5 tips to bag that purposeful career
1. Get clear on your values
Figure out the north star of your decision-making in life and conclude with a personal mission statement. Taking the time to write down your values and understand what is truly important to you, will make it much easier to align yourself with causes and companies. If you need help figuring that out check out our values workbook here.
2. Figure out your purpose
If you want purpose and impact within your job, you’ve got to find out what will give you that. Keeping your values as a cornerstone, figure out what you want to contribute to in life and go with it (or at least experiment so you’ll know in the long run). It could be helping to close the gender leadership gap like the female factor, contributing to a more sustainable world through their packaging and paper products like Mondi or building software to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace like Kollektiv MFG. Knowing your values may also give you insight into what gives you purpose.
3. Find that matching company
It is standard practice for companies to demonstrate their values on their website or through their social media. Do your research, read those ‘about us’ pages and find the companies with matching values.
Working in healthcare, education, public service or for non-profit organisations can all be purposeful careers, but an impactful job isn’t just limited to the public sector. There are many companies operating within the private sector that provide jobs with purpose and meaning. You can be contributing to a better world by working at a company that lives by sustainability or you could consider a role that contributes to purpose internally like a D&I officer or sustainability officer.
4. Look in the right places
Looking for open positions on job platforms that screen companies before displaying them can save you a lot of time. Job platforms are also responding to this demand for more purposeful careers and various different sites will only showcase jobs at companies that fit their respective criteria. The female factor job platform screens every company according to a points system including criteria on the company’s policies, history, employee gender balance and ratings on employee review sites before listing them on the platform.
5. Mention that purpose
Once you’ve found a match with a company, be sure to express your interest in their purpose through your application and in the interviews. Having a purpose that aligns with that of your employer leads to higher job satisfaction, a win-win for both sides. How to plug it in will depend on the application process, but you could work it into your CV and highlight any previous work or activities that relate to the purpose or include it as part of an answer on the application form. Did we just provide you with the perfect answer to the dreaded “why do you want to work for us?” question?
Collected from Femalefactor
