For a long time, work was considered purely a means of earning a living. This perspective still exists today. It is quite justified, because with an income we can create our material security. In a narrow sense, this is how we ensure our survival. In an increasingly complex and multifaceted world, however, it is becoming more and more apparent that people want to pursue work that is not just about earning money. There are certain reasons for this, some of which lie in the psyche and some in social values and offers. It is also a human need to realise oneself. Although one could write umpteen books on the philosophy and meaning of the self, what is meant here in brief is what man believes he is. This can be an infinite number of characteristics. Regardless of whether this is objectively comprehensible or not: man today needs meaning in his actions. Now, one could say that merely making money would be meaning enough. But that collides with the social values of self-development, freedom and individualisation. Man wants to be more than the servant of money. This is evident not only in the fact that there is a significant increase in start-ups, but also in the fact that more and more companies are granting their workers various freedoms. In these free spaces, workers can take on responsibility, conceive their own ideas and thus actively and dynamically help shape the company instead of just keeping it running as a “cog in the wheel”.
Meaningful work has a high value for keeping people healthy. It has been proven that people are significantly healthier when they enjoy their work. Fun here is not to be understood in the sense of amusement, but in the sense of high intrinsic motivation. This means that meaningful work improves health because people enjoy doing it; and they enjoy doing it because they can identify with it. At the same time, there are currently the “widespread diseases” burn-out and bore-out. These are two trends that occur in people who are either massively overstrained or massively understrained in their work. Both go back to insufficient meaning. Now “insufficient” does not mean that there is too little meaning. Too much meaning can also lead to problems. Burn-out often affects people who overidentify with their work. Especially in social professions, where the aim is to help people directly, burn-out occurs because those affected quickly reach their and structural limits. This has a negative effect on the understanding of meaning.
That is why it is necessary for work to have meaning. But it does not have this meaning by itself. We have to give meaning to our work or pursue the thing we have already given meaning to and see to it that we make a profession out of it. On the career platform we offer these two approaches. Together we can support your search for meaning. We look at what you consider meaningful in life and together we see how this can lead to new career paths. This requires solid analyses and evaluations of your individual concerns and the labour market, including the opportunities and risks of certain career paths.