A Detour off the Beaten Career Path
By Ruth Silverman(Soon to be published in The Recruit)
The majority of my clients are seeking a straightforward career path. They want to obtain a ticket that will lead directly to a job. Their task in career planning is to determine which ticket to train for, which beaten path to tread. Others look only for jobs similar to ones that they have done before - the path of least resistance.
In The Butterfly Hunter: Adventures of People who have Found their True Calling Way Off the Beaten Path (Broadway Books, 2006), Chris Ballard presents an alternative to the way most of us view career. Ten profiles of people passionate about their unusual work, including a professional model railroader, mother-daughter handwriting analysts, an artificial eye maker, and the butterfly hunter of the title, offer a glimpse into the rewards of customizing a unique career. This book is a fun, eye-opening read that can potentially be a welcome antidote to those in the throes of career tunnel vision.
What The Butterfly Hunter is not is a how-to guide to doing what you love, nor would I urge everyone to emulate the people profiled in the book. Some of the book's subjects truly forged their own paths with an inner vision and dogged persistence; others just slipped into the "family business". Not all Ballard's subjects are 100% happy; the model railroader considers his work an unhealthy addiction and the butterfly hunter copes with academic politics to make his beloved fieldwork possible. Many of the people profiled are succeeding financially; others are not. To paraphrase Ballard in a narrative about a football kicking coach with cerebral palsy, when it comes to finding a calling, sometimes you have to say, 'to heck with' impracticality but be careful, because impracticality has a habit of saying 'to heck with' you!
OK. So we're not all going to become mushroom gatherers or Lumberjack Games competitors. What lessons can we learn from Ballard's profiles? First and foremost, "that it is important to value, and ferociously protect, what it is you are interested in. Otherwise, it is too easy to listen to others as they tell you what they think you should be doing." Second, that the concept of a "dream job" is, at best, as individual as there are people, and at worst, an unnecessary source of pressure in a world where each individual has several career paths that could be a good fit. Thirdly, that there is no proper balance of work versus other activities for everyone's life, only a proper balance for each individual.
Finally, in analyzing what his subjects have in common, Ballard has identified several factors that may be used as indicators of whether your job is a good fit:
- Do you perceive that you have autonomy in your work?
- In your work, do you find your voice or see beauty?
- Do you feel that you are being the best version of yourself at work? Ballard observes that "people who love their work . love themselves at work."
- Do you feel that you have a lot in common with your colleagues?
- Do you feel slightly anxious about your work? Ballard notes that some apprehension shows that you are engaged in your work and is far preferable to boredom ("the despairing refusal to be oneself").
- Are your idiosyncrasies an asset in your work? This last question is my favourite.
If the job you are heading towards does not seem to have the potential to answer some of these questions in the affirmative, then perhaps The Butterfly Hunter will inspire you to take at least a small detour off your beaten path.
Ruth Silverman, MEd, CCC is a Counsellor/ Facilitator with SCCI Project Restart Ltd.