Millennials now take up a hefty portion of the job market and have very different priorities to the baby boomers that came before them. Job security and high salaries are far less important now than they were before. Nowadays, young people entering the workplace are looking for a sense of fulfilment. This intangible notion is much harder for companies to offer than a certain salary or a generous notice period. Free lunches and other perks are often dangled in front of promising millennials in exchange for their time, but that’s not enough.
At the end of the day, fulfilment comes from within and the only person that can give you true job satisfaction is yourself. But how do you do it? Here are some things you can do to push yourself towards feeling fulfilled in your career.
Do Something For Others
Perhaps the most important element of feeling fulfilled is to feel like you are doing something for someone else. This doesn’t mean you have to spend your whole life volunteering for an NGO. You can have a corporate job and still feel like you’re helping others. You might organise a work charity fundraiser, help on some pro bono work, or champion your company’s diversity scheme. Whatever it is, if it makes a difference to someone other than you, it will take you a step closer to fulfilment.
Opt For a Career With Progression Possibilities
Millennials crave change and challenges. We want to feel like we are constantly moving forward and reaching our full potential. Being stuck in a dead-end job, with no possibility of promotion or progress will suffocate you. You need to feel like you are on a ladder and every day you get closer to climbing the next rung. Fulfilment will come from feeling like you are progressing and not stagnating in the position you already have.
Don’t Take Your Work Home
It can be hard for some people to separate their work and home lives. If you are going home in the evenings and thinking about work then you have a problem. There is nothing wrong with loving your job, but you need to be able to leave it in the office. Stressing about your job after hours is a sure fire way to eventually hating it. If you need to work late, do it in the office and keep your home as a sanctuary where you can be free from work worries.
Don’t Let Money Make Your Decision For You
Big salaries can blindside you and it can be very hard to say no to them. But, ask yourself, “is this what I really want?” You might have convinced yourself superficially that you want that banking job with the big paycheck but is the money really going to make you happy if you are doing a job you hate? It might be hard to take the lower salary, but if it means doing a job that you will enjoy, then it will be worth every penny you didn’t make.
