Article by Wendy McCance

I have always been under the impression that your job could never have all the components to truly satisfy your needs unless you had your own business.  I have had jobs that filled a need financially and then some, fulfilled my need to work in a career that truly fascinated me or a job where the people who I worked with were people I adored and loved working with.  Never had I had a job where all of these components fit together.

I have gotten close to the ideal.  I’ve had jobs where I loved the people, the atmosphere and the money wasn’t bad.  Unfortunately, those jobs were dead-end jobs with no growth or challenges to conquer.   I have also had jobs where I excelled, made a fairly good income but the people I worked with really wore me down.  Was there really such thing as having it all in your career?

I have been mentioning the changes my husband and I have been going through (looking for new jobs and restructuring our lives).  I have started a career in Real Estate and I feel I have finally hit my ideal.  Everyone at work is busy selling homes, the money is there.  The atmosphere is incredibly supportive and friendly.  I have never worked with such a wide range of truly nice, authentic individuals who really take care of each other and enjoy each others company.  I have found the job that challenges me, a job that I really enjoy, an atmosphere that is happy and an ability to make some good money.  One other thing that this job is wonderful for, a family life.  To be able to work around the family schedule is in itself worth so very much.

I was talking about this with my husband the other day.  My husband had recently applied for his dream job.  Although the company doesn’t hire people without at least a Bachelor’s Degree, the company was intrigued with my husband and his experience.  He did get the job and has been floating on cloud nine ever since.  He loves the attitude of the people he has met, the challenges of the job and the pay raise which was substantial.

Somehow, with in a short span of time from each other, we both found the jobs we didn’t think existed.  The two things we did differently when looking was going after the job we really wanted instead of letting the economy dictate our lives and put us in a job just to have a job.  The other thing we did was act brutally honest in the interview.  Instead of saying the things that most employers want to hear (and that the career counselors say are important ways to handle an interview) we were straight forward and stunningly honest about why we wanted a change and what we were looking for.

Maybe we were bold because we half thought the jobs were out of our reach and it felt  good to say the things we honestly felt about our current job.  I know that my goal was to really showcase my personality.  I figured that if I was hired, I would be with like-minded individuals (which worked).  My husband let his new employer know that he had been stretched so thin that he never felt like he could give 100% to any project and that although he is good at learning on his feet, there were gaps in his knowledge because of his many job duties.  He also said that he was looking for another job because he wasn’t making enough money.  These were two statements I thought would have doomed him from being hired.  I was wrong and I’m thrilled that I was.

I now see that you can have everything you want in a job.  The tricks are: patience, truly understanding what you want in a job and not giving canned answers.  A little honesty goes a long way in providing you the opportunity to be matched well with a future employer.

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Wendy McCance

Wendy McCance is a Michigan based freelance writer and social media consultant. Wendy has gained attention as the founder of the popular blog Searching for the Happiness which can be viewed in 9 local papers online, including the Oakland Press. The combination of writing skills and social media knowledge is what makes Wendy such a powerhouse to work with. Stay tuned for opportunities to advertise, guest post and as always, have your questions answered.

To contact Wendy McCance about a writing or social media assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]

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