Essay on Career for Students and Children

500+ words essay on career.

Career is a very important thing in one’s life. Whatever career path you choose to follow, it will impact your life greatly. Your career will define your status in a society in addition to your lifestyle. In other words, your career will determine your social circle and relationships.

Essay on Career

Therefore, it is extremely important to choose the correct career path . From a very young age, we aspire to be something or the other. While someone aims to be a doctor, some wish to become a painter. Our career choices depend on a lot of things. Thus, it is important to consider all factors before choosing a career path.

How to Choose your Career?

You must consider a number of factors before deciding on your career. Each factor plays a significant role in your choice. Firstly, always assess yourself thoroughly. You must understand your area of interest to choose a career. For instance, someone who dances well can surely become a doctor, but his interest will always be in dance. Thus, ensure that you have the caliber to perform well in the field you choose. This will come from your area of interest itself.

After that, you look for the opportunities available as per your area of interest. Now that you are aware of what you like and dislike, you can easily look for occupations matching your passion. Make a list of the occupations you can get into following your interests. Furthermore, shorten the list you have prepared. You must do so as per what suits you best. Consult with your seniors and parents to make informed decisions.

Most importantly, acquire the skills for the career option you are interested in. Ensure you earn the qualifications and degrees for it. Try taking training programs to enhance your skills. This will give you an upper hand in knowing whether you are correct in choosing the specific career plan. Furthermore, create an impressive resume which can help you get the right opportunities.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

How to Achieve your Career Goal?

There are steps you need to take before achieving your career goal. As they say, success doesn’t come overnight. You must work along the way to accomplish your goals. There is always hope if you have the will. Firstly, create profiles on different job portals to attract the employer’s attention. When you maintain your profile well, you will be able to get good career opportunities.

Moreover, always maintain your network. Build a solid network and create sources in the field. This way you can update yourself with the latest happenings in the industry. In addition, try to attend the related seminars and workshops that happen related to your career choice. You will meet influential people of the same field who can broaden your thinking.

In short, always remember to stay determined. You can easily achieve your career goal if you set your mind to it. In other words, people usually distract themselves easily. You must not do so and focus on your career path to achieve your goals efficiently.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

tutor

  • Travelling Essay
  • Picnic Essay
  • Our Country Essay
  • My Parents Essay
  • Essay on Favourite Personality
  • Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
  • Essay on Knowledge is Power
  • Essay on Gurpurab
  • Essay on My Favourite Season
  • Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Google Play

What makes a job meaningful?

Subscribe to global connection, milena nikolova and milena nikolova nonresident fellow - economic studies @milenkanik femke cnossen femke cnossen assistant professor - university of groningen.

April 8, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the near shutdown of many economies around the world. It has already thrown at least 10 million out of work in the U.S. and threatens the jobs of millions more worldwide. Yet, job loss often means much more than a lost livelihood—it entails being deprived of social identity, status, routine and time structure, and contacts with colleagues. While many hope that unemployment will quickly decline once economies recover, the psychological consequences of job loss for individuals and their families are severe and long-lasting.

At the same time, those who have managed to keep their jobs face challenges of their own, job insecurity notwithstanding. On the one hand, home-based telework is blurring the boundaries between work and personal life. On the other hand, those performing life-saving tasks in hospitals, and those keeping the economy running in another way, for instance, by restocking the shelves in supermarkets, are facing not just health risks but also increasing job demands. It is becoming increasingly clear which occupations are vital to the economy, and which are not, regardless of how the government is labeling them. The coronavirus has made many people think about the role that work has in their lives, including its usefulness to society, its importance to the economy, and its contribution to personal growth and well-being. And although such qualms might seem contrived or second-order in times of a pandemic, our research shows that the perceptions we hold about the meaningfulness of our job can actually have serious consequences for how we behave in the labor market.

In a recent working paper , we explore the broader meaning that work has in people’s lives. Specifically, we analyze the causes and consequences of meaningful work perceptions using nationally representative survey data for workers living in 30 European countries between 2005 and 2015. We study which factors make individuals more likely to experience work meaningfulness and what that means in terms of labor market behavior.

Keys to motivating workers

In exploring what makes work meaningful, we rely on self-determination theory . According to this theory, satisfying three innate psychological needs—competence, autonomy, and relatedness—is key for motivating workers and enabling them to experience purpose through their work. First, individuals have a need for feeling competent in terms of having the skills and capabilities to overcome challenging tasks. Second, people need to feel autonomous in the sense of having choices and authority over what to do. Finally, workers feel related if they experience genuine care from their bosses or colleagues, and that they care about their superiors and coworkers in return. Of course, work also has other important aspects, such as wages and benefits, career advancement opportunities, job security, and hours worked and we take these factors into account.

Our analysis shows that that relatedness, which is about relationships at work, is the most important determinant of work meaningfulness. This finding likely comes as no surprise to those who are currently teleworking and unable to socialize with their colleagues. In general, we discover that autonomy, relatedness, and competence are almost five times more important for perceptions of having meaningful work compared with compensation, benefits, career advancement, job insecurity, and working hours (Figure 1).

Which factors matter the most for experiencing work meaningfulness?

The benefits of meaningful work

Our research also shows that those who perceive their work as meaningful exert more effort on the job. For example, employees experiencing their work as meaningful are less likely to call in sick and are more likely to participate in trainings to improve their skills. These findings have important implications for employers looking to boost organizational performance and employees’ well-being. In addition, we also find that workers who think of their jobs as purposeful and meaningful want to postpone their retirement, which has important implications for policymakers faced with rising life expectancies and a greater share of older workers in the economy.

Despite what most economic models predict, work is not just a source of income but also provides identity and individual self-esteem. As such, work is a pivotal part of human life. Since most adults spend a large part of their waking hours in work-related activities, understanding what factors make work a life-enriching and dignifying experience or, on the contrary, a degrading and meaningless one, can help design policies to enhance workers’ well-being, boost organizational performance, and increase civic engagement and social welfare, especially at a time when the future of work is changing. Working conditions related to hierarchy, job insecurity, and working hours are certainly important aspects of any job. However, it is autonomy, competence, and especially relationships at work, that nourish and sustain meaningfulness.

Research on work meaningfulness and our findings, in particular, are especially relevant now that the coronavirus crisis is transforming our workplaces. Tasks that seemed so important a few months ago are now low priority, and even though being connected to our colleagues is crucial, social distancing measures in many cases prevent us from getting the support and relatedness that we need. This should not be taken lightly: Diminished work meaningfulness can have serious and long-lasting complications for productivity, health, and happiness at work. Employers who show some extra support and understanding, or make job tasks more relevant to the current crisis (see some great examples listed here ), might be on the right track in mitigating one of the many unseen side effects of the coronavirus and its aftermath.

Related Content

Milena Nikolova, Sinem H. Ayhan

March 13, 2018

Katherine Guyot, Isabel V. Sawhill

April 6, 2020

Carol Graham, Milena Nikolova

March 28, 2014

Global Economy and Development

Camille Busette, Keon L. Gilbert, Gabriel R. Sanchez, Kwadwo Frimpong, Carly Bennett

March 28, 2024

Amna Qayyum, Claudia Hui

March 7, 2024

Caren Grown, Giulia Mascagni

What Is Job Satisfaction and Why Is It Important?

Job Satisfaction

Are you aware of what right  actually means?

Determining whether you are satisfied with your job, whether it is right for you, and why that is important often involves personal intuition and circumstances. For some people, the right job might entail earning a certain salary. For others, the right job might involve having a supportive team.

With more than 21,000 participants in their study, researchers Dobrow, Ganzach, and Liu (2018) found that over a 40-year span, people who stayed in the same organization over time became less satisfied, and people who moved to different organizations over time became happier.

What does this mean? Does job satisfaction come from staying in an organization or leaving it? If someone were to stay in an organization, what would retain their satisfaction?

In this article, we will explore just that and more, including divulging the ingredients of job satisfaction, real-life examples of it, and how it relates to motivation.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Work & Career Coaching Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients identify opportunities for professional growth and create a more meaningful career.

This Article Contains:

What is job satisfaction, 10 proven ingredients for job satisfaction, is job satisfaction important 4 benefits, 2 real-life examples, a note on job satisfaction and motivation, positivepsychology.com’s job satisfaction tools, a take-home message.

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

You have probably heard that quote before, yet it may still have relevance today. It makes us ask whether emotions like happiness, stress, and anxiety play an important role in job satisfaction.

The aptly titled Job Satisfaction (Hoppock, 1935) defines job satisfaction as any combination of psychological, physiological, and environmental circumstances that cause a person to truthfully say that they are satisfied with a job.

Going a little deeper and fast-forwarding to this century, job satisfaction has been called a set of favorable or unfavorable feelings and emotions with which employees view their work (Karatepe, Uludag, Menevis, Hadzimehmedagic, & Baddar, 2006).

Before we get to favorable feelings or proven ingredients for job satisfaction, let’s first assess what leads to those unfavorable feelings.

Unhappy Employees

The graphic above from the University of Southern California’s Applied Psychology Program shows some factors that make American employees unhappy or burnt out with jobs.

Many of us have experienced unhappiness because of these factors and more at some point in our careers. Let’s take a look at what can be done to satisfy ourselves in a job.

Ingredients for job satisfaction

Although it is subjective, job satisfaction research (Kumari, 2011) has showcased the following:

1. Communication

Communication can be extremely important to retaining levels of satisfaction, on both a personal and professional level. It is exhibited in allowing employees to be open, collaborative, trustworthy, and even confrontational when needed.

Defining a company culture links to job satisfaction as it provides values and guidance about topics ranging from organizational goals to appropriate levels of interaction between employees.

3. Security

It’s no surprise that once a culture is established in a workplace, satisfaction can then be enhanced by added feelings of security. Security may arise from knowing you work for a viable company with long-term goals, insinuating feelings of belonging to that company (Berg, Grant, & Johnson, 2010). This can be enhanced by having honest communication and transparency within a company.

4. Leadership

Tied into increased motivation for employees, leadership, or influencing a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2006), can lead to job satisfaction by making sure communication and instruction of tasks is adequate and easily understood.

In turn, when employees feel that leaders can guide them through tasks, their motivation and satisfaction increases.

With leadership having a crucial influence on job satisfaction, this related article with leadership activities  is a recommended read.

5. Opportunities

Employees can gain more satisfaction with their job when more challenging opportunities arise. This can lead to participation in interesting and diverse projects and get employees away from the monotony of a role.

6. Career development

Employees can become more satisfied with their job when they know there is an individualized plan for them. Beyond the formal nature of appraisals, if there is a path in place for growth, this can encourage employees to stay happier for longer.

7. Working conditions

Job satisfaction can be increased if a resilient workplace is a cooperative environment. This means a place with respect for diverse ideas and opinions, honest and constructive feedback, mentoring opportunities, and freedom from harassment.

8. Employee personality

Most ingredients linked to job satisfaction may have roots in elements outside of the employees’ control (such as leadership from managers and communication from company leaders), but what about the employees themselves? Can they control their own levels of satisfaction? Bakker, Tims, and Derks (2012) talk about just that.

These researchers discuss how job satisfaction can be determined by how proactive the employee is at work. Does the employee proactively seek out a manager for feedback? Does the employee go the extra mile to achieve tasks within a company? Does the employee try to stick to company goals, lead meetings, and ask questions when unsure about how to complete a task?

If yes, these employees are ones who can show more satisfaction in the workplace. Proactiveness in the workplace can lead to positive job appraisals, which when fed back to the employee, can lead to satisfaction.

For more on constructive feedback, read our article discussing ways to give negative feedback  constructively.

9. Pay and benefits

Organizational success and job satisfaction are also linked to employees’ perceptions of adequate pay and benefits (Edwards, 2008).

While pay and benefits are not the only reason employees find satisfaction in their workplaces, research going back more than 30 years (e.g., Gerhart, 1987) shows that pay and benefits, at least according to how employees view themselves in their roles, has ranked high on lists of job satisfaction factors.

10. Rewards and recognition

Beyond monetary gain and being paid fairly for the work they do, job satisfaction for employees means that promotional policies are unambiguous and in line with their expectations.

A key finding here (Kumari, 2011) is that satisfaction at a job is not exclusively linked to pay, but to the perceived fairness of how one is recognized at work for achievements.

importance of having a job essay

2 Job Crafting Coaching Manuals [PDF]

Help others redesign their work. This manual and the accompanying client workbook outline a seven-session coaching trajectory for you, the practitioner, to expertly guide others through their own unique job crafting journey.

We have already discussed what employees look for in achieving and maintaining job satisfaction. But why is it important? And why should organizations care?

First, it is a primary responsibility of organizations to ascertain that employees are satisfied with their jobs through measurements, but also to find out the causes of dissatisfaction when employees are not feeling satisfied (McBride, 2002).

Tools such as the following help measure some important factors that go into employees’ job satisfaction (Spector, 1997, chapter 2):

  • Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985)
  • Job Description Index (Castanheira, 2014)
  • The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis, and England, 1967)

As to why job satisfaction is so important, the Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Report from the Society for Human Resource Management (Lee et al., 2016) notes four benefits of making sure employees are satisfied with their work.

1. Increased profits

This is one any manager and employee might appreciate. Keeping employees satisfied can lead to higher sales, lower costs, and a stronger bottom line.

2. Higher productivity

Irrespective of their job titles or salary, employees who are more satisfied with their job, whether they feel satisfied with the organizational culture, with the rewards they are getting, or with recognition, can produce more and do it more efficiently.

3. Lower turnover

If employees are more satisfied with their job, they are less likely to leave. It also helps to recruit better quality talent as new talent sees employee staying power as added value.

When employees feel there is a growth path for them, they are more satisfied. In turn, because they feel the organization has their best interests at heart, they tend to support the organization’s mission and objectives. When this happens, employees may tell their friends or relatives about the good nature of the organization, which helps spread organizational goodwill.

The Job Satisfaction Wheel can help assess your current job satisfaction and identify improvement areas. Job satisfaction measures subjective wellbeing at work (Judge & Klinger, 2008).

According to Roelen et al. (2008), there are seven key indicators of job satisfaction:

  • Task variety
  • Working conditions
  • Education and development opportunities
  • Person-environment fit

Here’s how you can use the Job Satisfaction Wheel:

  • Rate the seven job satisfaction domains on a scale from one – “not at all satisfied” to ten – “completely satisfied”. Place a circle around each score on the wheel.
  • Connect your scores by drawing a line and forming an inner wheel. This gives you an overview of how satisfied you are with your current job.
  • Looking at the wheel, where do you see areas for improvement? What would it take to improve the score? Which action steps can you take?

importance of having a job essay

Honesty and communication about a company’s objectives and goals can be vital and are linked to job satisfaction for employees. But do employees only care about company success? How does honest communication impact their own, individual success?

The importance of honesty and communication

Agarwal and Mehta (2014) were interested in employee job satisfaction within the IT industry.

Their curiosity stemmed from the idea that IT employees may largely be working in isolation, away from other employees, and the researchers wondered if employees valued appraisals more in such circumstances than in other industries. They discussed how performance appraisal was directly linked to satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) for the employee.

Additionally, they also discuss how honest and consistent communication and regular updates of employee progress (bi-annual rather than yearly appraisals) can not only increase employee satisfaction at work, but also help companies by decreasing the rate of attrition. Interestingly enough, Agarwal and Mehta (2014) did not discuss company goals or performance in their findings.

Let’s take a look at some familiar companies you may have heard of.

Although the phrase “the customer is always right” may be common, it does not seem to ring all true behind the scenes (or the counter, in this case).

The CEO’s mantra was that if managers look out for employees, employees will look after customers. To do this, he offered health insurance to all employees despite the excessive cost and being advised against it.

Is it surprising that good leadership strengths , recognition, and reward given to employees increased job satisfaction and in turn increased profits for Starbucks? It certainly fits in line with the aforementioned research in this article.

While also producing satisfied end-users like us when using Google’s products, Google puts a lot of work into job satisfaction for its employees as well.

It’s interesting to note that Google does not care (perhaps as much) about employee titles, but more about what type of leaders its employees are, or emergent leadership. This draws us back to the importance of positive leadership in job satisfaction.

Gillett (2016) writes that Google attracts talent with competitive pay and keeps employees satisfied by allowing telecommuting. This may show an appreciation for work–life balance and retention.

Gillett also writes that according to compensation and data company PayScale, nearly three-quarters of Google employees find their jobs meaningful, citing that Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

She describes Google employees thinking that their goal of working at Google is a moral rather than a business goal, which in turn creates motivation to innovate and push into new areas.

These sound like great organizational goals that drive profits. Furthermore, Google staff certainly demonstrate that job satisfaction can indeed lead to employees supporting the organization’s goals and objectives.

Importance of job satisfaction

According to Latham (2012), motivation is a cognitive resource allocation process in which a person makes choices as to the time and energy to be allocated to an array of motives or tasks. The key word here seems to be choice .

When an employee is able to make a choice, they feel more motivated to perform a task. When an employee is more motivated to perform and complete a task, this tends to be linked with higher job satisfaction (Jalagat, 2016).

Choice, as directed or allowed by organizational policy, can lead to further motivation and, in turn, job satisfaction as well as performance. This seems to be echoed by the work of Ilies and Judge (2003).

Ilies and Judge (2003) discuss how leaders interact with employees, specifically by talking to them more as a person, and how assigning tasks and providing a career path can affect their motivation level.

When determining job satisfaction, it is key to remember that human factors such as motivation, excitement, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction must be considered. This is clearly indicated by the Starbucks example.

When employees are encouraged to be great leaders and to engage in challenging opportunities, such as at Google, they can end up feeling more satisfied with their job.

As one of the key ingredients of job satisfaction, communication among employees, managers, and staff cannot be underestimated.

However, communication is not automatically generated or achieved right away. When introducing new employees into a workplace, it may be even more important to establish good and fun communication procedures between employees.

This helpful article with work-related communication games and exercises can help improve communication at the workplace.

For other ways to establish happiness in the workplace , this article offers a guide and tips for making employees happier.

To determine your own job satisfaction, you need to do an assessment of your strengths and skills. This tool guides you to complete a Strengths In Challenging Times worksheet in order to do exactly that.

Another invaluable tool based on the Japanese concept of ikigai is Job Crafting of Ikigai . It is an interesting exercise that helps you understand what fuels your passions and, in turn, change aspects of your role to make it more fulfilling.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others manage stress without spending hours on research and session prep, this collection contains 17 validated stress management tools for practitioners . Use them to help others identify signs of burnout and create more balance in their lives.

Job satisfaction can be a two-way street. Employees need to feel satisfied, and organizations must help employees realize their potential.

If you are interested in increasing the job satisfaction of your employees, be sure to look beyond the seemingly practical benefits of providing adequate salaries and health insurance, although those too are critical.

Motivating employees may be just as important. Job satisfaction links to motivation, which employees can gain even more of when realizing their full potential. Besides providing adequate salaries and health insurance, much more can be done by companies to motivate and guide employees. In turn, companies will reap the benefits of loyalty and shared objectives.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Work & Career Coaching Exercises for free .

  • Agarwal, R. N., & Mehta, A. (2014). Impact of performance appraisal and working environment on the job satisfaction and attrition problem in the Indian IT industry. Paradigm , 18 (1), 73–85.
  • Bakker, A. B., Tims, M., & Derks, D. (2012). Proactive personality and job performance: The role of job crafting and work engagement. Human Relations , 65 (10), 1359–1378.
  • Berg, J. M., Grant, A. M., & Johnson, V. (2010). When callings are calling: Crafting work and leisure in pursuit of unanswered occupational callings. Organizational Science , 21 (5), 973–994.
  • Castanheira, F. (2014). Job Descriptive Index. In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research. Springer.
  • Edwards, J. R. (2008). To prosper, organizational psychology should overcome methodological barriers to progress. Journal of Organizational Behavior , 29 (4), 469–491.
  • Gerhart, B. (1987). How important are dispositional factors as determinants of job satisfaction? Implications for job design and other personnel programs. Journal of Applied Psychology , 72 (3), 366–373.
  • Gillett, R. (2016, April 28). 5 reasons Google is the best place to work in America and no other company can touch it. Business Insider. Retrieved  October 25, 2020, from: https://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-the-best-company-to-work-for-in-america-2016-4?r=US&IR=T
  • Hoppock, R. (1935). Job satisfaction . Harper and Brothers.
  • Ilies, R., & Judge, T. A. (2003). On the heritability of job satisfaction: the mediating role of personality. Journal of Applied Psychology , 88 (4), 750–59.
  • Jalagat, R., Jr., (2016). Job performance, job satisfaction, and motivation: A critical review of their relationship. International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics , 5 (6), 36–43.
  • Judge, T. A., Heller, D., & Klinger, R. (2008). The dispositional sources of job satisfaction: A comparative test. Applied Psychology, 57(3) , 361-372.
  • Karatepe, O. M., Uludag, O., & Menevis, I., Hadzimehmedagic, L., & Baddar, L. (2006). The effects of selected individual characteristics on frontline performance and job satisfaction. Journal of Tourism Management , 27( 4), 547–560.
  • Kinicki, A., & Kreitner, R. (2006). Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills & best practices . McGraw Hill.
  • Kumari, N. (2011). Job satisfaction of the employees at the workplace. European Journal of Business and Management , 3 (4), 11–30.
  • Latham, G. P. (2012). Work motivation – History, theory, research and practice . SAGE Publications.
  • Lee, C., Alonso, A., Esen, E., Coombs, J., Mulvey, T., Victor, J., & Wessels, K. (2016). Employee job satisfaction and engagement: Revitalizing a changing workforce . Report prepared by the Society for Human Resource Management.
  • McBride, E. L. (2002). Employee satisfaction: Code red in the workplace? Journal of Nursing Management , 10 (3), 157–163.
  • Dobrow, S. R., Ganzach, Y., & Liu, Y. (2018). Time and job satisfaction: A longitudinal study of the differential roles of age and tenure. Journal of Management , 44 (7), 2558–2579.
  • Roelen, C. A. M., Koopmans, P. C., & Groothoff, J. W. (2008). Which work factors determine job satisfaction?. Work, 30(4), 433-439.
  • Spector, P. E. (1985). Measurement of human service staff satisfaction: Development of the Job Satisfaction Survey. American Journal of Community Psychology , 13 (6), 693–713.
  • Spector, P. E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes, and consequences . SAGE Publications, Inc.
  • Weiss, D. J., Dawis, R. V., & England, G. W. (1967). Manual for the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Minnesota Studies in Vocational Rehabilitation , 22 , 120.

' src=

Share this article:

Article feedback

What our readers think.

Siddharth Mohapatra

Job satisfaction has really been discussed from the perspective of positive psychology. Stories from the market like that of Google makes this material even more user-friendly. Kudos to you PositivePsychology.com!

Ellie

I am writing a paper on Employee Engagement and comparing this with job satisfaction. This is one of the clearest and most coherent articles I have found on the subject. I will be bookmarking the sight for further use.

Let us know your thoughts Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Related articles

Company Culture

Company Culture: How to Create a Flourishing Workplace

Company culture has become a buzzword, particularly in the post-COVID era, with more organizations recognizing the critical importance of a healthy workplace. During the Great [...]

Integrity in the workplace

Integrity in the Workplace (What It Is & Why It’s Important)

Integrity in the workplace matters. In fact, integrity is often viewed as one of the most important and highly sought-after characteristics of both employees and [...]

Neurodiversity in the workplace

Neurodiversity in the Workplace: A Strengths-Based Approach

Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace is a priority for ethical employers who want to optimize productivity and leverage the full potential [...]

Read other articles by their category

  • Body & Brain (49)
  • Coaching & Application (57)
  • Compassion (26)
  • Counseling (51)
  • Emotional Intelligence (24)
  • Gratitude (18)
  • Grief & Bereavement (21)
  • Happiness & SWB (40)
  • Meaning & Values (26)
  • Meditation (20)
  • Mindfulness (45)
  • Motivation & Goals (45)
  • Optimism & Mindset (34)
  • Positive CBT (28)
  • Positive Communication (20)
  • Positive Education (47)
  • Positive Emotions (32)
  • Positive Leadership (18)
  • Positive Parenting (3)
  • Positive Psychology (33)
  • Positive Workplace (37)
  • Productivity (16)
  • Relationships (46)
  • Resilience & Coping (36)
  • Self Awareness (21)
  • Self Esteem (37)
  • Strengths & Virtues (31)
  • Stress & Burnout Prevention (34)
  • Theory & Books (46)
  • Therapy Exercises (37)
  • Types of Therapy (64)

importance of having a job essay

Download 3 Free Work & Career Tools Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

  • Email Address *
  • Your Expertise * Your expertise Therapy Coaching Education Counseling Business Healthcare Other
  • Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Download 3 Work & Career Exercises Pack (PDF)

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Work Experience — The Importance Of Work Experience

test_template

The Importance of Work Experience

  • Categories: Work Experience

About this sample

close

Words: 511 |

Published: Mar 6, 2024

Words: 511 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Image of Dr. Oliver Johnson

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

  • 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
  • Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

author

Prof Ernest (PhD)

Verified writer

  • Expert in: Life

writer

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 574 words

2 pages / 964 words

2 pages / 790 words

3 pages / 1434 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Work Experience

The life of a seafarer is a unique and often challenging journey that takes individuals far from the comforts of land into the vast expanse of the world's oceans. These brave men and women play a crucial role in global trade, [...]

Worldwide Office Directory and Regional Websites. https://www.sapanalytics.cloud/product/ 

10 Years of Excellence (2002 - 2012). (n.d.). Retrieved from A

Overall, my time in Deloitte really highlighted how to apply the skills that I had already learned from my degree in Schulich, but also the skills that I should focus on in my 3rd year. I really stood by the problem-solving and [...]

Education in most institutions encompasses both the acquisition of knowledge and the application of practical skills. My work placement provided a full-time immersion in various organizations, offering me an invaluable [...]

The pandemic has forced people to change the way they work. More and more people are now working from home, which can be a great option for some but presents its own set of challenges. For those who want or need to get out of [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

  • Instructions Followed To The Letter
  • Deadlines Met At Every Stage
  • Unique And Plagiarism Free

importance of having a job essay

Best Fit Work

  • Resignations
  • Transitions
  • Work & Life
  • Career Advice
  • Job Interview Coaching – Portland, Oregon Metro Area
  • Virtual 1:1 Job Interview Coaching Servies

The Importance of a Job: Why Does It Matter?

the importance of a job

The pandemic caused people to reevaluate many aspects of their lives and what was truly important.

And one area that seemed to be impacted more that others was that of work.

People started to ask themselves why they were putting so of their energy and time into their jobs. And at the end of the day, many people started to question the importance of a job in the first place.

To that end, this article is going to unpack the question of what is the importance of a job, why having a job matters, and other related questions around jobs and work.

Let’s dive in.

  • 1.1 A Job Provides Income
  • 1.2 A Job Is a Place Where You Can Make a Productive Contribution
  • 1.3 A Job is a Place Where You Can Grow
  • 2 Is a Job The Most Important Thing In Life?
  • 3 Why Is Work Important In Our Lives?
  • 4 How Does Work Give Meaning To Life?
  • 5.1 What’s The Point of Working Hard?
  • 5.2 Does Hard Work Lead to Success?
  • 5.3 Is It Normal Not to Want to Work?
  • 6 Conclusion

Importance of a Job: Why Does It Matter?

There are a variety of reasons why having a job is important in our lives. 

Here are a few of the key reasons that highlight the importance of a job:

A Job Provides Income

money

The most common reason that people get a job in the first place is the fact that it provides income.

A job is important because it is the most common source of primary income for people.

And earning a good income is essential to meeting your needs and living a stable, healthy life. 

A Job Is a Place Where You Can Make a Productive Contribution

success

Working a job is also probably the most common way that people make a productive contribution to society.

By producing something that is good and helpful to people, you are contributing in a positive way to society. 

Additionally, by earning an income, you are taking care of your own needs and being self sufficient, rather than relying upon third parties or the government to fund your life. 

So, a job is a common way to look after yourself and your family while producing something good for society.

A Job is a Place Where You Can Grow

personal growth

Lastly, a good job offers personal and professional growth. 

A job can challenge you in positive ways, pushing your social skills, planning skills, and the ability to do your craft well. It can help to keep you sharp and at your best.

Additionally, it’s a context that gives you something to strive for. If you want to be the best in your field, you can work to be excellent at your job and increasingly grow the impact of what you’re doing within your career.

Is a Job The Most Important Thing In Life?

thinking person

In my view, a good job is an important component of an overall healthy life but it’s far from the most important thing.

To me, the following things make up a good life:

  • Meaningful work
  • Positive relationships with friends and family
  • Good physical and mental health
  • Quality of character
  • Stability/meeting your basic needs

All of those things need to work in balance to live a good life.

And if you make your job the most important thing, or focus on your job at the neglect of the areas, I think many people find it doesn’t result in the type of life that they would ideally like to live.

Why Is Work Important In Our Lives?

thinking person

Previously, I talked about the importance of a job.

Now, I want to draw a distinction between a job and work.

My favorite definition of work is from the philosopher Dallas Willard , who defines work as “the energy that we put forth to produce good”.

When looking at work through that lens, there are some things that jump out.

First, work does not necessarily mean a job. Work is the context through which you produce good. So work for you could be a job. But your work could also be raising your kids. It could be serving your community. It could be writing.

Whatever it may be, work means more than just a job.

Secondly, for whatever your work is, it is a vehicle through which you’re producing good. And I think at some level we all want to be producing good in our lives.

So, why is work important? It’s important because I believe that we all want to produce something of value and significance in our lives. And our work is the way that we do that.

How Does Work Give Meaning To Life?

purpose

Work gives meaning to life because, if we find the right work, it can be a vehicle to producing good in a way that brings us to life.

What I mean by that is if you can find your best fit work, it tends to be work that you are excited to do. It’s something that you enjoy intrinsically and maybe even do on your own without a motivation just to earn an income.

And it also gives meaning because work is a vehicle to produce good. And producing good tends to lead to a feeling of positive meaning and contribution.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the point of working hard.

is hard work the key to success

The point of working hard is to maximize the amount of good that you produce with your work.

Now, there are some caveats to that. In a recent newsletter, the career writer Paul Millerd discusses the fact that, historically, the income of executives and employees grew at a similar rate. To that end, there was a feeling of us being all in this together and that everyone would benefit from hard work.

However, at some point in the 70s or 80s, executive income growth started to massively outpace that of the typical employee. Between an increasing gap in income, and the emergence of layoffs, many employees started to realize that they wouldn’t directly benefit from their hard work to the extent that they used to.

People began to recognize that executives and shareholders get more of the upside.

My point is mentioning that story is that if your goal is to work hard just to make as much money as you can and grow on the default career path as quickly as possible, the direct benefit of doing so may be more limited than it has been in the past.

However, if you have found your best fit work, and you’re doing work that you enjoy, provides an income, and produces good, then working hard can maximize the extent to which you’re making a positive contribution that you enjoy.

Does Hard Work Lead to Success?

thumbs up and down

Hard work doesn’t necessarily lead to success, but it can accelerate the process of being successful and increase the likelihood that you will be a success.

The caveat though is that hard work is only an accelerant if you’re doing the right work. 

If you’re putting in lots of hours on the wrong activities that ultimately aren’t going to result in the type of outcome that you want in your work and life, then no amount of hard work is going to result in the type of success you want.

The key is knowing what success looks like for you, knowing what activities lead to those success, and then working hard at those.

To learn more, take a look at our complete article unpacking whether or not hard work is the key to success .

Is It Normal Not to Want to Work?

thinking person

Yes, it is normal not to want to work. In fact a 2014 study from the U.S. Bureau of Labor stated that  85.9 millions adults, or 93.3% of all adults not in the labor force, didn’t want a job .

Additionally, a record  47.4 million people voluntarily quit their jobs during the Great Resignation  in 2021, showing that millions of people were not satisfied with their current work situation.

Again, that looks at work through the context of a traditional job. And, as we’ve discussed, looking at work at just a job is a bit limiting.

However, what we’re seeing is that many people are rejecting the restraints of a traditional job and work structure in favor of something that better fits their overall life and the contribution that they want to make.

For recommendations on what to do if you simply don’t want to work , take a look at our dedicated article on the topic.

There are a variety of reasons why having a job is important.

A job provides income, contribution, and growth, all of which are important to a healthy life. 

However, what’s more important is discovering your best fit work.

And if you can find work like that, where it bring you to life and it feels like you’re producing good, then work can be an extremely healthy and positive source of meaning.

About the author

' src=

Dan is the founder of Best Fit Work and is a business professional with over 10 years of experience. He has been a hiring and people manager on multiple occasions, and has also gone through the hiring process himself at a variety of different companies. Dan writes to share content, tools, and resources to help people discover and thrive in their own best fit work.

I Hate Business: What to Do?

I hate every job i get: what to do, what to do when your career is ruined, work sucks. what to do if you feel this way., recent posts.

  • My Boss Doesn’t Communicate: What To Do?
  • Treated Badly During Notice Period: What To Do?
  • How Long Do You Give a New Job A Chance?
  • Reference No Longer With Company: What To Do?
  • I Am Unhirable: What To Do

USC MAPP Online

  • Admissions Overview
  • Student Experience
  • Careers Overview

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY ONLINE

How Liking Your Job Will Help You Succeed

November 17, 2023

View all blog posts under Articles

How "Liking" Your Job Will Help You Succeed

Steve Jobs stood in front of the 2005 Stanford graduating class and said, “"the only way to do great work is to love what you do," but how does enjoying your work really lead to success in the workplace?

Being happy at work and loving what you do is an overall productivity booster and enhances performance. People who enjoy their jobs are more likely to be optimistic, motivated, learn faster, make fewer mistakes, and better business decisions.

Positivity is Pertinent to Success

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a distinguished Hungarian psychologist, being able to enjoy your work is the main factor in getting into a state of flow.

Flow: The experience you have when you are “in the zone”. You feel fully focused, creative, and ideas are flowing freely.

This means that every time you are given a task and view it negatively, this mindset is already making it harder for you to complete your work. Doing work you love is energizing and creates a positive feedback loop that fuels productivity. Your passion for the work energizes you and vice versa, giving you more fuel to put towards success. The trick is figuring out how to make yourself love your work - even the most tedious of tasks.

Csikszentmihalyi discovered that once you take on a task with a positive mindset and think of the benefits you can reap from completing this project, your work is more likely to happen in a steady, concentrated flow. Being in this state of mind means you will be highly focused and fully absorbed in the task at hand, just as you would be while doing something you really enjoy. Being able to fully devote yourself to a task and give it your all will make you more productive and knowledgeable, leading you towards success at work.

The ability to complete work you don’t enjoy with enthusiasm is hard enough, let alone being the best at it. Without the passion or drive it just doesn’t come naturally. People are more confident at tasks that are more natural and seem to flow. This pertains to anything from writing emails, speaking to large groups, or even creating a presentation. Use a positive mindset to find your drive and build confidence in yourself. If you feel confident and secure with the work you are producing, you will be able to complete it to your fullest potential. Without this overall positive mindset, confidence is lacking and can lead to second-guessing yourself and becoming inefficient.

Passion not only drives you to enjoy your work, but helps in overcoming obstacles in the workplace as well. Anytime you hit a bump in the road or begin to doubt your abilities, remember the positive effects of the work you are doing. This persistence will lead to quality work that elevates you and brings you that much closer to your next goal. Use that drive and motivation as fuel towards your next checkpoint to success.

Finding Passion for Everyday Tasks

An overall positive and passionate mindset can be difficult to enact while completing tedious assignments. To change the way you think, you must also change the way you work. Find the significance in your efforts, live the vision of your organization, work with your colleagues, and in turn you can encourage positive change and take one step closer to success.

Every company has a mission or vision that they work to achieve. Whether it’s clothing the homeless or creating happy, loyal customers while keeping costs down for the organization, raising your significance by working towards the common goal will keep you on the path towards success. By seeing your part in the big picture and realizing your worth, positivity and passion come naturally.

Along with realizing your own worth, knowing your team’s abilities is just as important. According to Paul A. O’Keefe, assistant professor of psychology at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, working with your colleagues helps foster interest in work and create enthusiasm. In a study conducted by O’Keefe, it was found that those working with a partner reported greater interest in the subject and a stronger desire to master it. In other words, utilize your co-workers for motivation. Brainstorm, collaborate, and discuss to instill interest and drive in your work.

As you become more connected with your workplace and coworkers, begin to encourage positive change around you by asking yourself, “what can I do to improve this?” Immersing yourself in your work will help cultivate a passion for your duties. Add this passion on top of taking personal responsibility for making your company more successful, and your engagement will increase greatly, along with your job satisfaction.

The mindset you choose to take on when working is very important. Be conscious of the benefits you are creating for yourself and think positively. In turn, work will become more enjoyable and easier to master on the road to success.

Understanding human behavior is more than the basis of psychology – it is an essential component of virtually every business and organization. The USC  online aster of Science in Applied Psychology degree  prepares professionals to excel in the fields of consumer and organizational psychology.

Liking Work Really Matters How Loving Your Job Helps You Succeed Having a passion for your work may be overrated as a key to success

Learn More About Our MAPP Program.

Work Life Balance - Life and Work Balance Education

  • Partial Client List
  • Client Comments
  • Case Studies
  • Trainer Certification
  • Quick Start Facilitator Package

Call 1-877-644-0064

  • Work-Life Balance
  • Time Management
  • Stress Management
  • Enterprise Wide Solution
  • Contact a Corporate Solutions Expert
  • Contact a Government Solutions Expert
  • Contact a Team Solutions Expert
  • Training For You
  • Tips & Advice
  • CEO Message
  • Work Life Balance Tips /
  • Love Your Job

How Important is it to Love Your Job?

Much has been touted about how important it is to find a job you love. Maybe that’s not as critical as we’ve been led to believe. (Reading time 150 seconds)

My experience is that most people don’t love their work. Many like it, some tolerate it, but it is a minority who find work they love that also supports their lifestyle.

Does that mean that everyone else is left to live in frustration, desperately seeking that perfect job they can be passionate about? Not at all.

You can and should find enjoyment in your work. Doing so is very valuable to your life in many ways, including greatly increasing your probability of financial success. But you don’t have to love, or even like your overall job to enjoy everyday aspects of it.

It is critical to distinguish between the job and the way you do it. This is important because every job has aspects that will be very unpleasant for you. You need to be able to get through them with a smile on your face.

Let me give you a personal example. Coming out of college I helped start a company that required me to develop a sales pattern to teach to others. The nature of the sales contact was face-to-face cold calling. Unlike some of the great salesmen I’ve worked with since, I DISLIKED SALES. So much so that, for the first year, I got up every weekday, threw up, and then went to work.

Although my specific job literally made me sick, I was proud and took satisfaction in the way I was doing the job. I was giving it my best. Somebody had to create a successful way of selling our product, and money and manpower restrictions made me the best choice.

Why did I put such a concentrated effort into a job that I clearly didn’t love? Because I needed to make a living. I saw a significant opportunity for my partners and myself. And as importantly, it made me feel good about myself. I enjoyed undertaking something and giving it my best. It made me feel better about me, and my life as a whole.

Passionate about the job…no. Passionate about how well I did the job…yes. Fortunately, the effort paid off and we were able to hire and train others to do what I didn’t like to do. For a few of those folks, it was their dream job. For most, it was an okay way to make a good living. As for me, I moved to a job that I disliked less.

So if your boss doesn’t appreciate you, you’re underpaid, your company isn’t ideal…that can be OK, for now. They aren’t the key evaluators in your life. You are. Do your job well for YOU. Even if you don’t like your specific work, or the work environment you are in, you can love the way you do it.

Be able to pat yourself on the back at the end of every day. By doing so, you also set yourself up for finding, within your company or somewhere else, a job you will enjoy more.

And you may discover, as you focus on doing it better, that some of the irritants of your job become more rewarding, or at least less lousy. For me, I eventually grew to like sales, though never to love it. However, after 30 professional years, I am fortunate to have created a job I love doing. It would have never happened without my previous work experiences, many of which were less than ideal.

Afraid of being stuck in the same job for life? Don’t worry. Individuals who emphasize the positive and rewarding aspects of their job, don’t stay in unpleasant jobs that long. They get promoted or use their positive record to get a more fulfilling job.

So, paraphrasing a verse Stephen Stills penned,

If you can’t be in the job you love… Love the job you’re in (or the way you do it)

It will make EVERY JOB much more enjoyable and rewarding.

But what about Passion….Love of Life? Is that dependent on finding a job you love? No.

We all need to love life to fully benefit from it. But which parts of our lives generate that ardor, will vary from person to person, and over time. Someone who is passionate about their job is not necessarily living their life any more or less fully than someone who is passionate about their family or their music.

So, other than your job, what is your passion in life? Do you love to learn, or teach, or write? Are you fervent about cooking, sports, cars, or clothes? Do you have a wonderful friend, lover, or a family that you adore? Congratulations! You’ve discovered some of life’s great turn-ons for you.

Why not expand the joy in your life by regularly blocking time to engage in those activities you love, with the people you love? If it’s cooking special meals, set an evening a week aside from TV and laundry to be the chef you want to be. If that’s not enough, get a part time job as a prep cook in a restaurant you enjoy. Do it for free if you have to…it’s not your job, it’s your joy.

This is not hard to do. You just have to decide to do it. Then, in a calendar or planner that you use on a daily basis, write it down on the day you will do it. “Buy tickets to Sunday’s game” (tonight), “till my garden” (Saturday), “sign up for a design course at night school” (5 p.m.), “read my new book” (everyday at lunch). Don’t take your loves for granted – plan time with them. And that certainly should include the people you cherish the most. Commit to regular, celebration times, play times, bring them flower times, in addition to the routine.

Please understand that I’m not encouraging you to stay in a job that makes you miserable and find all your joys elsewhere. If you dislike the job you are in, start to lobby or look for a better one today. And create a plan to get it. But remember, while you are searching for that perfect job, enjoy the way you are doing your present one, and keep celebrating and expanding all the other joys of life that surround you.

Jim Bird Publisher

©WorkLifeBalance.com 2003 – All Rights Reserved

You can help create a work environment that the people around you enjoy more. Simply recognize the value of what they do more often. Congratulate them more. Thank them more. Don’t fake it. It has to be real. Just focus a bit on regularly catching them doing something right. Then tell them. You’ll enjoy it too. Who are you going to make feel good about working with you today?

Work-Life Balance at Your Next Meeting?

The interest and demand for Work-Life Balance from your managers, sales people and employees has never been higher. Why not have the leader in the field deliver a high-impact program at your next meeting?

The Manager’s Role

More and more organizations have recognized that creating a work environment that people productively enjoy is great for the bottom line. It draws out the discretionary focus and effort that can double or triple the contributions each of us can make on the job.

Managers in such an environment must expect, communicate and celebrate professional and organizational achievement. But what a manager must also recognize is that in addition to having a job, people on their team also have a life.

Showing sincere, even if brief, interest in the non-job related passions of each person that works for him or her can do this. Such sincere interest makes work a place that reinforces the achievements and enjoyments of ALL of life. When such a tone is set in our work, we all willingly contribute more to it.

Subscribe Free to this Newsletter

Improving Employee Surveys

For proven methods to improve critical employee survey results, please contact us. We partner with our clients to create more positive, reinforcing work environments.

“Making a success of the job at hand is the best step toward the kind you want.” Bernard M. Baruch

“Every calling is great when greatly pursued.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

5 Steps to Better Work-Life Balance Training For Your Organization

The 5 Steps to Better Work-Life Balance training program creates more value and balance for you and your team on and off the job every day. Proven productivity impact through the use of a common organizational language for work and life. Learn more about this internationally recognized program.

5 Steps to Better Work-Life Balance

5 Steps to Better Work-Life Balance Training For You

The best work-life balance tools are now available in state-of-the-art video-based format for desktop learning from WorkLifeBalance University. Consistently outstanding client reviews. “Puts you in the classroom.” “Results better than live.” “Awesome presentation!”

Online Courses

  • Free Work Life Tips

MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER

Learn how to gain more value and balance from both your personal and professional life - get free tips! View Samples

Subscribe Now!

Want to learn how to improve the performance of your organization and the quality of your employees' lives.

Higher Productivity

Create better leaders

Improved Teamwork

Less Stress

Manage time efficiently

Whether you're a senior level executive, HR or Training manager or you just want to gain more value out of your professional and personal life our unique dual purpose work and life programs can help you and your organization.

Change starts today!

or fill out our short contact form above!

Change starts today

Call 1-877-644-0064 or fill out our short contact form above!

FREE DOWNLOADS

Work-Life: Doing It Right and Avoiding the Pitfalls

Work-Life Strategy Ladder

Competitive Advantage or Social Responsibility?

Why Work-Life Balance Education?

Free Articles

Work-Life Balance Defined What It Really Means

Work-Life Effectiveness vs. Work-Life Balance

End Procrastination Throw Away Your To Do List

importance of having a job essay

Popular Links

  • Work Life Balance Home
  • About the Company
  • Partial Client Listing
  • Contact Information
  • University Login
  • Facilitator Training Courses
  • Curriculum Overview
  • Pricing Guide
  • Five Steps to Better Worklife Balance
  • Workplace Stress Management
  • Time Management Training
  • Customer Service Training
  • Work Life Balance Speaker
  • Online Curriculum Guide
  • Leadership Training Program
  • Leadership Development Training
  • Training Certification
  • Advanced Sustainability Program
  • Work Life Balance Defined
  • Work Life Balance News
  • Personal Change Management
  • ROI Measurements

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

  • Knowledge Base
  • Example of a great essay | Explanations, tips & tricks

Example of a Great Essay | Explanations, Tips & Tricks

Published on February 9, 2015 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 23, 2023 by Shona McCombes.

This example guides you through the structure of an essay. It shows how to build an effective introduction , focused paragraphs , clear transitions between ideas, and a strong conclusion .

Each paragraph addresses a single central point, introduced by a topic sentence , and each point is directly related to the thesis statement .

As you read, hover over the highlighted parts to learn what they do and why they work.

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

upload-your-document-ai-proofreader

Table of contents

Other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay, an appeal to the senses: the development of the braille system in nineteenth-century france.

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

In France, debates about how to deal with disability led to the adoption of different strategies over time. While people with temporary difficulties were able to access public welfare, the most common response to people with long-term disabilities, such as hearing or vision loss, was to group them together in institutions (Tombs, 1996). At first, a joint institute for the blind and deaf was created, and although the partnership was motivated more by financial considerations than by the well-being of the residents, the institute aimed to help people develop skills valuable to society (Weygand, 2009). Eventually blind institutions were separated from deaf institutions, and the focus shifted towards education of the blind, as was the case for the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, which Louis Braille attended (Jimenez et al, 2009). The growing acknowledgement of the uniqueness of different disabilities led to more targeted education strategies, fostering an environment in which the benefits of a specifically blind education could be more widely recognized.

Several different systems of tactile reading can be seen as forerunners to the method Louis Braille developed, but these systems were all developed based on the sighted system. The Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris taught the students to read embossed roman letters, a method created by the school’s founder, Valentin Hauy (Jimenez et al., 2009). Reading this way proved to be a rather arduous task, as the letters were difficult to distinguish by touch. The embossed letter method was based on the reading system of sighted people, with minimal adaptation for those with vision loss. As a result, this method did not gain significant success among blind students.

Louis Braille was bound to be influenced by his school’s founder, but the most influential pre-Braille tactile reading system was Charles Barbier’s night writing. A soldier in Napoleon’s army, Barbier developed a system in 1819 that used 12 dots with a five line musical staff (Kersten, 1997). His intention was to develop a system that would allow the military to communicate at night without the need for light (Herron, 2009). The code developed by Barbier was phonetic (Jimenez et al., 2009); in other words, the code was designed for sighted people and was based on the sounds of words, not on an actual alphabet. Barbier discovered that variants of raised dots within a square were the easiest method of reading by touch (Jimenez et al., 2009). This system proved effective for the transmission of short messages between military personnel, but the symbols were too large for the fingertip, greatly reducing the speed at which a message could be read (Herron, 2009). For this reason, it was unsuitable for daily use and was not widely adopted in the blind community.

Nevertheless, Barbier’s military dot system was more efficient than Hauy’s embossed letters, and it provided the framework within which Louis Braille developed his method. Barbier’s system, with its dashes and dots, could form over 4000 combinations (Jimenez et al., 2009). Compared to the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, this was an absurdly high number. Braille kept the raised dot form, but developed a more manageable system that would reflect the sighted alphabet. He replaced Barbier’s dashes and dots with just six dots in a rectangular configuration (Jimenez et al., 2009). The result was that the blind population in France had a tactile reading system using dots (like Barbier’s) that was based on the structure of the sighted alphabet (like Hauy’s); crucially, this system was the first developed specifically for the purposes of the blind.

While the Braille system gained immediate popularity with the blind students at the Institute in Paris, it had to gain acceptance among the sighted before its adoption throughout France. This support was necessary because sighted teachers and leaders had ultimate control over the propagation of Braille resources. Many of the teachers at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth resisted learning Braille’s system because they found the tactile method of reading difficult to learn (Bullock & Galst, 2009). This resistance was symptomatic of the prevalent attitude that the blind population had to adapt to the sighted world rather than develop their own tools and methods. Over time, however, with the increasing impetus to make social contribution possible for all, teachers began to appreciate the usefulness of Braille’s system (Bullock & Galst, 2009), realizing that access to reading could help improve the productivity and integration of people with vision loss. It took approximately 30 years, but the French government eventually approved the Braille system, and it was established throughout the country (Bullock & Galst, 2009).

Although Blind people remained marginalized throughout the nineteenth century, the Braille system granted them growing opportunities for social participation. Most obviously, Braille allowed people with vision loss to read the same alphabet used by sighted people (Bullock & Galst, 2009), allowing them to participate in certain cultural experiences previously unavailable to them. Written works, such as books and poetry, had previously been inaccessible to the blind population without the aid of a reader, limiting their autonomy. As books began to be distributed in Braille, this barrier was reduced, enabling people with vision loss to access information autonomously. The closing of the gap between the abilities of blind and the sighted contributed to a gradual shift in blind people’s status, lessening the cultural perception of the blind as essentially different and facilitating greater social integration.

The Braille system also had important cultural effects beyond the sphere of written culture. Its invention later led to the development of a music notation system for the blind, although Louis Braille did not develop this system himself (Jimenez, et al., 2009). This development helped remove a cultural obstacle that had been introduced by the popularization of written musical notation in the early 1500s. While music had previously been an arena in which the blind could participate on equal footing, the transition from memory-based performance to notation-based performance meant that blind musicians were no longer able to compete with sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997). As a result, a tactile musical notation system became necessary for professional equality between blind and sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997).

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

Bullock, J. D., & Galst, J. M. (2009). The Story of Louis Braille. Archives of Ophthalmology , 127(11), 1532. https://​doi.org/10.1001/​archophthalmol.2009.286.

Herron, M. (2009, May 6). Blind visionary. Retrieved from https://​eandt.theiet.org/​content/​articles/2009/05/​blind-visionary/.

Jiménez, J., Olea, J., Torres, J., Alonso, I., Harder, D., & Fischer, K. (2009). Biography of Louis Braille and Invention of the Braille Alphabet. Survey of Ophthalmology , 54(1), 142–149. https://​doi.org/10.1016/​j.survophthal.2008.10.006.

Kersten, F.G. (1997). The history and development of Braille music methodology. The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education , 18(2). Retrieved from https://​www.jstor.org/​stable/40214926.

Mellor, C.M. (2006). Louis Braille: A touch of genius . Boston: National Braille Press.

Tombs, R. (1996). France: 1814-1914 . London: Pearson Education Ltd.

Weygand, Z. (2009). The blind in French society from the Middle Ages to the century of Louis Braille . Stanford: Stanford University Press.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

  • Ad hominem fallacy
  • Post hoc fallacy
  • Appeal to authority fallacy
  • False cause fallacy
  • Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

  • Choosing Essay Topic
  • Write a College Essay
  • Write a Diversity Essay
  • College Essay Format & Structure
  • Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

 (AI) Tools

  • Grammar Checker
  • Paraphrasing Tool
  • Text Summarizer
  • AI Detector
  • Plagiarism Checker
  • Citation Generator

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

  • An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
  • Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
  • A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Bryson, S. (2023, July 23). Example of a Great Essay | Explanations, Tips & Tricks. Scribbr. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/example-essay-structure/

Is this article helpful?

Shane Bryson

Shane Bryson

Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in 2013 and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since 2009. He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, 2014.

Other students also liked

How to write an essay introduction | 4 steps & examples, academic paragraph structure | step-by-step guide & examples, how to write topic sentences | 4 steps, examples & purpose, what is your plagiarism score.

PrepScholar

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, having a job in high school has more benefits than just a paycheck.

author image

Other High School , Extracurriculars

feature_hiring.jpg

Having a job used to be a rite of passage for high school students. They'd put in some hours during the school year and over the summer and often be able to pay for most of their college expenses with the money they earned. However, as today's current high schoolers are facing piles of homework, pressure to excel on sports teams and clubs, and tuition costs that no entry-level job could ever cover, many people are rethinking the concept of high schoolers working.

Are there still benefits to having a job in high school? Yes. There are many reasons for a high school student today to have a job, and those benefits extend far beyond just a paycheck.

Having a job in high school can not only be a great experience in and of itself, it can also set you up to get even better jobs in college and beyond. In this article, I use my experience of working as a teenager to go over the key benefits of having a high school job. I also end by giving tips on the best jobs for high school students.

My High School Work Experience

When I was 14 years old, my mother told me that I needed to get a job in order to pay for college. Happy with my sporadic babysitting work, I resisted and told my mother that, no matter what job I got, I'd never be able to pay for college on a high school worker's salary. To prove my point, I even got a calculator and showed her it'd take several years of full-time work on a minimum wage salary to cover college costs.

My mother dismissed those arguments and told me that there were plenty of other reasons why I should get a job beyond just the paycheck. So I found myself applying for and eventually accepting a job as a swim instructor and lifeguard at my town's local pool. I ended up working at the pool through all four years of high school and eventually was promoted to a manager position. In the summer, I'd teach swim lessons in the morning and lifeguard in the afternoon, and during the school year I'd teach swim lessons weekend mornings and supervise the office occasional weekday evenings.

Not everything about the job was great, and there were times I hated jumping in the pool on cold mornings and trying to convince cranky kids to follow my instructions, but overall, like my mother said, I got many benefits from the job beyond just the paycheck (although having spending money of my own was definitely nice).

At my job, I made lots of new friends, more than I had made in high school actually. I also gained numerous skills including CPR training and office experience. Additionally, I was also able to use my work experience (as well as my experience as a manager) to stand out from other job applicants in college and get a paid research job as a freshman in college.

Having a job in high school gave me work experience, independence, and a better idea of the type of career I wanted, and many other high school students can benefit from having a job. Even if the job doesn't pay well, or relate to your future career, or seem all that fun, there are still tons of benefits to having a high school job, and we'll go over them in this article.

The 6 Key Benefits of High School Jobs

There are numerous benefits to getting a job in high school, some of which are obvious and others less so. This section covers six of the main benefits you can expect to get from having a job as a high school student.

#1: You'll Earn Money

The most obvious benefit to getting a job in high school is that you'll be making money. Now, since you're starting at the bottom rung of the ladder, this likely won't be a ton of money. When I first started working, I made the princely sum of $5.25 an hour (before taxes), and that's not going to make anyone rich.

However, even the salaries of low-paying jobs begin to add up over time, and since you're in high school, your expenses are very low or non-existent. That means you can put all that money towards whatever you want, like a college fund or new clothes or attending concerts, instead of having to pay bills and students loans.

My parents recommended that I put half my paychecks in my savings account, so I did that and used the other half to buy an expensive guitar that I could have never have afforded without my job. And even if your high school job is an unpaid internship or volunteer work, not to worry. There are plenty of other benefits of a high school job, which we discuss below.

body_piggybank-6.jpg

#2: You'll Learn New Skills

No matter what your first job is, even if it seems incredibly easy and/or incredibly boring, you're guaranteed to pick up skills you didn't have before. These skills can include anything from learning how to work a cash register, to building customer service skills, to figuring out the trick to balancing all those restaurant dishes on your arms at once.

The skills you learn may not be that interesting to you, and they may not be anything close to the skills you need for your future career, but it never hurts to gain new knowledge. It may end up being interesting or useful to you down the line.

At my job, I learned how to teach different swimming strokes, how to administer CPR, and a host of first-aid skills. These are all pretty helpful to know, however; I didn't end up using most of them in my future jobs. The main skill that was useful for other jobs I had down the line was learning how to use a pretty obscure computer program to track pool visitor numbers. It was clunky and annoying to learn, but, years later, I applied to an internship that also used the same program, and my future boss told me that having that random skill helped me beat out the competition and get the job.

So don't knock any of the skills your job teaches you because they may come in handy someday.

#3: You'll Gain Work Experience

In addition to learning new skills, your high school job will help you gain valuable work experience. Everyone goes through a learning curve when they first begin working as they learn how to manage their time effectively, how to interact with coworkers, how to make sure they get to work on time, etc.

No matter what other strengths you have, you're going to be a pretty bad employee until you figure those basic work skills out. This is why a lot of employers are hesitant to hire someone who's never worked before, even if they have great grades and otherwise seem like they could be an excellent worker.

A few months after I started working, my job had a mandatory meeting one night that every employee had to go to. However, I didn't go because, for some reason, I didn't believe it was really mandatory or important for me to attend that meeting. Afterwards, I got a stern talking to from my boss and it was embarrassing, but it's better to make those mistakes early on, when the stakes are low and your boss is more likely to be understanding. By college, with four years of work experience under my belt, I definitely wasn't making those beginner mistakes during my research job.

So, even if your high school work experience only amounts to flipping burgers for a summer at your local fast food joint, that can still give you a huge leg up over people with no work experience when you apply to jobs in college and later on. If you start learning the skills to being a good employee in high school, you'll set yourself up to be an outstanding employee later on down the line. So make your mistakes now instead of later (but don't make the same mistake I did because that was pretty dumb of me).

#4: You'll Learn More About What Kind of Career You Want

As a high school student, you've likely spent a lot of time thinking about the type of career you want to have, even if you haven't come to any firm conclusions about what you want to do. Thinking about and researching different types of jobs is great, but the best way to figure out what you want to do is to actually try different jobs out.

Now, your high school job likely isn't the job you want to get after you finish school, but it's still a great way to get a taste of the working world and figure out which things you enjoy in a job and which you don't.

When I was a teenager, I was pretty sure I was going to be a scientific researcher and possibly a professor. That career had nothing to do with my high school job of teaching swim lessons and being a lifeguard. However, I was able to use my high school work experience to get a better idea of what kind of job I would enjoy.

One of the best ways to do this was to think about what I liked and what I didn't like about my high school job. Things I liked included being around people, being active and outside, and working with kids. Things I disliked included knowing I was responsible for the safety of everyone in the pool, giving kids low marks on their swimming tests, and dealing with parents who were angry their child didn't pass to the next swim level.

None of this radically changed my career goals, but it did encourage me to consider having a job that let me do more than just sit at a desk or in a lab, and it made me think more critically about being a professor, where I'd regularly have to give out low grades and speak with unhappy students and parents.

body_dreamjob.jpg

#5: You'll Meet New People

Unless your high school job involves sorting old moss specimens in a warehouse by yourself (a job I also once had), you'll meet lots of new people at work. Your coworkers will likely be people you wouldn't have met otherwise, which is a great way to expand your social circle beyond your high school friends and learn more about different types of people.

Many workplaces that employ high school students have a lot of similarly-aged people working there who often develop a strong camaraderie, which means your new coworkers could end up being some of your best friends.

However, there's also the possibility that you won't like someone you work with, whether this is your boss, customers you need to help, or that one coworker who steals everyone else's lunch. And even though that's not as fun as being friends with everyone you work with, it'll help prepare you for the many times in the future you have to work with or interact with someone you're not crazy about.

#6: You'll Gain Independence

One of the most important benefits of teenager jobs is that you'll achieve a degree of independence you likely haven't experienced before. As a high school student, you've probably lived your entire life with your parents and been under their rules or your school's rules when you're in class.

At a job, you're deemed responsible enough to manage your own duties, and you'll have fewer restrictions than you likely do at home or school. As an employee, you're not just a student or a kid; you're a full-fledged member of the team who's considered smart enough to handle some responsibility.

Your teacher won't be there to tell you to stop talking and pay attention, and your mom won't be there to remind you to clean up after yourself. You'll be responsible for taking care of all your job duties yourself.

Some people worry that teenagers who have jobs give up their childhood too soon and take on too much responsibility, but in my experience and the experience of my friends who worked as teenagers, I never found this to be true. My job, even when I worked full-time in the summer, still gave me plenty of time to socialize and have fun, and I was proud to feel more "grown up" and know I was trusted by my boss to do my job well.

Succeeding at a job and earning money--all on your own--can help you gain a lot of independence and self-confidence, and it's a great way to help prepare you for college and the future when your responsibilities and independence will only increase.

body_barista-1.jpg

What Are the Best Jobs for Teens?

Sometimes high school students and their parents worry about what the "best" job for a teenager to have is or if the job they're thinking about taking is good enough. The truth is that most teenager jobs are about the same prestige-wise. Working as a waitress is no better or worse than working in customer service or at a summer camp. Each of those jobs can provide the benefits we discussed in this article.

No one is expecting a high schooler to get a job as an investment banker or astrophysicist, so don't worry about a job that doesn't seem like it's "good enough." Many rich and successful people starting out flipping burgers or folding clothes at their local mall.

Ditto to people concerned about getting a job in high school that matches the career they want to have. If you can find a job as a high school student that's in the field you eventually want to work in, that's great, but be aware most high schoolers take jobs that have absolutely nothing to do with their career paths. That's OK since your career goals are likely to change between high school and when you actually begin working full-time.

The most important thing is just to get a job so you can get the work experience, new skills and added sense of responsibility. It's OK if you don't think the pay is that great or the job isn't something you're really interested in. My first job paid very little and had nothing to do with my career goals, but I still got a lot out of it.

If possible, I'd recommend an "official" job as opposed to under the table work like nannying since the former gives you more experience with common workplace tasks like clocking in and out, attending meetings, and working with managers and coworkers. These are all things you'll probably need to know for future jobs, so it's good to start getting used to them now. Workplaces known for treating young and new workers well are also a good bet.

Finally, when you're looking at jobs, make sure they're convenient for you to get to and will work with your schedule. You don't want to take a job only to find out a few weeks later that it conflicts with a sport or club you're in.

Conclusion: The Benefits of High School Jobs

Having a job is not for every high school student; many teenagers these days already have jam-packed schedules between school and sports and clubs. As a junior in high school, I had to cut back on my job hours during the school year because I was feeling overwhelmed with homework. However, for many high school students, there are numerous benefits to be gained by having a job.

Not only will high school jobs give you a way to earn some money, meet new people, and gain some more responsibility, you can use your teenager jobs to get yourself a better job in college since can prove to employers you've already succeeded at one job.

Some people wonder what the best jobs for teens are, but the truth is that any job with a decent boss, fair pay, and work that isn't too miserable can get you all the benefits we discussed in this article. The most important step is just to go out there and find yourself a job.

What's Next?

Looking for job ideas? We've written a guide on the eight best jobs for teens as well as steps to take to find the best job for you.

Thinking about getting an internship? We've got you covered! Check out our step-by-step guide to getting an internship for teens for everything you need to know to land a top-notch internship.

Looking to save your hard-earned earnings from your high school job? Check out our guides to saving money on the SAT and ACT .

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Get eBook: 5 Tips for 160+ Points

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

Student and Parent Forum

Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com , allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers.

Join the Conversation

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

  • For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

importance of having a job essay

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

IELTS Mentor "IELTS Preparation & Sample Answer"

  • Skip to content
  • Jump to main navigation and login

Nav view search

  • IELTS Sample

IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.

Ielts essay 244 - university education to help graduates get better jobs, ielts writing task 2/ ielts essay:, some people believe the aim of university education is to help graduates get better jobs. others believe there are much wider benefits of university education for both individuals and society..

  • IELTS Essay
  • Writing Task 2

importance of having a job essay

IELTS Materials

  • IELTS Bar Graph
  • IELTS Line Graph
  • IELTS Table Chart
  • IELTS Flow Chart
  • IELTS Pie Chart
  • IELTS Letter Writing
  • Academic Reading

Useful Links

  • IELTS Secrets
  • Band Score Calculator
  • Exam Specific Tips
  • Useful Websites
  • IELTS Preparation Tips
  • Academic Reading Tips
  • Academic Writing Tips
  • GT Writing Tips
  • Listening Tips
  • Speaking Tips
  • IELTS Grammar Review
  • IELTS Vocabulary
  • IELTS Cue Cards
  • IELTS Life Skills
  • Letter Types

IELTS Mentor - Follow Twitter

  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Copyright Notice
  • HTML Sitemap

University of Pittsburgh

  • What is an Affinity Community?
  • International Students
  • Students of Color
  • Veteran Students
  • NCAA Student Athletes
  • Students with Neurodiversity & Dis/ability
  • Adult Students
  • First Generation Students
  • Prospective Students
  • Undergraduate Students
  • Graduate Students
  • What is a Career Community?
  • Exploration & Discovery
  • Education, Cultures & Human Services
  • Multimedia, Marketing, Communication & Creative Arts
  • Policy, Law & Public Service
  • Management, Consulting, Sales & Finance
  • Life & Physical Sciences
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Engineering
  • Computing, Information & Analytics
  • Exploring Careers
  • Exploring Graduate School
  • Internships
  • Interview Prep
  • Research, Volunteering, & Fellowships
  • Resume Prep
  • Skill Development
  • Contact + Team
  • Career Resources

Navigating Your Major and Career Journey: The Importance of Understanding Your Values

  • Share This: Share Navigating Your Major and Career Journey: The Importance of Understanding Your Values on Facebook Share Navigating Your Major and Career Journey: The Importance of Understanding Your Values on LinkedIn Share Navigating Your Major and Career Journey: The Importance of Understanding Your Values on X

When exploring careers, many consider whether an occupation will be personally fulfilling to them or not. This personal fulfillment can come in many different forms. For example, some folks are most satisfied by helping others, while others find joy in tangible achievements. These are known as  career values —the factors that guide and fulfill us throughout our career journey.

There is a  distinct difference  between career goals and career values. Career goals can be specific ways that one defines success in their career. For example, a career goal could be, “I want to work at a non-profit,” or, “I will become a neuropsychologist.” On the other hand, a career value is a principle that one strives to live in accordance with. A few career values include stability, wealth, leadership, and ethics. There are endless other career values one could hold, and none are right or wrong. Values are important to explore, as when we live/work in accordance to our values, we tend to experience more satisfaction than when we work towards  just  goals.

The resource, Think2Perform values exercise , comprises a list of 51 different values. The activity aims to have users sort these values step-by-step and eventually remain with their 5 most important values. Once these top 5 values are identified, it will be important to consider how different occupations align or misalign with them. For instance, a top value of “service” would align with occupations where a service is being provided (e.g., restaurant owner, social worker). This value may be misaligned with careers where (human) service is not being directly provided (e.g., laboratory technician, data entry clerk). For students who are considering their career options, exploring their values can be very helpful in deciding what occupations will bring fulfillment.

Resource Link: Think2Perform Values Exercise

Request a Free Consultation

" * " indicates required fields

5 Reasons Why Job Descriptions Are Important

April 22, 2021.

tandem hr solutions job description

Here’s How To Create One

Job descriptions have been around since the advent of jobs. However, the importance of job descriptions from a big picture concept is still unclear. Most often, HR professionals and recruiters put off writing or updating job descriptions because they think other tasks are more vital. Nonetheless, a good job description might have a much larger impact on the workplace than you anticipate.

#1 – Helps Attract the Right Employee

The purpose of a job description is to ensure the job will meet the needs of the organization and to recruit the appropriate talent for the position. When you clearly specify the qualifications for a specific role, it will be less likely that employees who don’t fit the criteria apply.  This will, in turn, help you save valuable recruitment time by limiting the number of applications that come through the door, thereby improving the quality of the applications that come in.

#2 – Helps Guide Training

Figuring out the type and depth of training a new employee requires can be a difficult task. However, a complete job description helps make it a bit easier. If your job description is thorough, it will be easier to know where a new employee falls short in terms of knowledge, skills, or qualifications and where he/she might require additional training.

Using the skills gaps as a guide, you can put together a customized training plan that will help get the employee into an actionable position faster.

#3 – Offer Protection After Terminations

While job descriptions help bring in qualified employees, a bad hire might still find their way in. In such a scenario, a good job description will serve as back-up documentation for poor performance. If you had outlined the expectations right from the beginning, it would be easier to pinpoint and document exactly where the employee’s performance doesn’t meet the standards. This information will supplement any other documentation of performance issues such as performance reviews, one-to-one meeting notes, and other discussion notes.

#4 – Assist with Retention and Satisfaction

When you look at it from an employee candidate’s perspective, a job description is a sample snapshot of what a candidate’s life with the company will look like. If you fail to put forward an accurate job description, the employee will feel that your company has been deceitful. He/she will also be more likely to quit.

On the other hand, if a job description is accurate, the chances are that the employee will enjoy their job and have a sense of purpose and loyalty towards the company.

#5 – Helps Gauge Performance

After hiring an employee, an in-depth job description serves as a tool to gauge performance. The job competencies, duties, tasks, and responsibilities that are outlined in the description will act as expectation guidelines. Once the probationary period ends, or when it is time for employee reviews, a job description is an excellent tool to measure performance shortcomings or areas where the employee exceeds expectations.

5 Tips For Writing Better Job Descriptions

  • Include your mission, vision, and values, especially when listing your job descriptions outside of your own organization’s website. One of your main goals is to attract candidates that share your organizational values.
  • Improve readability using bullet points, short paragraphs, and concise sentences. Depending on the complexity of the position, limit yourself to 5-10 bullet points that highlight the functions or core competencies needed. List them from most performed to least and include a blanket statement that “ other duties, tasks and responsibilities may be assigned at any time.”
  • Be upfront about total compensation (salary, commissions, bonuses) and benefits (including time off, holidays, health contributions, and retirement plans). Feel free to include other perks like flexible schedules or other unique benefits.
  • Include physical requirements. Remember, one in five adults has some form of disability. By providing physical requirements up front, you avoid missteps during the hiring process.

Keep Your Job Descriptions Up-to-Date

Job roles and responsibilities keep changing over time—they evolve and expand as their position within the company shifts. For instance, if your employees have been in the same position for a while, it is highly unlikely that their job descriptions are the same as when they were first hired. However, employers often forget the importance of regularly updating job descriptions.

While it might seem like an insignificant part of HR, outlining and updating job descriptions is essential for preparing for future hiring objectives, improving current employee productivity, and ensuring long-term workforce sustainability. Furthermore, these critical internal records will help ensure consistent performance standards and ease the hiring and recruitment process, should the role change or expand in the future.

If you do not have an HR partner,  Tandem HR is happy to help. Give us a call today at (630) 928-0510 .

HR Blog Home

  • Employment Law Compliance
  • Health & Wellness
  • HR Management
  • Human Resources
  • People Management
  • Performance
  • Risk & Safety
  • Tandem HR News
  • Work-Life Balance

Master Benefit Documentation

importance of having a job essay

Request More Information on Products & Services

Cart

  • SUGGESTED TOPICS
  • The Magazine
  • Newsletters
  • Managing Yourself
  • Managing Teams
  • Work-life Balance
  • The Big Idea
  • Data & Visuals
  • Reading Lists
  • Case Selections
  • HBR Learning
  • Topic Feeds
  • Account Settings
  • Email Preferences

AI Prompt Engineering Isn’t the Future

  • Oguz A. Acar

importance of having a job essay

Asking the perfect question is less important than really understanding the problem you’re trying to solve.

Despite the buzz surrounding it, the prominence of prompt engineering may be fleeting. A more enduring and adaptable skill will keep enabling us to harness the potential of generative AI? It is called problem formulation — the ability to identify, analyze, and delineate problems.

Prompt engineering has taken the generative AI world by storm. The job, which entails optimizing textual input to effectively communicate with large language models, has been hailed by World Economic Forum as the number one “job of the future” while Open AI CEO Sam Altman characterized it as an “amazingly high-leveraged skill.” Social media brims with a new wave of influencers showcasing “magic prompts” and pledging amazing outcomes.

importance of having a job essay

  • Oguz A. Acar is a Chair in Marketing at King’s Business School, King’s College London.

Partner Center

IMAGES

  1. My ideal job essay sample

    importance of having a job essay

  2. Essay My Brilliant Career

    importance of having a job essay

  3. Employment

    importance of having a job essay

  4. Importance of motivation in the workplace essay

    importance of having a job essay

  5. How to Write a Job Application Essay: 13 Steps (with Pictures)

    importance of having a job essay

  6. On-The-Job Training (OJT) Free Essay Example

    importance of having a job essay

VIDEO

  1. IMPORTANCE OF JOB

  2. Are you having Job related gastric issues ??

  3. curve job essay hook official store chance

  4. Let jobs come to you

  5. Essay on importance of English

  6. importance of english language

COMMENTS

  1. Frequently Asked Question: Why Is Having a Job So Important?

    Here are a few other reasons having a job may be important: Socialization: It can connect you with others, which can help you learn more about the world by interacting with customers, clients or coworkers and feel more connected to society. Fulfillment: You may feel you achieved a goal within your career or personal life with the job you're ...

  2. The 10 Benefits of Having a Job

    With this, it is essential to find a balance in your life by adopting hobbies and working on other projects that feel self-expressive. 3. Gives You an Intellectual Challenge. Acquiring new knowledge is one of the most fun and enriching parts of life.

  3. The Why Of Work: Purpose And Meaning Really Do Matter

    David and Wendy Ulrich. RBL. David Ulrich: Abundance is to have a fullness (e.g., an abundant harvest) or to live life to its fullest (e.g., an abundant life). An abundant organization enables its ...

  4. The Importance of a Good Career Essay

    A good career holds immense importance in an individual's life, contributing to their overall well-being and happiness. Here are key reasons why a good career is crucial: Firstly, a good career provides personal fulfillment. When individuals engage in work that aligns with their passions, interests, and values, it brings a sense of purpose and ...

  5. Your Job Doesn't Have to Be Your Passion

    Summary. The pandemic has been a wake-up call for a lot of people, causing us to reevaluate our lives and our careers. It's natural to think: "If I'm going to spend so much time at work, I ...

  6. Essay on Career for Students and Children

    500+ Words Essay on Career. Career is a very important thing in one's life. Whatever career path you choose to follow, it will impact your life greatly. Your career will define your status in a society in addition to your lifestyle. In other words, your career will determine your social circle and relationships.

  7. What makes a job meaningful?

    Keys to motivating workers. In exploring what makes work meaningful, we rely on self-determination theory. According to this theory, satisfying three innate psychological needs—competence ...

  8. 5 Reasons Why Your Career Is Important In Life

    Having a career that aligns with who you are will make you an energetic, positive, and makes your life outside of work better. Your friends and family will notice the difference between when you like what you do and when you don't. 3. It is a part of your identity.

  9. What Is Job Satisfaction and Why Is It Important?

    2. Higher productivity. Irrespective of their job titles or salary, employees who are more satisfied with their job, whether they feel satisfied with the organizational culture, with the rewards they are getting, or with recognition, can produce more and do it more efficiently. 3.

  10. Why You Need To Love Your Job

    Why You Need To Love Your Job. This article is more than 10 years old. Loving ones job is not only a "rare-to-find-nice-to-have", no, it is essential for our entire society and for our overall ...

  11. Job Satisfaction is More Important: [Essay Example], 346 words

    Practically speaking, people tend to find a job with a higher income to meet their day to day needs. Whilst, in reality, the feeling of satisfaction with their job weighs more than the compensation itself which I agree with. Contentment is way more necessary regardless of what kind of a job we are into as long as we are fortunately grateful ...

  12. The Importance Of Work Experience: [Essay Example], 511 words

    In conclusion, work experience holds immense importance for college students. It provides them with practical knowledge, networking opportunities, skill development, and a better understanding of their chosen field. By engaging in work experience, students are better prepared for their future careers and increase their chances of success.

  13. How To Write a Great Career Goals Essay

    1. Understand the concept of career goals. Before you write your career goals essay, you must first identify your career ambitions. Career goals are a form of personal development. Focus on the professional or educational goals you would like to achieve aside from a high salary. The qualities of your goals are a more accurate measure of success ...

  14. The Importance of a Job: Why Does It Matter?

    Lastly, a good job offers personal and professional growth. A job can challenge you in positive ways, pushing your social skills, planning skills, and the ability to do your craft well. It can help to keep you sharp and at your best. Additionally, it's a context that gives you something to strive for. If you want to be the best in your field ...

  15. Liking Your Job Helps You Succeed

    Positivity is Pertinent to Success. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a distinguished Hungarian psychologist, being able to enjoy your work is the main factor in getting into a state of flow. Flow: The experience you have when you are "in the zone". You feel fully focused, creative, and ideas are flowing freely.

  16. Benefits of Having a Job: EssayZoo Sample

    The essay below discusses the same. Benefits of Having a Job. The cry for creation of more job opportunities has spread through the entire world. Governments and investors are put to the task to ensure that they create more job opportunities for the many people that are continually being churned by the training and learning institutions.

  17. The importance in the job search of understanding the emotions of

    It's important to realize that employers see the world differently than you do and to understand their specific emotional states, advises Joseph Barber. By Joseph Barber. iStock/JeremyRichards. In addition to working with graduate students and postdocs at the University of Pennsylvania on their career exploration and development, I also teach ...

  18. Role of Education for Successful Careers Essay

    In any given organization, managers use educational requirements to reduce the number of applicants especially in situations where the number of those applying for the job is more than the available positions. Remember! This is just a sample. You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers. Get custom essay.

  19. How Important is it to Love Your Job?

    Doing so is very valuable to your life in many ways, including greatly increasing your probability of financial success. But you don't have to love, or even like your overall job to enjoy everyday aspects of it. It is critical to distinguish between the job and the way you do it. This is important because every job has aspects that will be ...

  20. Example of a Great Essay

    This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people's social and cultural lives.

  21. Having a Job in High School Has More Benefits Than Just a Paycheck

    Yes. There are many reasons for a high school student today to have a job, and those benefits extend far beyond just a paycheck. Having a job in high school can not only be a great experience in and of itself, it can also set you up to get even better jobs in college and beyond. In this article, I use my experience of working as a teenager to ...

  22. IELTS Essay 244

    Sample Answer 1: Higher education plays a pivotal role in an individual's professional life. Many people are of the opinion that the role of university education is to merely facilitate a graduate's job hunting endeavours. Others, however, believe that the beneficial ramifications a university can provide for its students are many.

  23. Navigating Your Major and Career Journey: The Importance of

    There are endless other career values one could hold, and none are right or wrong. Values are important to explore, as when we ... Think2Perform values exercise, comprises a list of 51 different values. The activity aims to have users sort these values step-by-step and eventually remain with their 5 most important values. ... 120+ location ...

  24. 5 Reasons Why Job Descriptions Are Important

    5 Tips For Writing Better Job Descriptions. Include your mission, vision, and values, especially when listing your job descriptions outside of your own organization's website. One of your main goals is to attract candidates that share your organizational values. Improve readability using bullet points, short paragraphs, and concise sentences.

  25. AI Prompt Engineering Isn't the Future

    It is called problem formulation — the ability to identify, analyze, and delineate problems. Prompt engineering has taken the generative AI world by storm. The job, which entails optimizing ...