Thursday, May 13, 2010

Will Work for Food

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to what I want to be when I grow up. There are several books out about “restarting” or “reinventing” your career. One that is on my “to read” list is Richard Florida’s book, The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity (Harper, 2010). I wonder if people really do “reset”. I guess I did when I quit working to be a stay home mom but I don’t think people who have tuitions and mortgages really do switch to new industries or even new areas of their current industry very often. I haven’t found a way to do it without taking a drastic pay cut. Here is what I need from a job:

*A sense of making the world a better place.
*An opportunity to be creative.
*Some sense of autonomy and decision making.
*Human contact.
*Intellectual stimulation.
*At least a little schedule flexibility.
*Enough salary and benefits that I don’t feel I’ve wasted the first 20 years of my career.
*Pride in the organization for which I work.
*AND it needs to be close enough to home that I don't feel I’m wasting too much time and too many resources getting to it.

I get much of this from my current job, but apparently not enough or I wouldn’t even be writing this. I've listed some of the careers I'm considering. They aren't panning out too well. If you have any contacts in any of these fields, please let me know. Networking is a powerful tool.

*Broadway diva (I hear Patti Lupone is retiring.)
*Famous artist (There are no famous Sharpy artists and I think it is about time!)
*Philanthropist and humanitarian (Bill and Melinda need some competition.)
*Supreme Court Justice (I sent my resume to the White House but no word back yet.)
*High school Show Choir star (I've been inspired by the tv show Glee and age discrimination is illegal.)

Am I asking too much to expect these things from a job? Do any of you have jobs that meet all the above criteria? Do you have any suggestions for what careers would let me feel these things? Have I left off any criteria that you think are necessary? Let me hear.