Today I have been reading a number of articles online and I saw a company advertising a job with the slogan ‘Exciting jobs are hard to come by. Get paid to do what you love!’ My first thought was that the headline really did grab my attention and made me read further (Boss if you are reading this, I am not looking for a new job don’t worry!). It then got me thinking about my job here at Out the Office and how I really do appreciate my job. Waking up every morning, I like knowing that I will be productive today, and this is because I do actually enjoy it. I look forward to coming in every day and pushing the business to the next level. I have a real passion for events and seeing that I have done everything I can to put a smile on the clients faces. Passion is not something you follow; passion is something that will follow you as you put in the hard work to become valuable to the world.
I really do think it is important to have a job you enjoy and be in a company that allows you to flourish. My job pays well (unless the boss is reading, in that case I would like more) and I have job satisfaction, which really shows through our results. We have great clients and we receive fabulous feedback. Can you really have both? Of course you can!
The conventional thinking of money and job satisfaction comes from a theory developed by the psychologist Frederick Herzberg. He proposed that there were two sets of factors in the workplace. One group, known as motivators, cause satisfaction. These are things like achievement, advancement and interest in work. The other group, called hygiene factors, cause dissatisfaction if they are absent – and salary is part of this group. So, if you don’t earn enough you will be dissatisfied. Lucky I love my job eh! There is a huge element of achievement in this job; putting on a class event while at the same time changing people’s opinions of teambuilding.
So let me tell you a little story, I was at Bournemouth University studying Business and specialising in Project & Operations Management (I am not sure why I picked it now but it seemed the right choice at the time). After University I had no idea what I wanted to do, I didn’t really have a path and I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. You could say I was letting time pass by. I had previous experience in hospitality so I started working for a popular restaurant chain, but I knew my heart wasn’t in it.
After working there for a while I quickly started to lose any interest that I had, the passion wasn’t there but I continued to work hard and do a good job. I used to dread the thought of going to work, the drive in seemed so long and I used to spend my shift clock watching, thinking when can I get out of here. I started to feel a bit depressed and thought why am I working in something that I literally hate as it’s affecting me in a lot of negative ways. It finally hit me and I thought there MUST something better for me out there. The very next day I handed my notice in and the countdown begun.
It may have been a silly move to leave a job and not have anything else confirmed but it felt right and the pressure was released. I felt happier instantly. Looking back now it was the best decision I have made in my life!
The next stage was to get a job I enjoyed – something I wanted to work hard for. I managed to fall into working in events and started to work freelance doing a number of fun and exciting events around the UK. I was doing a fun team building event and it hit me, (I had my lightbulb moment), could this be the career for me? What’s not to like? Your outdoors a lot, meeting different people every day and having fun while getting paid. I had a meeting with the MD and we got on well and the vibes were good, (guessing she fancied me). I got a full time job and I was a very happy man. The next stage of my life begun and the passion grew from there.
2.5 years on and I am still working for the company and I’m now Head of Events. I love my job and it feels weird to think of life beforehand. I even met my girlfriend here and we have a beautifully little rascal because of it. I still look forward to working every day and the team we are building here is great fun. I really do think it is important to love your job and everyone can sense how enthusiastic we are because of the passion we possess. We all want to do a great job and push the business on!
So what do I love about the events industry and the job then? Is it the many laugh out loud moments we have? Is it the variety and creativity of the job, or is it seeing our positive impact and how people blossom? Actually it is all of these plus many more. Here at ‘Out the Office’ it has been great to see the rise of the company from where we have come to what we are looking for in the future and a big part of that is because the employees love their job.
We have been looking for a new placement student recently and we have been really trying to convey why we love the job and why they should be interested in working here. There is never a dull moment and a lot of satisfaction is to be had in creating something from scratch and seeing the success to the end. We only want employees that will fit in to our work family and that will appreciate the exciting job that comes with it.
The lesson is – enjoy your job and be happy!
Over and out!