As technology continues to change the nature of work and the workforce, more and more jobs will require additional investments in time and money for education and training. A report from the Strada Institute for the Future of Work released in January of this year suggests more than 32 million working-class Americans are at risk of being left behind even further unless we figure out how to scale-up on-ramp education and training programs designed to put them on a quicker path to upward mobility.
At the same time, workers may find themselves wondering, should our professions bring us purpose and fulfillment? In his famous commencement speech to Stanford, Steve Jobs urged grads to “love what you do.” But is that great career advice?
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, doesn’t necessarily think you need to love your job. On LinkedIn’s Hello Monday podcast, LinkedIn Senior Editor Jessi Hempel talks about this with Gilbert, who opens up about choosing a calling over a career, and why “do what you love” isn’t always great career advice.
You can read a transcript of the interview here.
WorkingNation has addressed connecting your work to your purpose in life by featuring columns from best-selling author Dr. Mark Goulston and Mick Kubiak, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in parent counseling and life coaching.
“Many of us associate our job with our purpose in life. It’s so common, in fact, that often we are not even conscious of the fact that our job and our purpose in life are two separate things that sometimes overlap, and sometimes do not,” Kubiak writes. “Believing that your job and your purpose in life are one and the same can be quite harmless, so long as nothing ever changes. As long as we have a lifelong guarantee of job stability and security, we can go on without ever suffering from this mistaken belief, and no real harm will come to us. Until we retire, that is. This is why retirement is so often associated with existential confusion if not outright despair.”
There are organizations offering solutions for workers who are reskilling and students looking to find the right career pathway. Dr. Goulston mentions a program called Path2HappiSuccess. The program helps students determine their top career, best major and path in life, and has resulted in 70 million U.S. workers actively considering a career change.
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