L is for...Love

“Find a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”

Whilst it might seem impossible to love every aspect of your job, it’s important that you discover what type of work you enjoy and spend your time and energies on securing that work.

Knowing that so much of our time is spent in the work place and travelling to and from work it’s vital that you enjoy your job. It’s not practical or healthy to leave a job we dislike only to do the same role again in a new company!

Before joining the world of recruitment I worked for Nomura and it didn’t take long before I was jumping out of bed on a Monday morning buzzing with excitement to get to work. I loved going to work, in fact I loved every minute of the day. You see, whilst at work I had met the man of my dreams (we have since married) and my job became irrelevant. However, as I mentioned above “you have to fall in love with your work” not fall in love at work! So, after a period of time I left and moved on because I realized that I really didn’t like my job and falling in love was NOT a reason to stay!

Another example is my sister Angela who left University not knowing what to do with her career and came to me for some help in her search for employment. Over a period of 5 years I was able to secure her roles with Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital, however, she wasn’t happy with life in the City. Angela retrained and using her degree she became a Senior School Teacher. After 7 years working as a teacher in the UK she is now living in Perth, Australia, continuing to work as a teacher and having the time of her life – she found her passion, something that she loves…

Having identified what it is that you love about your job you can then start to recognise your abilities and skills within this area. Be honest and ask yourself “How can I build on my skills to enable me to be the best at what I do?”

Whilst I wouldn’t recommend for you to quit your day job and go back to school, I would, however, like to encourage you to think about how you could free up an hour of your time each week to build on your existing skills or learn a completely new skill? Perhaps you could use your travel time to work differently, take a lunch break or book a training session into your diary. Remember that we tend to do those important tasks that are booked into our diary.

We can sometimes get ourselves into what may seem to be a never ending cycle of work, sleep and very little play, however, there is a way out and you can love the work that you do…find your passion, something that you love

Nikki Hutchison, founder of Chilli Pepper Global www.chillipepperglobal.com, advising you on every aspect of the job seeking process, guiding you step by step whether you are looking to move internally or externally.