A ‘job for now’ rather than a ‘career for life’
How often do you ask yourself whether or not you are in the right job, work or career? Do you feel that you are not fulfilling your purpose, aligned with your strengths or simply wasting your time in a dead-end role? Maybe you have a ‘job for now’ and when you accept this, you can start to move forward…
By Sue Ellson BBus MIML MAHRI MPC CDAA ASA WV FIGT
I spent three years of my life reading books to decide on what I would do next with my career. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the answers I wanted. Fortunately, I created a decision-making framework so that when I contemplated my options or was made an offer after that time, I could use my personalised framework to make a congruent decision.
However, as a Career Development Practitioner, I have met a lot of clients who are at a crossroads trying to decide what to do next with their job, work or career. It can be very challenging when they are not clear about their core values, their natural and acquired strengths and their current context.
Current Context
When you are in ‘crisis’ mode, desperate for an immediate income, recognition or even the need to be busy, it is very difficult to rationally evaluate your options.
When worrying about how you can pay your bills, overcoming the complexities of mental or physical health or adjusting to life after a significant life event, it is not easy, or even realistic, to be thinking about a ‘career for life.’ It is much more appropriate to think about ‘a job for now.’
A job for now
A job for now is not designed to be a job for life. It could turn into a job for life if you find a way to align it with your life goals. However, I am suggesting that it can give you enormous relief and comfort if you see it as a temporary option to help you manage a particular challenge or challenges you are facing right now.
For example, you could be:
- recovering from a health condition
- new in town and re-establishing yourself
- recently retrenched and adjusting to life post a long-term role
- semi or fully retired and interested in returning to work
- unemployed for an extended period and needing a gradual re-entry
- a parent returning to the workforce after full time caring responsibilites
- a carer who can only manage part-time work
- living with a disability that restricts your range of options
- a student who can only work part-time
- in a role that just happened and have stayed there
Whatever the reason, sometimes it is in your own best interests to choose a ‘job for now’ rather than a ‘career for life.’
The benefits of a job for now
Quite often, a ‘job for now’ is less demanding or challenging than a career role that may require full time hours, lengthy travel or physical or intellectual effort that is quite simply an over exertion for you in your current context.
There is nothing wrong with taking a pause in your career.
Taking some time out to work on something more manageable, more work-life balance friendly or even simply close to home can be just the break you need to get your life humming along again at some time in the future.
The only risk is that you plateau and become comfortable with the status quo, which is what can happen if you don’t keep moving forward in positive ways and fall into some level of complacency.
A ‘job for now’ suggests that it will end at some point in the future and there is no need to defend your choice to anyone — including well-meaning friends, families or colleagues. If you consider your overall context, a ‘job for now’ can be your ‘perfect choice for now.’ Both sides of the fence have benefits.
Examples of ‘jobs for now’
- The retired extremely capable army veteran who chose to work flexible hours at his local Walmart store that was close to home. For his peace of mind, he didn’t want to travel long distances and he wanted a regular income until he officially retired from the workforce. He engaged with several local community members in his role and whilst he found it difficult to deal with multiple managers who were not interested in improving customer service or operations, he could see that the advantages of this role outweighed the disadvantages and his ultimate goal of a regular income until retirement was achieved.
- The young man who had previously worked in a telephone call centre and was recovering from a range of significant mental health episodes who needed a role that did not include talking to people on the telephone or working in an office, but allowed him to travel around and take frequent breaks whenever he had to attend a medical or social services appointment or if he felt overwhelmed for any reason. His doctor insisted that despite receiving a welfare payment that would not cover his expenses, he could only work 15 hours per week. He joined a range of gig economy apps that allowed him to deliver parcels and food on an ‘on-demand’ basis at various hours of the day. When he was unavailable, he would simply ‘turn off’ his availability. Whilst these delivery payments would not cover much more than the running costs of his vehicle and certainly would not give him a ‘living wage,’ they enabled him to start managing his life during his recovery process and boost his income enough to pay his bills and still live independently.
- The very experienced and capable Public Relations Executive who had moved from New York to an Australian city with her Australian-born husband and two children. A similar role of any nature was not available in Australia, but she had always wanted to be able to do graphic design work. Whilst she was currently providing full time care for her young children, she enrolled in a graphic design course and quickly met like-minded individuals and found it much easier to see the value of raising her children in Australia and living a more relaxed lifestyle and preparing herself for an alternative career in the future.
- An enterprising mature woman who had been trading the international stockmarket for several years could see that her husband was struggling with running his business from home. Whilst ideally she would have liked to work for two days per week outside of home, she decided to support her husband with his business. As you can imagine, her husband had developed a range of business practices that had been repeated for a very long time and for the wife to make suggestions for improvement required some very diplomatic conversations. Over time, she re-organised the business and developed a range of new systems and processes to return the business to a healthy profit and now she is considering her next enterprise activity.
- The talented expatriate from France who moved to Australia to follow his wife’s executive career and was working part-time for his previous employer. He was provided with trailing spouse support and after targeted networking and a personalised referral, secured a senior full time role for a manufacturing firm that would have provided significant technical experience for his career. However, after reviewing the disruption that a full time role would have had on his existing expatriate experience juggling his wife’s full time career, their current travel plans and their three young children, he decided to decline the role and continue with the basic part time role to enjoy the benefits of more flexibility whilst living in Australia for two to three years.
Important variables for a ‘job for now’
- You need to ensure that the benefits are worthwhile — experience, training, financial, self-worth, lifestyle, manageability etc.
- You need to remember the reasons why you have chosen a ‘job for now’ so that on the days when you are not in a possible ‘career for life,’ you can reconcile in your own mind the many benefits of your choice.
- You understand that it is only a ‘job for now’ and it doesn’t need to be forever. When you are ready to move on, be prepared to learn additional skills as the ability to do a job is different to the ability to get a job.
- A ‘job for now’ is often a transition phase. You don’t need to be ‘perfect’ every day of your life. When you look back, you will see how the ‘job for now’ gave you the time, space, energy, flexibility etc that you needed to prepare you for your next role/s.
- Every job has benefits. You can acquire personal and technical skills that can help you in the future. You can see it as a stepping stone or a learning experience and you can celebrate the happy moments. However, you do need to be safe at all times (I am not recommending unsafe options).
- So long as you are conscious of your reasons why you have a ‘job for now,’ there is no reason to feel guilty, ashamed or inferior. A person who makes a conscious choice that is designed to help them on a daily basis and yet still move towards a greater goal in the future is very wise and a lot less likely to suffer burnout or worse!
- Adjusting to a different income level can be challenging at first. However, when you do, you will take extra delight in the little luxuries you can afford and you may find that you appreciate more things more often. Don’t underestimate the value of freedom, flexibility and fun!
- A sudden change from one type of work to something completely different overnight can feel overwhelming. If you are thinking about making a significant transition, if you can do it over time, it is usually easier. If it is thrust upon you, seek some additional support as soon as possible. Don’t wait until you are in crisis mode. If you have the ability to secure outplacement advice, make sure you complete all of your sessions. If you do not have any employer provided support, tap into your local community resources immediately.
- Be flexible. Don’t pooh-pooh every suggestion immediately but don’t agree with every suggestion either. Again, remember your values, strengths and context and align all three to make the decisions that are good for now.
- Whilst you are in your ‘job for now,’ consider taking small steps on a regular basis to align you with your future goals. Perhaps that involves some part-time voluntary work, some online or in-person training or some coaching or mentoring. Maybe you can source some professional career development support. I remember thinking I could have spent three hours with a career development practitioner rather than three years reading books!
Benefits of a ‘job for now’
After having a huge variety of ‘jobs for now,’ I can tell you from lived experience that I have gained an enormous amount of emotional intelligence, a huge range of technical skills and a sense of peace and contentment that I know I would not have had if I had followed a ‘career for life.’
For me, my work-style has reflected my life-style.
I have had some challenges convincing other people of the reasons for my choices, but in the end, I go to sleep at night knowing that I have made the right choices for me.
That is not to say that I have had an ‘easy’ path and some of the roles have challenged me in ways that I know I would not have been challenged if I was in one full time role. However, as a true ‘gigster,’ I have been able to use technology to attract aligned gigs and at least 80% of the work is perfectly aligned in every way.
Essentially, I have acquired the skills to be my own kind of peculiar and live an aligned life. I have not been hung up on the idea of ‘the perfect job’ or ‘the perfect career’ according to someone else’s or society’s definition (however well-intentioned).
I invite you to have the courage to look at your current situation and see the many benefits of what you are doing right now, because you could already be in the right ‘job for now’ without realising it. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.
Alternatively, you may find that it is time to start thinking about other ways to transition into something different in the future (as I said earlier, preferably in small steps over time). Hopefully this story encourages you to do what is right for you!
With love, Sue Ellson :)
I would love to hear your thoughts and comments — are you in a job for now or interested in considering one?
