Finding a good job fit depends first on our awareness of the variety of jobs that exist. If you're like me, your counselors in high school and college had not one conversation with you about work. So many of us are ill-prepared to choose a path toward our future. Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries for Well-Rounded Employees
Enter British conceptual artist Chris Evans. He set up events at European art schools at which police officers made recruitment presentations. Initially, these presentations were merely meant to be elements of what would become Evans' video art installation and book. But a funny thing happened on the way to the gallery: Some art students actually signed up for the force.
Evans continued setting up the events, now with a dual purpose in mind. He saw that art students needed to know about other careers since most of them would never become working artists. And he believes police forces should reflect the diversity of our society, a notion that typically focuses only on ethnicity and doesn't include sensibilities.
Recruiters should take note and set up their own events in performing and fine arts schools as well as in liberal arts programs. And they shouldn't stop there.
Ouch! My Job Fit Feels A Little Tight
Once people are in the workforce, it's easy to get stuck in a single track at a single company or industry. Yet in truth, as we acquire new skills and new confidence in the workplace, we need to reexamine the direction we're taking. And we should do it with the company's blessing and assistance. Perhaps someone in accounting could be more useful, not to mention more satisfied, in the Web department. Or maybe a designer is better suited for a career in marketing. Maybe, horror of horrors to the HR department, a new career direction means the employee must move to a new company. (This, by the way, is an old management philosophy—that our goal as managers and employers is to make people widely employable not just for our organization but for any organization. It's a philosophy that continues to buck against an entrenched mindset of corporate ownership: "We trained you, you're ours.")
Career trajectories don't have to be a straight ascent up some imaginary ladder. As we change, so can our jobs. Great companies know this and act on it. But the rest of the business world has a lot of catching up to do.
Where Do I Belong?
For years I've harbored a desire to work in a museum, especially an art museum. But doing what?
Well, while riffling through my back issues of ArtNews magazine yesterday, I was reminded of a position I believe I'm now suited for. I don't think the position has a title. If it did, it might be something like "Art Sentry/Caregiver."
The art is The New York Earth Room, a permanent Dia Art Foundation installation of dirt in a Soho loft. 280,000 pounds of it, to be precise--the brainchild of Walter De Maria.
The employee buzzes visitors into the building, answers questions about the work and artist, and tends the soil and room—eliminating mold, mushrooms, footprints. It's a Zen-like job, manned for nearly 20 years by Bill Dilworth. I've linked Dilworth's name to a 2009 interview with him. If you watch it, you may understand why it made me want the job even more (he gets to read on the job!), and why it dashed all my hopes of ever getting the job (he's 50 years away from retirement AND he LOVES the job).
Sigh. But my point is, Who knew? Who knew such a job existed? Granted, it's not for everyone. And 20 years ago it might not have been for me. But today I might jump at a job ad that reads:
Set hours
Work alone in loft space
Must love art
RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Greet visitors
• Answer questions
• Keep earth pristine
[Head by Picasso.]
No comments:
Post a Comment