How Many of These Five Career Qualities Do You Want?

Harvard Business Review (HBR) posted an article today about what people want in careers:

• Security
• Freedom
• Advancement
• Engagement
• Balance

For me, all of the above! (You could add over-achiever to that list, I guess.) But seriously, I want to be challenged and busy, and be making solid contributions that leads to acknowledgement of my contributions and advancement.

I've had enough years in my career (30+) and I am now delightfully finished with day-to-day single parenting four children, so I find balance is actually quite achievable.

Security helps me relax, knowing I can breathe a bit and risk being myself, bringing my creativity and personality to the table. The more secure I am, the more confidence, which in turn leads to feeling I can be more me.

Freedom means being able to be creative. Being an engineer and also an artist, I go from linear to fluid and everywhere in between. I like a career where I am free to pick the best solution or combination of solutions in the moment, using my gut instinct.

Advancement is room to grow. I value connection and the connection between what I do and where it takes me in my career is important to me. I want to be in an organization that fosters growth of its employees by advancing them, when ready, to take on more responsibility and make bigger contributions.

Engagement may be the most important of these five qualities for me. The older I get the more important it is for me to feel engaged and have a stake in my career, and for me to interact with others who engage with me. I can't really do my job of EHS very effectively if either party is not fully engaged.

And finally balance. As I mentioned above, I have a much better sense of what balance looks like and I have a lot more time to achieve balance. I have the experience to know that I don't have to bust my rear end after hours to keep up. I can be effective by working the normal number of hours, and the longer I work, the more efficient I get so that I'm actually down to a 40 hour week. Being an artist helps me so much - getting into that right side of my brain is the most relaxing soothing way to balance out my logical side ever.

Bring me a job opportunity that has 3, 4 or hopefully all 5 of these important qualities and I will be a productive and happy employee!

Distracted by a Job

I started a full-time job about five weeks ago. That has left me quite depleted. I'm not depleted, energy-wise. I've actually been pretty hyped up and feeling groovy. But there is something about putting my head into engineering work that takes away my penchant for critical thinking about art, issues and the world at large. I wonder if it is what comes from being in a corporate environment all day long? Drinking the kool-aid, so to speak.  I've been out of an office environment for about two years, so it is interesting to go back in there.

Things that have been on my mind instead are: 

• How nice it is to have income, which leads directly to my ability and willingness to do some things around the house that were in need of maintenance. Really small things like buying a much needed new shower curtain and having someone come and clean the windows; 
• Planning a small vacation away for the weekend;
• Going out to lunch once a week to treat myself and enjoy it guilt-free; and
• A little bit of retail therapy, which involved allowing myself to walk through the mall and Macy's and look at clothes, cosmetics and shoes, even though I didn't end up buying anything.

I have been doing art and now that I am up on a disciplined level with art, having had the better part of the last year to do it anytime I wanted, it is something I do for relaxation.

• I've put together some prototype wedding invitations
• I made a flyer for the King's Mountain cookie bake committee, and 
• I made a flyer for the art show and sale my friend Diana and I are having in June.

I will get back to thinking about more important issues soon enough. Until then, I'm going to ponder why my brain hasn't been able to do both the job and caring about important things at the same time.