What Does “Finding a Job That Excites You” Actually Mean?
We’re always talking about it, and almost everywhere you see the name Tyba, you’ll see this phrase tagging along behind it like a disobedient child in a shopping mall. But what do we actually mean by it? Let’s scratch a little deeper and break it down like a top-heavy fraction. Here goes!
Passion vs. Purpose
When you’ve found the ‘perfect job’ — a job that catapults you out of bed in the morning with your pre-brushed teeth gritted in determination and an extra hop to your step — you’ll know about it.
And how will you know about it?
One of the first signs you’ve found a job that excites you is that it doesn’t actually feel like a job. Your job should — to some extent — feel like you’re getting paid to explore something you would do even if you weren’t being paid.
The second tell-tale sign is that your job lends you a new sense of purpose — it makes you feel like it’s something you need to do or to contribute.
‘Finding purpose’ in your work might sound a little ‘tree-huggerish’, but that’s simply a misconception or a misrepresentation. You don’t have to grow dreadlocks and dedicate the remainder of your days on earth to rescuing beleaguered African elephants to find purpose in your job.
In fact, it’s somewhat true that purpose can be found in almost any job. We say “almost” because some might argue that, in the current day and age, there are some jobs that are not so… valuable, shall we say?
In any case, that seemingly rare and magical combination of doing something you enjoy and doing something that actually gives you a sense of purpose — that, right there, is the main ingredient in the recipe for finding a job that excites you.
Now let’s look at it in another way; three other ways, to be exact. “Find a job that excites you” can be interpreted as follows:
1. Find a job in which you can make a positive contribution to your world.
Photo: Kim Leuenberger
OK, OK, I hear you. This sounds like a chapter straight out of the Treehugger’s Bible, which was somewhat flippantly dismissed only three paragraphs ago. Either that, or it’s an excerpt from a book of the top 100 startup catchphrases to avoid like the uncomfortably extended gaze of a drunkard on a bus. But hear me out here…
You should seek a job or a role in which you can make a concrete, positive impact on the planet you inhabit. Why? Because therein lies a shortcut to professional and personal fulfilment. By that, I also mean you should be able to measure the short-term and long-term results of your work on real people, including yourself. And when I say you, I really mean you and the company you work for.
Take BlaBlaCar, for example:
Instead of using a car as an individual mode of transport, sharing with others allows you to use excess capacity efficiently and reduce the environmental impact of your journey. — BlaBlaCar.
That, right there, is a ‘two-birds-one-stone’ example of a company where employees can both find purpose and make a positive impact, and probably one of the main reasons — aside from its popularity among users, of course — that BlaBlaCar has managed to secure so much cash by way of investor support.
In case you need further convincing, you’ll also hear this sentiment echoed by the people who actually work at BlaBlacar.
2. Find a job where you can connect with like-minded individuals and build meaningful, lasting relationships.
As far as we — and the hundreds of active companies on the platform — are concerned here at Tyba, this is something of a no-brainer. In fact, you can pretty much translate it as: “Find a startup job that excites you”.
There are myriad ways in which startups provide the perfect environment for your professional ambitions but, whichever way you dress it up, it always seems to boil down to the people behind them.
If you find yourself with a bit of spare time on your hands, have a listen to our interviews with people who work in Europe’s top startups and try to count the number of times employees talk about their teammates and how amazeballs they all are. See how long it takes before you run out of fingers.
There’s a reason for it: startup offices are an environment in which you will work with people who’ll actually appreciate you, your skills, your personality and what you bring to the proverbial table — and vice versa.
3. Find a job in which you can achieve prolonged personal growth.
Whichever office you end up plying your trade in, it should feel like your own personal incubator: an environment that fosters, supports and encourages you to grow both personally and professionally, but also pushes you to explore your personal interests and goals.
This is the reason Tyba Profiles exist, so that you can place these personal interests center-stage in a way that a traditional CV or résumé doesn’t really allow you to. Why? Because it’s your personal interests and your pursuit of them that separates you from Joe Bloggs in the race for your desired role.
Google was once the standard-bearer when it came to encouraging employees to pursue personal interests, with its famous “20% time” policy that allowed employees to spend 20 per cent of their time working on personal projects — although this has been interpreted in a few different ways.
Since then, many companies have grabbed the baton and run with it, including the likes of Apple with ‘Blue Sky’, Microsoft with ‘The Garage’, and LinkedIn with ‘InCubator’.
These are all great examples of companies trying to foster and fertilize the talent that they have, and environments that are designed to adapt to the ambitions of their employees.
The Takeaways.
All of the interpretations you’ve just read have something in common: it’s not just about what you have to offer the company; finding the job that excites you is equally (if not moreso) about what the company and the job has to offer you.
It’s also apparent that ‘exciting’ jobs are about people: human beings just like us. Your job should allow you to affect the paths of other people and get something in return, whether those people are your colleagues or your ‘clients’. When you reach a point where you feel like you’re constantly learning and developing — both as a person and as a professional — and that you’re also making a positive impact with your talent, the excitement will flow naturally like a rapper in ‘the zone’.
Finally, finding an exciting job can be a short–term goal, but the rewards to be reaped from doing so will reverberate far into the future. It is often said that we so-called ‘millennials’ are a generation that is unsuited to remaining in one job or career for their entire lives. While that may be true, we’re also (generally) a generation that is blessed with a relative abundance of choice in various aspects of life.
Therefore, when it comes to making choices about our careers, why should we settle for any job, just for the sake of having one, when we could have a job that not only pays the bills, but also enriches us on a personal level?
Keep these things in mind during your search for a job, and you should start to find yourself feeling a little less anxious about the whole thing.
And if you’re still unsure after reading this, let us know so we can help.
Words: Chuk Ikéh
Originally published at blog.tyba.com on March 5, 2015.
