At midlife, many people are looking for jobs that help people.
At this stage, we have accomplished many of the goals we’ve set out to accomplish in our lifetimes – especially those around achievement or advancement. Now, we want to focus on legacy and impact and the difference we can make in other people’s lives.
It may be that you have always thought about these things, but it wasn’t until this point in your life that you had the financial freedom to think about anything more than just getting ahead.
Now, while you still need to make money, you want to do it in a way that honors that part of you that really cares about other people and feels good about what you’ve done at the end of the day.
Meaningful Jobs That Pay Well
I’ve talked to so many people that care so deeply about other people.
It doesn’t always mean that they want to go into non-profit work. In fact many people are looking for a meaningful job that still pays well, but they worry that this is something that doesn’t exist – that the two things can’t go together.
The reality is that they can.
The important thing is that you identify what’s meaningful to you.
I believe that people can be motivated by several different things at work, and these factors can influence what will make you happiest.
Getting these aligned with what you care about in your work will truly make a difference in whether or not you feel happy.
So what is meaningful to you? Does it matter to you that you are making a difference in other people’s lives?
Some people are driven by passion, or the kind of work that they get to do every day.
Some are driven by mission, or the impact that they make on the world, whether it’s an altruistic mission, or whether that’s about seeing the end product of their work.
Some people are driven by their own work/life balance, and want to work to live.
And some people are driven by money and achievement.
Sometimes any of these goals can be connected to goals around doing good for others, for example, you might want better work life balance to take care of your own kids, or more money so you can one day afford to live in Africa and do a mission there.
Which one motivates you? Take my quiz to find out:
What Kind of Career Changer Are You?
Jobs That Help People Are Everywhere
Once you know which one you care most about, you can put your efforts toward finding a job that helps you to find meaning in that area.
Those jobs can be in any area of work, because different people find meaning in different places, not just in the traditional places we think of as “helping professions.”
You truly can believe you’re helping people when you work at an accounting office when you deeply believe in the services you offer and see that people struggle without them.
I have a friend who is a financial advisor who believes so deeply in his work that it becomes a helping profession for him, even though it is not traditionally a job that helps people.
Similarly, a client of mine is searching for a sales job that requires the buyer to trust him and his product before purchasing, because he believes so deeply in helping the customer.
If you align your mission and your values with what you really want to help people with, there’s no limit to what jobs help people. It’s all in how you approach your work.