Turn the Job You Hate Into One You Love

By Alex in Everything Else on Dec 5, 2009 at 12:21 pm

It’s kind of like that Crosby Stills Nash and Young song "if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with", but instead of love, substitute job.

Jeremy Caplan of TIME Magazine has a handy dandy guide to "job-crafting" that will (hopefully) turn the job you hate into a better one. For example:

Step 2: Diagram Your Day
To lay the groundwork for change, job-crafting participants assemble diagrams detailing their workday activities. The first objective is to develop new insights about what you actually do at work. Then you can dream up fresh ways to integrate what the job-crafting exercise calls your "strengths, motives and passions" into your daily routine. You convert task lists into flexible building blocks. The end result is an "after" diagram that can serve as a map for specific changes.

Ina Lockau-Vogel, a management consultant who participated in a recent job-crafting workshop, says the exercise helped her adjust her priorities. "Before, I would spend so much time reacting to requests and focusing on urgent tasks that I never had time to address the real important issues." As part of the job-crafting process, she decided on a strategy for delegating and outsourcing more of her administrative responsibilities.

In contrast to business tomes that counsel managers to influence workers through incentives, job-crafting focuses on what employees themselves can do to re-envision and adjust what they do every day. Given that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it now takes the average job seeker more than six months to find a new position, it’s crucial to make the most of the job you’ve got.

Tags: employment, job, job-crafting

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

Old Geezer
Dec 5th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
So, forget the bonus, stop whining and just be happy. Is that it? And for that it took a whole book?
Gauldar
Dec 5th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
If you love your job, you won’t have to work for another day in your life.
HollywoodBob
Dec 5th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
^Nobody can love their job that much. That’s like saying raising a family isn’t work.

Sometimes no matter how much you “love” something, it’ll get on your nerves.

This is just more capitalist propaganda to make people not be pissed about being wage slaves.
Robin
Dec 5th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
How do I learn to love a job that has not given me a raise in 8 years, has a sale director that makes me do half of his job, and a boss that won’t listen to anyone who isn’t male?
PaulVI
Dec 5th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Nice work if you can get it,/
And you can get it….

If your parents had the same attitude
and didn’t just steer you into the field
with the highest (perceived) probability
of high income, high job security,
autonomy and respect.

(E.g., physician, lawyer. Not teacher. Pity if you were “born to teach” but took the long journey through medical school to realize this.)
Gauldar
Dec 5th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Well, I thought it was a nice quote from my Screen Printing instructor, thanks for pissing on his memory. Even though, my favorite from him was:

“My wife once told me if I lost 1/2 an inch off my dick, I’d have a second belly button.”
detarmatol
Dec 5th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
“so if you can’t be with the one you job, job the one you’re with..”?
AmbroseC
Dec 5th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Technically, the song “Love The One You’re With” was originally released by Stephen Stills as a solo act, although CSN&Y did have a version on their “Four Way Street” album.

In terms of relationships, I have to say, it’s always struck me as incredibly bad advice…
GailW
Dec 5th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Trivia: “Love the One You’re With” was written by Stephen Stills about / for his then-girlfriend, who eventually became the mother of actress Christina Applegate.
Hmmm
Dec 6th, 2009 at 9:47 am
So, to summarize:

1. Ask for more responsibility that you won’t be paid for and still have to do 100% of the job you were hired for.
2. Get someone else to do the crap you don’t want to.
3. Point out to your boss that you’d rather do something other than the job you were hired for which he/she needs you to do and who will have a nice talk with you about your attitude come review time.
4. Pitch ideas to your boss who will either take credit for them, reject because they fear you’re gunning for their job or be the jerk who convinces the idiot in the next cubicle that whitewashing fences is super fun.

This book is written by the classic example of someone who has never had a support level job and has no idea about the reality of corporate life. It sounds like a blueprint for the typical douchebag manager to more effectively ream the people who report to him/her.

Most people don’t hate their jobs. They hate the conditions under which they have to do their jobs. If they worked someplace that would allow these suggested changes, they wouldn’t hate their jobs in the first place. What a joke. Is it filed in the humor section?
Not the Amy that's a registered user.
Dec 6th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
“Most people don’t hate their jobs. They hate the conditions under which they have to do their jobs.”

Amen. I love what I do. I despise the people above me who keep our department from becoming the highly-effective dept I know it can be.

Vive la revolution!
Neal
Dec 7th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Stealing a little bit of office supplies each day can turn any dull job into a fun time.

Keep track of the comments with

Don't Miss: New Stuff | Bestsellers | The Cute Store
Funny T-Shirts

Need a gift? Get unforgettable gifts for:
Geeks | Pranksters | Kids | Hipsters | Shutterbugs

The latest from NeatoBambino: