If you knew me at the time, you would have described me as proactive, ambitious, motivated, and confident. And I was.

But one thing was bugging me while I was in graduate school. I really had no idea what it was going to be like to get a job in my field. I was learning theories, but had very little application experience. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into before committing wholeheartedly to the path.

I knew my fellow grad students felt the same. Going to school was great, but what was it going to be like in the REAL world?

Then I got an idea. Why not find out ahead of time from people who were currently doing the jobs we were all interested in having?

I approached the head of our program and told him we wanted to know what it was like to have a human factors job in the real world. I asked him if he would help us connect with his previous graduate students who now had full time jobs so we could ask them pertinent questions about life beyond college. He thought it was a fabulous idea.

Not only did he reach out to some great companies, they agreed to send a panel of their experts to our class so we could ask them questions.

The first to arrive was Kaiser Permanente. Human factors positions inside Kaiser Permanente pertained to designing medical instruments and improving systems within the hospital, especially the ER. This was third on my list of areas I wanted to go into when I graduated.

The panel showed up with the head of their department plus 4 or 5 other employees. Me and 12 grad students sat down across from them and they invited us to ask questions. I asked the first question. The panel answered. I waited but no one else had a question so I asked another. They answered. Hardly any of the other students asked questions, but I was firing them off like a machine gun.

“Did you feel you had enough training when you graduated in order to do your job with Kaiser, or was there a learning curve?”

“Was there anything you found you weren’t prepared to do? And if so, what do you recommend we study to supplement our education?”

“Do you enjoy your position? Was it everything you thought it would be?”

“Do you work alone or with people on projects?”

“How quickly can you advance in the company?”

“How much does an entry level job pay and does having a PhD matter or was a Master’s degree enough?”

“Where do you see the industry headed in the next 5 to 10 years?”

“What qualities do you look for in a potential candidate for employment?”

And on and on I went. After a while, the head of the Kaiser Permanente Human Factors group turned to my professor and said, “Send us this one when she graduates.”

The exact same thing happened the next week when the IBM panel arrived. At IBM we would be heavily involved in designing interfaces for human-computer interaction. At the time, this was a huge field that was growing rapidly. I wasn’t as interested in this, but most of the other students in my program were, so that’s why we invited IBM.

I fired off similar questions to IBM. I am a naturally curious person and I like to know what I’m getting into before I get into it, just to make sure it’s going to be what I expect.

After these two panels, my professor took me aside and said, “Erin, both IBM and Kaiser were very impressed with you. Both of them have asked me to make an offer to you for employment on their behalf, if you’re interested. IBM is offering you a position in their department with a starting pay of $50,000 when you graduate. Kaiser is offering you $40,000. These are both fantastic companies to work for with great programs and benefits. I told them you were my best student and they’d be lucky to have you. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll arrange a private meeting.”

I was shocked! I thought the guy at Kaiser was kidding when he said what he said. I felt really humbled and grateful. I ended up declining both positions because I decided to go for my PhD and hold out for a job at NASA or with the military.

But do you see what happened here? Instead of sending a resume to a company and hoping to get an interview, and be in competition with everyone else applying for a job, all I did was show proactivity, interest, and I asked intelligent questions.

Remember what I wrote in my other article, How I Got Every Job I Ever Wanted that the way to get a job was to be a personal solution to the interviewer’s problem? What were these people probably thinking when they sat across from a group of 12 students and only one of them seemed interested in really understanding the inner workings of their company? Instead of them interviewing me to see if I was suitable for them, I ended up interviewing them to see if they were suitable for ME.

In the process I showed confidence, interest, proactivity, discernment, and I didn’t come across as needy. I stood apart from my fellow students.

You can use this very same technique to get a position with the company you want. Here’s how to do it.

If you’re in college, contact a few companies you’re interested in working for when you graduate. Tell them you’re studying and want to make sure the field is really going to be a good fit for you, and ask if you can set up a meeting with someone in the company for a chat. Offer to take them out to lunch. Or arrange a panel like I did and let them come to you. After you’ve impressed them, what do you think they’re going to think when they need to hire someone? They’re already going to know about you.

If you’re out of school and want to work for a specific company, you can do the same thing. I once contacted Dr. Thelma Moss, who was a parapsychologist featured in the movie, “Poltergeist.” Imagine my surprise when she answered the phone herself. I simply told her I was interested in becoming a parapsychologist and wondered if she had any advice for me. She spent 30 minutes talking to me on the phone and answering all of my questions. You don’t know until you try.

If you work for yourself, this works too. Simply present yourself to a company and let them know you’d like to know more about what they do, what they offer, how they serve their clients, etc. You’re not asking for a job, you’re getting to know them. Surely during the conversation they will want to know why you’re asking and you’ll mention what you do for a living and, now that you’ve built some rapport and shown interest in their work, they will be more likely to give you their business.

The point is… people hire people they want to work with. People hire people who are a solution to their problem. People hire people who show enthusiasm and interest in their company. People don’t hire paper. Stand out from the crowd. Do it differently. Make them come to you with an offer. It works.

Hear me now. You did not incarnate to spend any portion of your day doing anything that makes you feel hate, anger, anxiety, dread, or resignation.

You do not have to work for money. You can work for love.

You do not have to work to pay the bills, take care of your family, or have nice things. You’ve been conditioned to think you do.

So why did you incarnate then? And how are you supposed to feed yourself, take care of your family, and have nice things?

The answer is super simple. Do what you love in a manner that helps other people achieve their goals or solves a problem for them, and you will receive value in return. This is the path to happiness.

Instead I encounter people in my readings who do what they’re good at so they can earn money so they can do what they love on evenings and weekends. This path leads to dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and dread. It sometimes leads to anxiety, anger, and health problems.

If you are just reaching adulthood and are trying to figure out what to do to earn money, I implore you to instead find a way to do what you love in a manner that provides value to others.

If are already in a job you hate, I implore you to rediscover or admit to yourself what you’d really love to do with your day, with your time, and find a way to transition to it in a manner that provides value to others.

It’s not enough to just do what you love. You must find a way to turn what you love into something that is of value to others. They will then pay you to do what you love. Doesn’t that sound better than doing something you hate so you can pay the bills so you can have fun on weekends?

You don’t have to quit your job tomorrow, but you do need to get in touch with your passion today. If it’s been so long that you don’t know your passion, or if you want some help figuring it out, read my article, How to Find and Ignite Your Passion.

If anything on your life path is causing you distress or unhappiness, you must recognize it and find the path that leads to happiness. It is always there, but you must be willing to look for it and walk the path when you find it.

How long will you trade your soul for a paycheck? Until you retire? You deserve better. Your soul deserves better. Don’t leave your soul at home when you go to work. Instead, let your soul sing. Share your love and passion with the world. It’s better for everyone.

You either fell into your job accidentally or you moved to it consciously.  That doesn’t matter today.  If you no longer like your job and wish  you were someplace else doing the same thing or someplace else doing something different, it doesn’t really matter how you got into it in the first place, it’s time to go.

Maybe you’re saying, “But I’ve been here so long… if I give up now I’ll have wasted the last 20 years.”  No, absolutely you didn’t waste the last 20 years.  You got a lot out of them.  Now you’re done.  Thank your job for what it did for you, and allow yourself to see a life beyond it.  The last thing you want to do is stick it out for another 20 if you don’t love it anymore.  Okay okay, if you’ve got less than a year to retirement and a full pension, maybe sticking it out isn’t such a bad idea.  But if you’re in your 20’s or 30’s or even 40’s and you hate your job, don’t give it any more of your life.  Move on.

But you might say, “If I switch careers I’ll have to start at the bottom.  I won’t earn as much money as I do now.”  That might be true.  It might not be.  It’s not a given that you will earn less money if you switch to an entirely different career.  Lots of people move into doing something they love that instantly earns them more money than they’re making now.  If money is very important to you, make sure the next job or career you move into will earn you the money you want to make.  If it doesn’t, it’s probably not a vibrational match for all your needs anyway and you shouldn’t even be considering it.

So now you’re thinking, “What if you know you hate your job but you’re not sure what you would love to do?”  Figure it out.  Spend a lot of time figuring it out.  It’s really important.  It’s your life, after all.  You should get to spend all of it doing what you want, when you want, the way you want, for the money you want.  If you believe it’s impossible to have all of that in a job then you should examine the beliefs you have about money, careers, and your own ability, because there are tons of people out there who love everything about their jobs.  Be one of them.  Don’t stop until you are.

Literally start making a list of all the things you love to spend your time doing.  Not just your hobbies.  Also list your skills.  I know a woman who has been in the accounting profession her entire life.  About 18 years now.  She hates her job, but when I ask her what she does love about it she tells me she likes solving problems, putting the pieces of a financial puzzle together, and tracking down every last dime.  It’s the thrill of the hunt that she loves.  So now she’s looking for other careers that allow her to express those skills but don’t include accounting.  Do you have some of those?  What do you still love about your job?  Write it down, but don’t attach it to that particular job.  Perhaps you can get some of that in a new profession.  I’ll bet this accountant would love being a private investigator for example.

Once you’ve got your list of what you love, see which things on your list you’re actually good at.  This is important.  If you try to do something you love but aren’t good at, you’ll probably fail.  That won’t lead to happiness.  Maybe it’s something you can get good at either by going to school or practicing more.  So while you’re in your current job making oodles of money, see about getting better at the thing you love to do.  Yes, it’s a commitment, but it’s worth it in the end.  Doesn’t matter if it takes a few years.

Once you have figured out what you love to do and what you’re good at, ask yourself which of those items provide value to other people.  You can be the best stamp licker in the world but is anyone going to pay you to lick their stamps for them?  Don’t be naïve.  Money is an exchange of value.  Unless you love standing on a street corner and you’re really good at holding a sign, you’re going to need to find a way to provide value doing what you love and what you’re good at.  So look at your list.  Does a large portion of society need the value you can offer?  Or would a small portion of society pay you big bucks to provide that particular value to them? If no one would pay you to do it, cross if off your list and keep it to yourself.  Or if you’re very inventive, find a way to create a demand for it.

I think you’re getting the idea here.  Find something you love, that you’re good at, that provides value to others and start a business or get a job doing just that.

When should you leave your current job?  Some people transition slowly to their new job by doing it on the side until it’s earning enough income to replace their current income, or some people just up and quit their current job so they can totally focus full-time on manifesting the new one.  Either way works, and either way can fail.  For example, if you have a lot of savings and you expect it will only take a short while to get your new career up and running, it’s probably safe to quit the current job and jump into the new one full time.  If, however, you’ve got no savings, 7 mouths to feed, and you need time to build up a clientele or get training or more education, etc. then perhaps the transition approach is best.  Just knowing that you’re on a road that leads away from your current job can be enough to sustain your soul while you slog away at it every day.  But don’t wait too long.  Keep your momentum going!

I have a friend who doesn’t particularly love his job.  We’ve identified a whole bunch of things he loves doing that he is good at, and we’ve even identified a way for him to provide value to others by doing it.  His big block?  “What if the new job feels like work?  I’d hate for something I love to do to feel like work.”  When you are doing what you love and you’re earning money from it, it’s not work.  It’s joy.  He doesn’t know this because he’s never experienced it and can’t believe it’s possible to enjoy what you do for a living.  So years later, he’s still slogging away at his job and doing this other cool stuff on evenings and weekends.  He’s afraid he’ll stop enjoying these delicious things if they are his job.   Trust me, you don’t stop enjoying them.  They get even more exciting.

If you hate your job, it’s time to move on.  Don’t give your loyalty to a job you’re no longer a vibrational match for.  There is no honor in that.  You probably were a vibrational match for it when you first got there.  If you’re no longer a match though, why stick around?  What else calls to you?  What else do you wish you always got the chance to explore?  Is your current job the one your parents told you would be safe and secure?  Did you ignore the call of your joy in exchange for security and safety?  I’m telling you that you can have security, stability, financial abundance, and joy too.  Why not go for the whole package?  If you’re waiting until you retire to finally start living and enjoying your life, you’re making a big mistake.  You deserve joy now.