17 Nov Career Tips from Staffing Experts: Finding Your Why

Why do you do what you do?

In your career, with your daily life decisions and relationships, do you know what your why is? Is your why connected to your values, a mission or some other pillars that guide your life? Have you thought about what motivates you to get up each morning and clock into your work?

Are you feeling stuck, not knowing what you want to do? Perhaps you’ve just graduated and don’t have a clear direction of what your next career step is. Or, maybe you’ve been working for over a decade and still don’t feel like you’ve found your sweet spot. We believe that defining and understanding your ‘work why’ can transform your job, and help you discover your ‘work what’ (that is, what you want to do). So, how do you define your why?

Look backwards:

Where have you operated at your best? Where have you struggled with your work? Go even further; what are the patterns that you see? Start building your why statement based off of these ideas.

Create your statement:

An effective why statement is simple and clear, actionable, focused on how you’ll contribute to others and most importantly, applicable to everything you do- both personally and professionally. Create your statement and share it with a few friends or colleagues who know you well and ask for feedback to refine your statement. The more you resonate with it, the more you will be able to own it.

Build upon the foundation:

Once you’ve discovered your why, you are able to dive deeper and build upon that foundation. Perhaps your why is for working is to empower others to discover their skills and passions. Thus, you might want to look into leadership positions, whether that is at your day job or volunteering where you can invest and help grow others. Maybe your why is connecting people to each other. You may look into positions where you can work within the community or business development to build upon that why. Regardless of what you do, giving yourself time to understand your why can only enhance your what.

It’s easy to go about your life and work but by creating a why statement, you can continue to build and empower what you do! If you’re ready to bring your why statement to your career- contact one of our skilled recruiters today to learn more!