What Does it Take to Love Your Job?

If you are unhappy in your job, you don't need to read industry statistics (up to 70% of workers are disengaged) to confirm it—you just know.

There can be many easy to spot reasons for your personal disengagement. You may not get paid enough, or you have a boss that doesn't understand or respect you. Perhaps your working conditions are challenging, or maybe you're expected to do things that don't match your experience or desires.

That last bit is worth exploring because it exposes one of the biggest sources of discontent and reduced productivity. It also reveals an area with the greatest potential for improvement.

People feel disengaged when the role is misaligned with how they are hardwired.

Richard is a logical, left-brained person but suddenly finds himself in a role that demands right-brained creativity. Will he be happy? Maybe he will for a day or two because it's new and he's always been up for a challenge, but soon he will feel like he's wearing somebody else's shoes.

Darla is the kind of person that likes to stay in the sidelines and gather information in a supporting role, but suddenly she finds yourself in a position where she has to take charge and lead others. The experience makes her feel intensely uncomfortable.

Here's another example. Charlene is a natural people-person, the kind of individual that makes friends easily in any social situation. She is really good at motivating others and building consensus among different perspectives. Then life throws her a curve ball and her job changes. She now works in isolation 90% of the time, devoid of human contact and opportunity to engage others. Her job satisfaction plummets.

What do these scenarios have in common?

It's not incompetence; all of these individuals excel at their core role. The challenge comes when they are taken out of their natural element.

Apocryphal as it is, there is a meme quoting Albert Einstein as saying:

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

The three scenarios we mentioned have a common thread: these folks were placed in roles that were not in line with how they are hardwired.

This concept of being hardwired for a role goes way beyond education and experience. There are many people—perhaps you are one—that spend their entire career in a field that doesn't fit their natural self. They may even find success in their job, but there is always an element of struggle, something that just doesn't fit.

What does it take to love your job?

The statistics predict which camp you're likely in. 70% of workers are disengaged, and up to 23% are actively disengaged—they consciously or unconsciously do things to sabotage their role. This means there is greater than a 9 in 10 chance that you are in a role that doesn't match your natural self.

What can be done about it?

The first step is to first, know thyself.

Taking the Greek philosopher's advice, to find out what role lines up with how you are hardwired, you must first find out how you are hardwired.

PRO TIP: Take a quality psychometric assessment like the Core Values Index. It has a 97.7% repeat reliability rating, making it the most reliable psychometric assessment on the market today.

Study your assessment results to learn where your strengths lie. Gain the insights you need to understand what roles will be counter to the way you think and process and interact with the world. Define yourself.

Get authentic and find the true you.

Once you understand your own hardwiring, you can then seek out roles that align with it. If your employer hasn't sanctioned your psychometric assessment, share your results with them. Work with your supervisor to find a role that more closely matches your profile. They benefit because they will have a role filled by someone who has the emotional, psychological, and intellectual hardwiring to excel in that position. You will benefit because it will feel like you're wearing shoes custom fit just for you.

If you must change jobs, use a job site^[1] like eRep.com/jobs/ that integrates psychometric assessment results to find a new role that matches your particular profile.

Data shows that workers matched to a role via their Core Values Index profile are up to 200% more productive, with 50%+ reduced turnover. Both you and your employer wins.

What does it take to love your job? Take the Core Values Index psychometric assessment, study your profile, and seek out a role that matches it.

NOTES:

[1] We are being kind when we say 'use job sites' (plural) because currently eRep.com is the only site that offers this level of psychometric profile-to-job matching service. It's called a Top Performer Profile™ and it really works.