This was not the “new year” blog post I intended to write; it is however the one that seems fitting as we reflect on what has been and what will be, which we often do at the turning of the tides, when our small blue dot has taken another circuit around the sun. As we entered 2024 (albeit a few weeks ago now), I began to reflect on what “career” is and can be, which is of course an activity we often set young people in school to enable them to think more broadly about what is possible. I began thinking in different ways regarding this question, whilst I considered some writing from years gone by and my mum’s life…
Over 20 years ago I was writing my dissertation for my fine art degree at the University of Portsmouth and seeking to answer the question, “Can there ever be a single fixed definition for art?” Written in response to the postmodern, pluralist maelstrom affecting the early 21st Century art world, the conclusion was “no, there couldn’t”. I argued that art is defined not only by the intention of the artist but also by what is “meaningful” to the individual viewing it, which varies from person to person.
My ponderings led me to consider whether the same argument can also be applied to the constructivist concept of “career” – what is meaningful in a “career” to one person is different from another.
The definition of “career” I often enjoy is taken (with due caution) from Wikipedia, which states:
“career is an individual’s metaphorical ‘journey’ through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.”
When we consider “career” in the broadest context as being our “journey” through life, my mum’s “journey” was certainly varied. She worked as an administrator in the police and later as a playgroup helper. She was a mum and later became a volunteer and then the manager of our local Oxfam shop. After this she worked at the local council as an administrator within the housing department where she made many friends. By some measures of aspiration, her “career” on the surface doesn’t shout volumes. Yet, if we alter our perspective, I suggest that my mum’s “career” was amazing, whose worth can be seen by the many ways she looked out for others in the local community as well as how she made people feel.
From gardening for the older lady down the road when I was about eight, to the window cleaner she supported when he was unsure whether to marry his love, to the people she passed the time of day with and checked in on (with genuine concern and affection) on her way to the shops, and the compassion she showed the other volunteers at the Oxfam shop. My mum would listen so intently, with such empathy and without judgement, that those she supported knew that they had been heard and seen.
If we take the broader view that “career” relates to our whole journey through life (and how you treat others along the way) all these things and more, to me, make my mum’s “career” meaningful, despite her having (what some judgemental people might say) “only an admin job”.
We could also shift perspective again and consider how my mum’s admin job was “meaningful” in the sense that she helped keep her part of the wider organisation running, akin to the idea of being a cog in a machine, but a machine that is worthy. In addition, it was “meaningful” in the sense that she brought home money to feed her family and support my brother and I through university. There is also the human aspect that her empathy and regard for others affected the culture she was part of. She helped to shape it by her presence, in the same way that each of us implicitly contribute to the organisational cultures of which we are part, through daily micro actions, such as small acts of kindness on the one hand, to aggression on the other.
To take these reflections in a more autobiographical direction, in hindsight many of the skills and qualities I bring to my careers work with the clients I support, and which are the most “meaningful” to me, have in part come from growing up with my mum. I sense my mum especially in my use and understanding of empathy, non-judgemental positive regard, congruence (what we call our core conditions) and the time I take to truly listen and hear what isn’t being said, when clients are sharing their fears, hopes and dreams.
I encourage all of us to recognise what is “meaningful” in our lives and judge less the careers others hold. A society requires people to do jobs of all sorts to function. No one job or life is more or less “meaningful” than another. In our desire to encourage children to “aim high” we are at risk of teaching these same children that jobs that aren’t “aspirational” are of less worth or meaning, which is the furthest from the truth.
My son once said (many years before Covid) of the work of one of my dearest friends, who is a cleaner at the local train station, that his job was the most important because he makes sure everyone else is safe from all the nasty bugs.
Perspective is everything.
Wishing you all a belated happy 2024!
Please note: The thoughts and ideas expressed in this article are my own and don’t necessarily represent those of my employer.
This blog is dedicated to my late mum, who taught me how to listen and whose smile lit up a room.
© Chris Targett
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