What’s stressing you out in your veterinary job?
A few years ago I set up a two-question online survey that asked:
- What’s stressing you at the moment? and
- Tell me what you most enjoy about your job.
One of the responses received from the online survey was from a vet in Perth and it got me thinking.
‘Seeking values match, Perth’*
‘Seeking values match, Perth’ was a veterinarian looking for a full-time veterinary position in a practice with workplace culture & values that matched his/her own and the difficulty finding a good match was causing him/her the most amount of stress at the moment.
It was this response that got me thinking about how incredibly important it is to have a job where your personal work values are a good fit with the values in the workplace.
Our job takes up such a large part of our lives that having a position in a business with the same values as your own can make a huge difference. Everyone’s workplace values are different which is why some people are perfectly happy working for one company whereas others may find the environment saps their energy like a black hole.
What’s on your ‘Career Playlist’?
The first step in finding a workplace with values that match your own is to be crystal clear about your own values. I like the idea of creating a ‘Career Playlist’ that includes all the values that are important to you.
It can be helpful to use an online tool to determine your own workplace values. I analysed mine and found out that the top five songs on my Career Playlist were:
- Creativity
- Independence
- Altruism
- Intellectual stimulation
- Way of life
All completely true!
(Note: The results from this test mentioned the ‘Holland Codes’ which is a system to classify jobs into job categories, interest clusters, or work personality environments. In the Holland Model, these categories represent work personalities – Click here to find out more)
So if you’re feeling stressed at the moment because your work values differ from those in your workplace then now is the time to consider changing jobs.
Before you start the job hunt though, take the time to determine exactly what is important to you in a workplace and then research and ask plenty of questions to make sure you find a good fit.
The truth is – you will never be happy in a job where your personal values and workplace values don’t fit!
I agree. Lists of top 10 of the least and the most stressful jobs (for example, the newest for 2016: http://www.hearlink.com.au/industry-news/audiology-touted-as-one-of-least-stressful-jobs/) are based on stress factors like deadlines and environmental conditions, not on personal values and perception. Even the most stressful job, if you experienced it as personally meaningful to you, would not be a source of stress to you, but of growth and fulfillment!