A few weeks ago I asked my 14 year-old nephew what he wanted to do for a career. He shrugged and looked up from his phone mumbling “I dunno, whatever pays best”. This kind of response is disappointing, but not altogether surprising.
Young people, and particularly millennials are conditioned to think this way by teachers, career advisors and society as a whole.
We condition people to believe that their own financial well being is the ultimate pursuit. This can see them chasing an unattainable stick on an infinitely telescopic carrot, as the rigors of an unstable economy and an ever-shifting industrial landscape keep on shifting the goalposts.
Of far more importance are the mental well being and emotional satisfaction offered by any chosen career. Of course, people and their personal motivations are extremely diverse, and we all gain psychological and emotional rewards from different stimuli
- Some thrive on challenge, while others need the emotional nourishment of forging interpersonal relationships with colleagues, clients and customers.
- Some crave intellectual stimulation and flourish in careers that encourage continuous learning and development.
- Some dedicate themselves to service and altruism while others are at their best when training and developing their colleagues.
Therefore, creating job satisfaction through emotional well being can be a tricky proposition but there are broadly speaking some roles that are more conducive to emotional well being than others. Here we’ll go over some (very broad) types of emotional gratifications and the best jobs to suit them.
Best jobs for empaths
Empaths thrive on the emotional well being of others and positively impacting the lives of others. They attain emotional gratification through forging positive relationships with others, and altruistic behavior. They’re motivated by chasing the “helper’s high”, the neurochemical injection that we get from helping others that puts a smile on our face and a spring in our step.
Nursing is a fast paced and demanding job that is richly rewarding as nurses positively affect the emotional and physical health of others many times a day in the course of their duties. They also get numerous opportunities for education and development throughout their careers. To get a feel of this, check out these different types of nursing graduate degrees. Teaching allows for many of the same gratifications along with the added bonus of watching children develop in their intellect and skills and the enormous pride that comes with playing a part in that. Caring for the elderly is also tremendously rewarding as you get to share in the enrichment of people’s lives in later years and learn from the wisdom of their decades of life experience.
Best jobs for communicators
If you’re a good communicator you probably consider yourself a ‘people person’. You’re at your best when bouncing ideas off of people and seeing their faces light up as you communicate your ideas to them. Communicators share many common traits with empaths, yet can work remotely without the same need for interpersonal contact. They’re happy getting the point across whether it’s through verbal or written communications.
Communicators will get their emotional wellbeing in spheres such as marketing, content strategy and social media management where they know that thousands of people will experience their work. They also tend to do well in customer service jobs where they can also use their listening skills to build towards a positive resolution.
Best jobs for nature lovers
We can all benefit from more interaction with nature and the great outdoors, but some people have a fundamental need to be with the elements, plants and animals on a daily basis to find emotional fulfillment. As you may expect, careers in the natural sciences are of the greatest benefit to these dispositions while also providing nourishment to the intellect.
Conservation scientists get to spend every day caring for trees, land and natural resources enabling them to engage with nature while helping to preserve the planet for future generations, while zoologists and wildlife biologists dedicate their lives to the study and protection of animals and protecting their interests in their natural habitat.
Jobs best avoided (unless you’re only motivated by money)
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with being motivated by money, so long as it’s paired with some emotional gratification. Embarking on a career solely for financial reward is unlikely to achieve much other than a working life of drudgery. Therefore sales should be avoided (unless you’re one of those specific types of people who get a giddy thrill from closing a deal) as should most retail jobs if you soak up the negative feelings of others while handling complaints. If you’re of a creative disposition then you may find a career spent advancing up a corporate ladder with a very specific attitude of “this is how we do things” can also be incredibly stifling.