Finding enjoyable line of work not easy but worth the effort

By Carol Kleiman
Chicago Tribune

Are you allowed the luxury of having a job you love in today's sluggish employment market?

Or is it better to hang on to your job even if you hate it?

"It shouldn't be a luxury to enjoy your work, it should be a given — regardless of the economic times," said Julie Jansen, a career coach based in Stamford, Conn.

Jansen, who has been in the coaching business for 15 years and travels the country giving speeches and seminars, estimates that about 70 percent of all workers are unhappy in their present jobs. And she says they should do something about it.

"It's important to be in a job that makes you happy, because you spend so much time at work, and it affects you emotionally, physically and professionally," said Jansen, author of "I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This: A Sept by Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work" (Penguin $14). The book's title was the subject of a talk she gave recently to the Society of Human Resource Professionals in Chicago.

The career coach knows personally what it's like to be unhappy at work.

"In 1999, I had a job in sales and I was miserable," said Jansen, who has worked in corporate America.

"The company was filled with Harvard MBAs who thought sales was the bottom of the food chain and who disrespected me. The culture was all wrong for me. I knew immediately I shouldn't have taken the job — which I took to improve my skills — but I was there for over a year."

Being miserable, she says, "hurt my relationships, gave me a bad attitude, made me unhappy. The first six months I gave it my best shot, but after that, some days, I couldn't even get out of bed. I'd stay at home reading books when I was supposed to be out selling."

Finally, she quit.

"I realized the job was destroying me, and I knew I had to get out of there," Jansen said. "So I started my own business, and it's doing very well."

But the transition to doing what you enjoy rather than what makes you unhappy isn't an easy one. It requires careful planning, according to Jansen.

"You have to take charge of the process," she said. "And first of all, in order to find more satisfying and meaningful work, you have to figure out what's making you unhappy, so you don't make the same mistake again."

Once you know where you're coming from, you have to figure out where you're going, she says. "Identify the obstacles that may stand in your way," Jansen advised. "And then you have to decide which are real and which are something in your mind, such as if you think you're too old to change."

Next, research your options.

"Look at the opportunities in other jobs, other fields, or starting your own business. Perhaps you should focus on getting more education to make more money down the road."

Make the decision about what you want to do.

"I wanted to start my business and I did," Jansen said. "Trust your intuition, and don't listen to any naysayers."

The final step is to put your plan to work, whether it's "changing careers, staying where you are but shifting the kind of work you do, becoming an entrepreneur or even retiring."

I asked Jansen how long the process takes. "Longer than you expect," she said, "but it's worth it. I love what I do now. It fulfills my values, needs, and makes me happy — and it can happen to anybody. But it's not easy to do, and that's why most people stay where they are."

And are miserable.