Working on the Careershifters’ stand at the recent Vitality show, I noticed that quite a number of people said they didn’t really care about the work they were doing currently, or about the sector or organisation they were part of. These were among the key reasons they wanted to career-shift. But they often didn’t know what they wanted to career shift to – what direction to move in. And they seemed surprised to be asked what it was that would have meaning for them.
For me, having the awareness that you don’t care about what you’re doing naturally gives rise to the question – what DO you care about, what WOULD have meaning for you? If you can work that out, then you can identify a career which puts what you care about at the centre, spending your working time contributing to what matters to you.
Is ‘what we care about’ different from our values? Yes, although they may both be two sides of the same coin. Career-shifting people often cite values such as commitment, integrity, respect, honesty and fairness, and want to follow a career-path driven by these qualities in themselves and in the others around them. But each of these values can be applied in a diversity of contexts, and this is where ‘what we care about’ comes into play.
So for example, Clare values respect and fairness; she cares about her husband, her young children, and what goes into the food they eat: previously a business analyst, she is now developing a part-time career with a Fair Trade importer. Her friend Rick also values respect and fairness, but he cares about art, people having to live on the streets, and mental health; as an art therapist, he chooses work in a charity for young people who have become homeless because of their sexuality. Clare and Rick both care about their work, and it has meaning for them.
So – what do you care about?
- Draw an image of your life as an onion, a series of concentric rings. The inside ring is your immediate world, the next, that of your nearest and dearest, and the outermost, as far into the world as you care to imagine. Spend some time thinking about what you care about in each of these rings. What would you like to change for the better? What motivates you to initiate that change? If you were a philanthropist, what causes would you give your money to? Whose life would you like to improve? What aspect of that life? Where would you start?
- Get hold of one of the big Saturday or Sunday papers and sit down with a pair of scissors (and a coffee). Scan through the paper, and lightly holding the question, What do I care about? in your mind, cut out every article that catches your eye, from every section (including ones you don’t usually read). When you’ve got your random pile, sort through it, noticing themes evolve. What excites you? Worries you? What has meaning for you? What would you like to contribute to? What would it be like to let these themes guide your career-shift? What is the first step in that direction? When could you make it?
© Andrea Perry May 2010
If you’d like help identifying what you care about as the basis of a new career direction, contact Andrea Perry at apconsultancy@hotmail.co.uk: discounted session fee for the first ten people wanting to address this issue.
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