The Career Happiness Scale....Where do you Rate?

 I am often thinking of ways to improve my happiness. This is not because I am an unhappy person, but because I want to maximize joy in my life. I tend to think a lot about career (and have devoted WAY too many years to pursuing career happiness), and about finding a calling. Not everyone pursues a vocation they feel "called to"-but I have always felt a pull to lead, to guide, to help, and to heal. 

I am almost 5 months into my career as a primary care nurse practitioner. I know it is not a perfect fit----I would like to think I am pretty good about knowing what I enjoy overall, but it definitely has its ups and downs. On a particularly down moment a week ago, I started questioning myself. Did 30 months of very intense schooling and clinical (and more student loans and loads of energy, sweat tears) buy me that much more career happiness? If it did (or did not) how did I even measure that? Is there a scale?  Was I happier than when I was a teacher? Than when I was working as an RN? Did the increase in pay matter to how valued I felt?

Being me, it wasn't enough to think on this deeply, especially with just one more educational goal on the horizon. I did some research on what the majority of people surveyed (by various groups) said were factors that contributed to happiness with their career, and then I made my own scale. I am sure something similar might exist somewhere, but I did not steal this, I developed it (and no, it is not copyrighted---it is just for fun). :) 

Disclaimer: this scale may not include all the things that matter to you in your own line of work and therefore may be less accurate to you. Then again, it may give you a good indicator of any changes you want to pursue. 

To make things easy, the scale is out of 100 with 10 categories each worth 10 points. 10 being the happiest you can be with this factor of your work and 0 being absolute unhappiness with it. Rank each category between 0-10. Add up at the end. THIS is your career happiness index. 

1. Is the training and education required for your job commensurate with the job you do? In other words, how much do you use the degree or training needed to obtain your job?

2. How much does this job use what you consider to be your strengths?

3. How fair (not how much) is the compensation and benefits package in your job when compared to similar jobs?

4. On a daily basis, how much satisfaction do you take from your job?

5. Rate your work environment. This may include things such as a place to take breaks, a comfy office, perhaps even a place to take walks. It includes how well you get along with any coworkers---essentially, how comfy do you feel going there?

6. How stable do you feel your current position is? Can you count on it to be there 6 months from now? A year?

7. How happy are you with your schedule and balancing work and life? Would you change your schedule if you could (take this into consideration when ranking)?

8. How much do you identify with your job? Does your job feel like YOU?

9. Does your job promote or prevent you from leading a healthier life? Can you get in exercise, rest, needed meal breaks?

10. Dread/Excitement continuum. Pretend it is a workday. On a scale of 0-10 rate how a typical workday start feels. 0 is for total dread----would rather be or do just about anything else including get a root canal. 10 is you are excited to go to work.

I then ranked the careers/jobs I have had during my adult life using this scale. And Barrett ranked his. Our results and conclusions are below.

Sarah: 

• Treatment Coordinator at a dental office:                          64
• Elementary school teacher:                                                70
• Middle and high school teacher:                                        75
• Urgent Care RN:                                                                69
• Urology Clinic RN (this was brief but worth rating):       70
• Pediatric Primary Care RN:                                               71
• Primary Care Family Nurse Practitioner:                          78

Barrett: 

• IT Support: 55
• IT Architect/Consultant: 70-72 (he said this varies based on day/mood)

A few conclusions we took away from this. 

1) I was surprised that my RN jobs were not as good of a fit for me as being a middle and high school teacher. Nursing school was hard, and looking at that is a bit discouraging. Though, I remind myself my end goal was nurse practitioner, not RN. A gain of 7 happiness points from my last (longest) RN job and my current job. Am I happier? Yes, overall and moderately happier than teaching. When I project- what I expect my happiness will be with a role as a mental health NP, I estimate somewhere between 85-87. Is ALL the schooling worth it? Since work requires time away from my family and home---I tend to think so. 

2) B and I both noticed that for us at least, as autonomy and respect in the job increased, so did our satisfaction. This also explains why teaching was a better happiness fit than my RN jobs-less autonomy, more having to report to others as a nurse, less creativity in my decision making as well. I have lots of autonomy now.

3) We also both crave stability. I have never felt less than 10/10 stability in my roles, and that matters to me that my job isn't just going to disappear. It is an area that Barrett ranks lower in his field that does give him stress. Some people may not care as much about this though.

Our final takeaway? No career/vocation/calling/job however you phrase it will likely every be 100%.  A good fit is likely upper 60's+ honestly. Let's face it, most people would choose not to work if they didn't have to (and please, please tell me what you do and what your score is if you would do your job for free!!!!). I personally am not sure it is possible to reach 100%. My perfect dream job is traveling the world with a chef and tutor for my children, wearing a different glamorous dress each evening, and reviewing locations, books, food, and cultural experiences while making over 6 figures annually. If you hear of this job, please do tell. 

Curious what your career happiness number is and do you agree?