The topic ‘career satisfaction’ often comes up in a social setting with friends. When the ‘are you happy with your job’ question comes up, I really don’t need to think about it, the answer is always ‘absolutely’. Usually what then follows is ‘why?’
I studied public relations and pretty much worked in a fast-paced agency environment since graduation, so I wouldn’t really know what another professional career could offer, but I don’t care.
What’s not to love about public relations? It fits my personality, fuels my passion and never gets boring. I always smile when people ask me ‘what do you do?’ while observing the look on their faces as they try to figure out exactly what a PR person does. I even think my lovely dad still doesn’t fully understand, after explaining it about a million times.
I won’t bore you with the definition. Instead, I came up with a way to explain my passion for the career in a social setting that is more relatable, and one that now even my dad gets.
For me, public relations is like fishing, and I absolutely love fishing!
Landing a positive media story for a client is like catching a marlin. But first you need the right bait (information from client), then you need to rig it up carefully (draft a good, targeted pitch for the right reporter) cast the bait and wait, hoping the story is a fit. When you receive positive feedback from the reporter the feeling is beyond rewarding, knowing you are able to help a client meet some of their business objectives. And when the coverage inks, it’s celebrating ‘the one that didn’t get away!’
My point is, when I can’t go actual fishing, my career resembles an activity I thoroughly enjoy. And I can think of so many other ways to compare my day-to-day activities to other things I favour such as mingling with and meeting new people, constantly learning new things and being able to make a difference. Fingers crossed I get to do it for many more years before a robot takes over, but that’s a story for another day (imagine explaining that one to my dad).