Congo Kinshasa RPCV Andrea Edmundson earned an agriculture degree in animal science more than 20 years ago so that she could work with horses. Her degree led her to the Peace Corps to train Third World farmers
Working for richer life - not paycheck
SANDRA VALDEZ GERDES
Tucson Citizen
Caption: Andrea Edmundson (right) shows off her newly earned Ph.D in educational technology in her home office. Photo: RENEE BRACAMONTE/Tucson Citizen
Are you fulfilling your life-work objective? Do you feel you are on the right path? Do you jump out of bed eager to face each new day at work with passion and excitement?
If you answered "no" to these questions, you might have an idea why career is No. 3 on the list of resolutions compiled by a Scottsdale-based Web site for setting and managing personal and professional goals - www.myGoals.com. It's also next in our countdown series "New Year, New You."
"Work is so much a part of our lives, we spend 40 hours a week or more at our jobs," says Tucson career consultant Deborah L. Knox, so it comes as no surprise that career-related goals top the annual list.
"Often people are dissatisfied and they feel they can be more fulfilled with their work, or more in control," she says.
Her book "Life Work Transitions.com: Putting Your Spirit Online" and its companion Web site offer an assessment and tips to make work reflect our true selves, goals and values. Knox said no matter what the career field, steps for improving your satisfaction include figuring out who you are, what's important to you, what added value you bring to the workplace and what type of environment you want to work in.
"It's that notion that the individual can and should take responsibility for navigating that part of their lives, that we can be much happier in that area if we do so," rather than just ride out your career, she says. "Lots of times people don't realize how much power they do have to make choices."
Andrea Edmundson, 49, can relate. She earned an agriculture degree in animal science more than 20 years ago so that she could work with horses. Her degree led her to the Peace Corps to train Third World farmers, which led her to a master's degree in agricultural education. That led her to training employees of software companies. She went with the flow even if the job wasn't part of her plan.
In August, she made a change. She quit a job that was not using her degree and talents, so she could finish her dissertation in educational technology. When she earned her degree this spring, she decided she would not take just any job.
"I decided whatever I was going to do now was going to use my degree. I used the book, "What Color is Your Parachute?" to say what do I really, really want to do? There's an exercise in there on how to know yourself better and go further in your career, and it was a real eye-opener to see what I value in a job. I thought that I knew, but the book forces you to look more at the characteristics of the job, and one that I valued was being able to be creative."
By sticking to her criteria, she landed a job as the instructional design specialist for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities in Tucson, where she designs classroom and online courses for the surveyors in the accreditation process.
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"They have already ventured into using a lot of e-learning and technology, but they have a lot of room to grow" so it enables her to do her job, she says.
Now that she's in a field that uses her talents, skills and degree, she feels "liberated."
She believes fear stops most people from fulfilling their dreams, or sometimes they are so desperate to get their next job that they sell themselves short, she says. She suggests another book called, "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson.
"I think if people really want to make these changes, you just have to plan for these things," says Edmundson. "How bad would it really be if your income was cut in half? If you are not afraid, you have a clear vision of what your ultimate job is and what you'd like to be doing."
