Listen to our podcast episode with guest speaker Jennifer Luke on finding meaningful employment and increasing your employability here: KYCC Podcast EP 4 – Finding meaning in employment w/ Jennifer Luke

There’s a lot being written and spoken about, in the media, about meaningful employment.

Indeed, I’ve noticed this in conversation with my clients of all ages. I think this is partly due to the pandemic. Even pre-pandemic, popular culture has given us insight into the notion of finding a job that excites us.

We only have to watch a couple of episodes of Masterchef Australia to hear the stories of so many people of all ages. They report going into a career that gave them no joy and finally realised what was important to them. In those cases, it was making and sharing their food creations. Here’s a video link.

What is meaningful work?

Researcher Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Jennifer Luke, is an expert in the topic of meaningful work. Her work currently focuses upon the benefits of meaningful work on human well-being. She has been studying the ability of individuals to find work and the motivations behind their job searches. In other words, what it is that people are seeking, beyond the security of ongoing employment and the financial reward, or status.

Jennifer has found that those motivations, for some, are around connectedness, relationship-building and autonomy, plus other factors, such as flexibility. Others are motivated differently. They may wish to work independently of others, so that being part of  a connected team is of less importance.

It’s significant to note, therefore, that everyone is different and will in turn be motivated by different “Work Attractors”; those draw-cards that a recruiter lists to ‘sell’ a job to job seekers. What is meaningful for you may not e so important to your partner, or your child.

Meaningful Work – The role of the Career Coach

Jennifer goes on to stress that it isn’t easy to translate your career curiosity and career confidence into results, around gaining meaningful work, without the support of a professional career coach. This is where we come in. At Karen Your Career Coach we can help you to prioritise the work attractors that you identify, in discussion and structured activities and communicate this well to your current and potential recruiters. We also support your research into options around skills acquisition, either through formal training or by means of work experience placements and volunteering activities.

Episode 4 of the Karen Your Career Coach Podcast

I’m sharing this blog on the topic of meaningful work with you, so that I can also share the link for the 4th in our series of Karen Your Career Coach Podcast. This is where we discuss all things work and careers, with hosts Lachlan Watts and Jemima Nash. Jennifer was our guest for the 4th episode in this, our first season of career coaching podcasts. I encourage you to listen in. Our podcasts are only 15-minutes long and really informative. I hope you enjoy the discussion on employability, the job search and the importance of paying attention to what an employer/organisation and a role will bring.

If you are seeking something more meaningful to you, contact us at www.karenyourcareercoach.com.au/contact/