Faithfully yours - Surviving the employment challenge

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Published on Sunday, June 17, 2018

By Neil Stohschein

Neepawa Banner & Press

So—high school graduate; you’ve finished public school and you’re ready to embark on the next phase of your life.

Let’s fast forward about five years. You’ve completed some post-secondary education. You’ve gained work experience along the way and you are now ready to go out and get your first full-time, well-paying (hopefully) job in your chosen field or profession.

This won’t be the only time you will look for work. You will probably change jobs several times before you finally retire. Some job changes will come thanks to choices you have made. Others will be forced upon you; hopefully for reasons other than your own poor job performance.

So here are two suggestions that I hope will help you survive and thrive in the on-going game of finding, securing and keeping gainful employment.

First, treat every new job as an “entry level job,” because it is. You’ll be working for a new boss, in a new office, with a new job description and new colleagues, most of whom you will have never met. Your first task will be to discover how your skills and abilities complement those of the others who share this workspace with you.

That won’t happen overnight. It will take at least three to six months; which is why most firms have a three to six month probation period for new employees. It gives the employer time to see how well you will fit in with the existing work force. And it gives you time to decide whether or not to make a long-term commitment to this job and this firm. If you or your employer decides to terminate the employment during the probation period, it can be done quite easily without damaging either your integrity or that of the firm that hired you.

So whenever you begin a new job, even if you will be doing the same things you did in the job you left to take this new one, make it your first priority to get to know the expectations of the firm that hired you and the people you will have to work with. You will greatly enhance your chances of success by doing so.

Second, learn to find significance in tasks you won’t enjoy doing. Every job has its share of them; and you will have to do them all at one time or another. Most of you will start out working for a small business. You may be its only full-time employee; so in addition to answering phones and serving customers, you will also be expected to wash floors and clean toilets—tasks that few people I know enjoy doing; but tasks that, when done well, create a safe job site for workers and a welcoming atmosphere for customers who patronize that business.

By finding meaning in the mundane tasks of life, we will find the motivation we need to do them well. Those who do them well prove that they can be trusted with greater responsibility and work with less supervision; both of which are qualities an employer likes to see in a worker.

This is where your faith will stand you in good stead. Let God help you see the significance of every task you will be assigned each day. Then, complete it as though you were working for him—because, in fact, you are.

God is the source of your skills and abilities. He expects you to use them for his glory and to help make your corner of his world a better place in which to live.