but you are unique.

In many of the social media advertisements, recruiters trying to get people to apply for jobs in the social or charity sector often use headline phrases like:

Make your career mean more….

Do something that matters…

Find a job with meaning…

And while I understand they are adverts trying to get attention in a noisy and crowded world, I’m struck by the subtle message they are communicating to the audience they are targeting.

If they are targeting people who are not already in the charity or social sector, the underlying message is that the things you are currently doing are not meaningful, do not matter, and are without purpose. Ouch.

But perhaps they are targeting people already in the sector and are reminding them the jobs they do have, including the ones that are just as boring and frustrating as ones in other sectors, have meaning and purpose too.

We seem to have lost the notion of a vocation and that all work can have meaning, can contribute to creating a better society for all. And that we all can choose to do work that matters, the sector we choose to do it in is up to us.

Photo by Peter Conlan