Job satisfaction: What do you want deep in your heart?

Job satisfaction: What do you want deep in your heart?

By Pri Notowidigdo

JAKARTA (JP): Do you know what you want to do in life? Do you want to help people? Do you want to be rich? Or, do you ask yourself, "What do I stand for?" If you're an older person, perhaps you might ask, "What do I want my legacy to be?"

If what you believe doesn't fit with the beliefs of your company, your employer or fellow workers, then you will not likely stay long nor will you be happy.

What you do -- be it accounting or operations or human resources -- you may do well but your heart isn't in it.

You were told that you should study accounting, for example, because the market demand for accountants had always been high.

You studied hard, you learned the necessary skills and demonstrated that you could be competent in the field. Yet, you sometimes wished that you were doing something else, like marketing.

During a recent seminar, I was not too surprised then to hear a number of ex-bank employees reinforcing what I said above.

In fact, they said that the downsizing of their respective banks was a "blessing in disguise" in that they now were obliged to reflect on who they really were and what they really wanted to do with their lives.

Change for them and even those still "fortunate" to have jobs, means looking at yourself, your beliefs, your relationships and your attitude toward security. You have to ask yourself how much money is enough. You have to think about your core philosophy, about what it means to leave a legacy.

You want to end up where you're most comfortable. This means being with people who have similar values.

Dr. Daniel Kealey, a Canadian expert on international selection said, "When your values do not fit with corporate values, you will undoubtedly experience stress. In fact, this will be a better predictor of stress levels than the lack of fit between your professional qualifications and those demanded by the corporation."

If you're hired to do a job and you lack the skills, you're less stressed than if you're hired to do a job and don't have the beliefs of the person signing your pay cheque.

Interviewers usually ask what you can do. They don't ask about your values, what satisfies you, or what makes you happy or excited.

More job candidates ask what the company wants done and then assess whether they can do it.

In a tough job market like Indonesia, employees don't ask whether they, as individuals, actually value what the company wants done.

Neither do they ask whether they will be comfortable with the way the company wants it done. Result? Stress and the beginning of wanting to do something else.

You have to match your beliefs and your need for satisfaction with what's believed and needed corporately. That doesn't mean changing your beliefs. It means finding an organization that shares them. Or, it may mean starting up your own business.

However, it's impossible to match beliefs when you have not defined your own. Most of us haven't.

It's really all about fulfillment, isn't it?

Being fulfilled is doing the things which makes you feel most alive, which makes you feel good about who you really are.

When was the last time you enjoyed what you were doing so much that you didn't notice time passing? What absorbs you so much that you never feel tired when you do it? These are your personal keys to self-fulfillment.

I have been noticing lately that many people approaching their 50s appear to be searching for something. They appear to be searching for an element of meaning and spirituality that they somehow missed in the university and working life.

Beliefs are the foundation of who you are and the kind of work you do. In fact, they are so deeply embedded that you don't really think about them on a daily basis.

Where are you right now? What do you want deep in your heart? Have you listened to it lately? If you did, where might it lead you?

The writer is an executive search consultant for Amrop International, member firm of The Amrop Hever Group - Global Executive Search. (e-mail: jakarta@amrophever.com)