Is your Job Meaningful?

Is your Job Meaningful?

Finding a purpose in your job is important for millennials and in fact for everybody.
Nevertheless, many people have a job that they don't regard as meaningful. Therefore, they are not completely satisfied.
This is not really surprising, especially when realizing that many common occupations are not immediately associated with ‘meaning’. Think about jobs like: cashier, sales representative, administrative employee, factory worker.

But, doesn't it just depend on the way people define the word ‘meaningful’ when it comes to having a job? The former mentioned occupations, in the end, also help others within society. When ‘meaningful’ is associated with ‘giving’ and ‘helping others’, it means that nearly any role in any company can be seen as meaningful; each employee contributes to society In his/her own way.

Finding meaning in your job requires reframing the work you perform as a chance to help others, and being conscious about the ways in which your job ‘gives’ to society and/or how it supports yourself or the ones you love.
There are several ways to find the meaning in your job:

1. CONNECTING WITH END USERS: It makes you aware of the way in which your job helps others (the end users).
2. REMEMBER YOUR ORGANIZATION’S OVERARCHING MISSION
3. REALIZE HOW YOUR WORKS HELPS YOUR BELOVED: Even if an organization’s mission does not fit within your definition of ‘meaning’, a mindset that thinks about the ways in which your job supports the ones you love can be helpful in finding a motivation. A study found that those who regard their work as supporting their families were more productive than those that regard their work as ‘not meaningful’.

The main message is that having a job that you do not see as your one true calling does not mean your job can't be meaningful. Reframing your work through the above steps can help you see the relevance of your job.

⇒ How do you think about reframing your job in order to find meaning?

Source: Smith, Esfahani E., (2017), How to Find Meaning in a Job that isn't your True Calling, HBR August 2017.

		Comments Sort by date Sort by rating Rating
		2 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Kitten and Cat Perspective of Meaning A cat will shift its kitten by holding it with its teeth at some place in its neck which is safe and... Sign up

		6 Josephat Olwal Ngesah Kenya
	Is your Job Meaningful? This is an interesting topic and question.I would react to it by asking another question, do you liv... Sign up

		4 Javier Elenes Business Consultant, Mexico
	A Way to Reframe a Job from Makings Products to Building a New Country When I was Managing Director of a bearings manufacturer which was coping with a big challenge, and n... Sign up

		3 Henegar Director
	Asking yourself "Is my Job Meaningful"? It is good to see a young person at the dawn of her career asking this question. Over the years (4 d... Sign up

		3 Doaa Saayed Professor, Lebanon
	Choose a Study and Job you Like In my opinion, choosing a job you like will lead you to having a meaningful job… This already start... Sign up

		4 C.L. Kappagomtula Professor, Malaysia
	Every Job Has Significance and Meaning Attached! We may tend to think, that some jobs have no meaning attached and hence the person doing that job ma... Sign up

		1 joseph lemarleni Manager, Kenya
	Asking Yourself: Is My Job Meaningful? It is much okay to say a job is meaningful because of someone's motivation associated in doing the j... Sign up

		2 Sridhar Gopal Management Consultant, India
	It's All About Alignment! To me as a business consultant and career mentor, I feel a job becomes your energizer when it aligns... Sign up

		1 Engel Project Manager, Germany
	Is your Job Meaningful Good question - and good quote by Steve Jobs. Reasoning about the meaning of jobs is always well ac... Sign up

		2 Jose Luis Figueroa Management Consultant, Mexico
	3 Factors for a Meaningful Job A meaningful job is the one that is in line with your professional growth expectation (vision 5 - 10... Sign up

		0 fred siyoi Manager, Kenya
	A Meaningful Job Must Balance Needs In my frame, a meaningful job should satisfy the balance between different competing needs. These a... Sign up

		1 anwer abdalla mohammed abubakr Lecturer, Saudi Arabia
	Is your Job Meaningful? Regardless of the job satisfaction, I think it's meaningful to participate and be active in the soci... Sign up

		1 Oula denis Ignatius Accountant, Uganda
	Meaningful for Whom? Meaningfulness of a job may be looked at from different perspectives. It may be from an employer's p... Sign up

		2 Josephat Olwal Ngesah Kenya
	What Motivates YOU in a Job may not Necessarily be what Motivates ME. @joseph lemarleni, you will be surprised what "motivation" means to different people. Different peop... Sign up

		2 S. Lago Business Consultant, Canada
	What is Enough? Job satisfaction is tied to life satisfaction and is different for each individual. Most unhappiness... Sign up

		1 Theophilus Mothusi Melaetsa HR Consultant, Botswana
	Self Management is Key for Making your Job Meaningful to You Is your job meaningful? MEANINGFUL, without searching the word in a dictionary, may refer to a lot o... Sign up

		2 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Examples of Reframing Meaningful Work Anneke I like the image of ‘reframing’ roles to show people their part in the ‘big picture’. Your t... Sign up