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So I’m sick again after catching hubby’s flu, plus a nasty bug that’s going around the office at work. Think fevers, coughing, headaches and nausea. It’s not good. Neither is needing to throw up in the middle of an interview in the city. Yuck.
I’m hoping to leave work early, but I can’t head off until a few things have been finalised. I thought that while I wait, I would blog about my job.
The short of it: my job is okay. The people are friendly, my boss is fantastic and 70% of it involves writing to a smart audience. But do I enjoy my job? Not particularly. For a few reasons, but the most pertinent one being that it leaves me drained and tired at the end of the day, with little energy to pour into other things. So I’m considering looking elsewhere at the end of the year when my contract runs out (gotta love that Gen Y two year itch).
Sam suggested I write down a list of all the things I want in a job and look for positions that fit the bill. Of course, I know I can’t have everything (a high salary, city views and four day working week? yes please!). And I am thankful to God that I have a job that adequately provides for our needs - He has blessed me so much this year with work.
Writing a list, though, is a helpful excercise. Here’s what I would like in a job (in no particular order):
* Good working hours and reasonable location
* Friendly environment
* One that involves writing in some form
* One that involves contact with people
* Minimal pressure (so no news desk for me)
* Maximum freedom - I work best when I’m given a task and left to run with it
* Not too repetitive
* Somewhat creative and intellectually stimulating…
*…But not so draining that I have no energy for other things
* Dealing with subject matter I’m interested in - art, film, social issues, charity work, women’s issues, literature
* Not in a Christian organisation. However, I may be willing to bend on this if it fit all the other criteria.
Any ideas on what jobs fit this bill? So far I’ve thought of magazine feature writing (what I do now), online content producer, working for a journal, working in the communications dept. at a non-profit organisation, working at a gallery (though I did this for my internship at uni and didn’t have the most positive experience), working at the local paper, publishing, editing…
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Hope you feel better soon Soph… You’re post made me realise how much I liked my job. It actually sounds like it would suit you. But maybe not creative enough. I guess just see what is out there also.
your job is great, Adri! I think that’s what I’ll have to do, just see what is out there.
hope you feel better soon. being sick sucks.
I have heard a few people say they wouldn’t like to work for a Christian organisation. What are your reasons for that, if you don’t mind me asking? I guess if I think about it, I can see lots of reasons why I wouldn’t want to either, but at the same time it seems a little sad. Or then again, maybe there are pretty noble reasons too– that it is one good way of building relationships with people who aren’t christy’s.
ps- what gallery did you do an intern thing with? That sounds fun..
MCA. I help put together their learning programs. The best bit was taking school kids on a guided tour! We did all sorts of fun activities with them.
Why not a Christian organisation? A few reasons. I have nothing against working for one, especially if I had gifts that could be useful. And I would probably consider it if my husband had a secular job.
I guess it has to do with our particular situation, which creates the following reasons:
*Sam is a college student, so we already find it hard enough to break out of the “Christian bubble”;
*When I started journalism, I committed to Dominic’s “roaring lambs mandate” - and I can’t do that at a christian organisation;
*evangelism;
*Future ministry - it’s hard to learn about how the world works and what people think in out society when the only people you talk to are christians.
But I think everyone has different gifts, so it’s up to each individual to decide how they can best serve the kingdom - whether or not that means working for a Chriso organisation or not:)
…I think also, and this is a really tentative thought I’m putting out there as I could be wrong…I guess I want to have as few “barriers” between myself and my friends who aren’t Christians. If Sam was at college and I worked for the church, it would just make one more point of difference that would get in the way of sharing our lives with others. Some differences are necessary - of course we aren’t to be like the world in terms of godliness. But there is also Paul’s example of being like the greeks to reach the greeks, etc. Having a job and working in a vocation my friends can understand (as in uni and school friends) is also a way of following that example.
But that is just how I’ve thought this through - everyone is different - other people will think this through, come to different conclusions and still work for christian organisations. And good on them. I think it really is a case-by-case thing.
I agree with everything that you have said. Your reasoning is good, thanks for explaining.
I really feel like there are so many opportunities in the secular workplace, and not just in telling people diretly about Jesus (though of course that has a time and place), but in just living your life in front of people.
I think there are a lot of exciting possibilities in this, but also big struggles and dissapointments. For me the problem is going so under the radar as to not even make a blip on the radar, as christian or otherwise. The other is big dissapointments when I make big stuff ups in front of colleagueas, therefore being a pretty lame example to them of what a christian is like.
Still, I think it’s the right place for me to be, and there are lots of opportunities for me to take, if I am bold enough to do so.
Sorry, I have probably gone way off topic!
Hey Soph, sorry to hear how sick you are - sounds like what I had a couple of weeks ago. Get some panadeine, it really helps with the temps and general ickiness.
I understand where you’re coming from about not working for a Christian organisation, and I really do hate the Christian ghetto thing that seems to happen when you do work for the church. I think my ideal would be working part-time in a secular job, and spending spare hours doing intentional ministry.
But I have definitely wrestled with the conflict of being a christian in the media, or raising up other christians in the media. And I hope I can do both during my lifetime
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