Chapter 1 says we have been living in a time of changing values. Where past ideals of a admirable career have come to include family and friend relations as well. This change has in turn created less devotion to career and more of a desire for balance between work and our outside life. This is described by Eisenberg as quality of life, which is "overall satisfaction with ... work experience in the context of other life experiences, constraints and aspirations." With this new idea of quality of life employees are also seeking careers that are fullfilling and workplaces that provide a healthy enviroment to harvest interpersonal relationships with co-workers. Work is not seen as a negative thing we have to do, but something that makes us feel good.
This is a nice concept, however with the current economic struggles it seems that we are lucky to even have jobs. The book continues to say that with millions of unemployed or underemployed people in the United States not many can afford to have preference. While some are seeking more meaningful work, Eisenberg notes we should be setting goals to create at least some quality to life for those of even the lowest class.
I know with graduating in the upcoming year I am definitely going to be looking for a job that will provide me with sense of satisfaction and appreciation for what I do. I hope that I can find this quality in my life after college, but I remain realistic about my situation. Even in my past working experiences as a student I have saught jobs that I would enjoy, but I can only do so much with my experience and time availabilities. This is a compromise we all have to make when choosing jobs. The main point is that our main goal is no longer to have a succesful career (and become "workaholics"), but rather, we want to have a balance between a good job and a happy life outside of work. I know I feel that way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Nice post! I couldn't agree more. It's interesting to see the shift between 9-5 office jobs and people having more of a balance between work and outside life. So many more people have been working from home in the last few years. I am feeling very nervous about graduation this year, knowing the status of our economy. And I know so many overly qualified graduates who are struggling to find a job. It's true that even finding a job that you don't want is hard. And it's smart that you are being realistic (I definitely need to try to be more realistic) about finding jobs post-college. As Eisenberg says, we need to be setting goals every step of the way.
ReplyDeleteYour blog has good point. It's no surprising to hear that people are getting lay off from their jobs because of the slump in the economy. I agree with you that those who still has a job are really lucky in this time of turmoil and it shouldn't be a burden for us to put work as one of the priorities at this time. In the book, the author mentioned that some companies are accommodating to the needs of employees to balance out work and personal life. The way I see it is though as if people are still sacrificing for work which seems essential for this generation. Although the companies are giving child care services, flexible hours, etc... the employees must put everything aside when it's time to deal with responsibility of work.
ReplyDeleteAnd who knows, it is possible to have 24/7 personal driver by next 10 years when this generation is on top of the game.