I don’t watch much television news these days because I’m just too busy. However, I do continue my habit of catching Fareed Zacaria on CNN’s Global Public Square (GPS) on Sunday mornings. I take time to listen to the five-or-so minutes of “Here’s My Take,” Fareed’s commentary at the beginning of the show. After Fareed’s comments, I begin preparing my Sunday morning breakfast with one ear to the conversation that he has with his guests.
On last week’s show, one of Fareed’s guests was the author of a new book about careers. I only heard the author’s last name and some of what he said in the interview. Some of the comments he made piqued my interest because I’m a certified career counselor, and I’m always interested in hearing different perspectives on this complex topic.
After breakfast, I went to Google to try to find the author’s name and the title of the book but initially had no luck.* What I did find was a whole patch of books on careers and even a blog titled 16 Best Career Books to Read in 2023. The statement introducing the list of books noted that they were about “finding the perfect job and cultivating a fulfilling career in the modern workplace.” I shudder at the use of words like “perfect” and “fulfilling” when it comes to choosing a career.
Ideas about career choice and career change are often generated by people who have a bright idea and a catchy title for a book. In my graduate research on career choice, however, I found nothing to support the idea of being able to methodically find a perfect job and fulfilling career.
I didn’t need research to know that people’s desires and life circumstances are not static and what seems perfect and fulfilling at one time in life is not necessarily going to be what is fulfilling at another time. In other words, career satisfaction and fulfillment have a “shelf life” and “sell-by” date for most people.
Those who can accept the fact that the job or career path chosen at the age of 19 or 20 will, in all likelihood, not be what brings satisfaction at 35 and beyond are realistic. Lucky and rare are those who know in their hearts and minds what they want to do from an early age, follow that path, and receive the proverbial gold watch and plaque at the end of a fulfilling career. This may have been the Hollywood ending generations ago, but it’s not the likely ending for those who are entering or are now in the early stages of their careers.
The world of work is changing so rapidly that it’s almost impossible to plan for a career. What seems satisfying and passion-fulfilling this year may not even be an option by the time you finish preparing for it. It can be a frustrating journey searching for one’s passion. In my experience, the most successful and satisfied workers have been those who became passionate about their work. Passion was not the draw. Passion was the reward.
I hope that those who are feeling pressure to decide on a career will just think about preparing themselves for a job that they can do well and to plan on using the experience to test the waters to see what makes them feel good and satisfied with how they are situated in their world. I hope that they will go into these different jobs looking for gold, and if the gold is not there, the experience is one more clue to where they can discover the gold.
*Later searches found the GPS guest to be Bruce Feiler, whose latest book is “The Search: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post- Career World.”
Gwen Dungy 