Why don't more people love their work?

A recent Gallup Report indicates that 70% of American workers are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged”. While I confess to having no idea what “actively disengaged” means, I
think that’s a pretty grim statistic.

Why is this happening? There are likely many reasons, but my theory is that it’s at least partly due to the way we find jobs. If you’re like most people actively seeking employment, you go online and spray your resume out to anyone and everyone with a “help wanted” sign in their virtual window. You continue spraying until something sticks and when you finally get a job, you assume that it was “meant to be” and thus begins your journey to joining the 70%. There has to be a better way. (Image from Gallup Report, p.36)

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an oral surgeon. I know, weird dream for a kid to have, but when I was 12, I learned that an oral surgeon can make $1,000/hr. So I chose my career at that point.

Spoiler alert…..I’m not an oral surgeon. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I waited far too long to figure out that oral surgery would have been a horrible occupation for me. It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I did what I should have done years before. I went out and did some “informational interviews” with actual oral surgeons. After spending some time with them, it became quite apparent that for a guy like me, pulling teeth for a living would be like, well, a lot like pulling my own teeth.

In perhaps the most important interviews of my life, I learned that:

• Oral surgeons go to 12 years of school AFTER High School
• Oral surgeons spend hours in surgery not talking to anyone
• Oral surgeons spend the majority of their career performing similar surgeries that can become repetitive and monotonous
• Oral surgeons are wicked smart

While they do make a lot of money, those four points were deal breakers for me. I’d have been a miserable oral surgeon, if I ever could have become one at all (see point #4). I’m sure glad I found that out when I was 21, as opposed to 31 and finally performing my first surgeries (or 25 and just realizing I wasn’t wicked smart enough).

So what does that mean to you? Well it means that if you’re currently not working in your dream job, the one you could do until you retire and be engaged every day, then it’s time to start conducting informational interviews. Even if you are part of the fortunate 30% who are engaged in their current jobs, there’s still a good chance this won’t be the last job you’ll have.

Whether you’re in college, just starting your career, or 10-20 years in, well conducted informational interviews can be the key to you continuing to find jobs that keep you engaged and happy at work. In my next post, I’ll give some tips for conducting a great informational interview, but until then, try this:

• Make a list of three people who are doing something you think you’d like to do one day
• Get on the horn and set up some time for a few informational interviews
• Remember, you’re not selling yourself or job hunting, you’re just asking for advice
• Keep it short, tell them you’re impressed with what they’ve done, then ask how they got to where they are
• Ask questions that show you've done your research and that you're genuinely interested in learning
• Close by thanking them and asking them if there is anyone else you should be speaking with
• SEND A THANK-YOU NOTE

It’s as simple as that. Happy interviewing and may you never find yourself “actively disengaged”.