Like many job hunters out there, I "really" need a job to deal with financial matters. I left my previous job in June of 2010 and have not had regular income since then. Every month that passes by I feel more and more pressure from myself and from "everyone else" to get a job - any job - to fulfill those imaginary obligations.
But I find myself applying to jobs that I might not necessarily want. At first I thought that I was just doing my duty as a responsible job-hunting citizen. Isn't that what we're all supposed to do? Just GET A JOB? However, I've chosen to remind myself of the end game. Remember that we get our degrees in order to be qualified for certain jobs that will afford us the lives we want in order to be HAPPY.
We tend to forget the "happy" part somewhere in our single-minded pursuit of a job.
I have seen both myself and my husband when we have jobs we don't want. We carry chips on our shoulders the size of Brooklyn. We snap at each other, have trouble sleeping, and have even more trouble getting up in the morning. We lose our will to fight and we are certainly anything but happy. For career-minded individuals, our professions are very important to us. We need them to be fulfilling and if they aren't, it bleeds into every aspect of our lives.
I understand that there are people out there who really, rock-bottom, have absolutely no choice and must apply for anything that is out there. I respect that. But for some of us, it's more of a choice than we realize. While it's painful to consider letting go of our cherished status-symbols, do we really need the house, the car, and the iphone? Do we need the plasma and the the Christian Louboutins? You're probably begrudgingly saying, "of course not," but really think about it for a moment. It is an active and difficult decision to make; downgrading your lifestyle. But it's a decision I am seriously considering at the moment, because I would rather be happy and jobless than unhappy and well-furnished.
The reason why these thoughts are in the back of my mind is because I keep seeing jobs that I find genuinely interesting, but they are not in my state, or they don't pay enough. My husband and I have a definitive figure in our minds that, if this figure is not met, we will lose our home. We automatically dismiss any and all jobs that don't meet this criteria, and frankly, I'm getting tired of it. I'm tired of being scared all the time. I'm tired of turning away from opportunities that might make me happy just because it means downsizing in order to accept it.
Misery loves company, but so does hope. Join me in deciding to be happy. Only apply for jobs that you really would love to do, regardless of the status it imparts or if it's what you went to school for. Sometimes we're qualified for things we never even dreamed of, which is the problem - we've stopped dreaming. We think we're stuck, but maybe we're not.
I just graduated with a Masters Degree in Library Information Science. Therefore, I am applying to every library job I find out there. However, I'm also qualified to be an English teacher, a social software media specialist, a marketing guru, a child care worker, a dog trainer, an opera singer, a yoga instructor, a Second Life tour guide, a journalist, or a speculative fiction editor. It's about time I reopened some closed doors and chase down some happy. You should too.
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