Job Search 2006

I think I have made it abundantly clear here that I am after a new profession. Years of living in the otherworldliness of the education system have taken their toll and I am desirous to make the break.

Months of peering at Internet job searches have dampened my enthusiasm for the usual routes, so yesterday I took a leaf out of a curly-haired friend's book and visited a vocational psychologist. It was a refreshing experience and a good place to focus my thoughts amid the cloud of confusion that has been obscured my future vocational path.

It was a relatively brief discussion as most of the time was taken up dealing with the Amsterdam situation. After she gave me the a clean bill of mental health there we got down to it. It was pretty much what I had been expecting (What would you do if I said you could do anything tomorrow?) but it was helpful talking to someone who wasn't at all invested in the situation, plus there were a few interesting insights she threw into the bargain.

In the end she set me up with the Strongman Interest Survey, which I have completed and sent off to the big computers for analysis. The profile that it will spit out is wracked up against the extensive data bank of profiles of workers who are satisfied and happy in their jobs. I am actually quite interested in the outcome.

Even before the results come back I am finding it to be a settling and satisfying process, given that I have just finished with Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling On Happiness. Donald recommended I read the book a couple of months ago and ended up graciously leaving me with his copy. Gilbert is quite adamant that his work is not a self help book. Indeed, it is not until the conclusion of the book that he gives anything resembling forthright advice. His one recommendation: If you want to be happy, listen to other people who are living in your projected existence and follow their advice.

Seems like a good course of action if you ask me. Certainly better than sitting here wondering what the fuck I am going to do with my life.

Tags: job search, psychologist