertively about what you want and how you will go about getting it may be all you need to get the job you want. Determination is as strong a motivator as fear and sometimes more powerful.

So the next time you want to hide behind the resume, the suit, or the interview prep questions, think about what you really want, find out who has the job you really want and get into see that person or persons and find out how you can do ANYTHING it takes to work there. That might be your best most sound advise you can take to finally get the job you want.

Looking for a job?  Find us at www.greenlightjobs.com

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/lisakayeglj

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And, on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/2/abb/50

College graduate in need of a job

College graduate in need of a job