92% of employees want to "give meaning to their work" and this desire to feel useful to society through their job is so important that 42% take the plunge into professional retraining, according to a recent study conducted by Audencia in partnership with jobs_that_makesense (February 2022).
And when we hear “search for meaning”, we often think “ecology”! Indeed, still according to this study, 57% of respondents explain that they want to "contribute to the challenges of ecological and/or social transition". In addition, this climate emergency is increasingly publicized and rightly so (see the special issue of Socialter: "ecology or death").
If that's really what you want, great! This is an essential theme and there are plenty of jobs being created around it: energy transition manager for a community, director of a climate-related association, decarbonization manager consultant, etc.
But do you really want to work in ecology?
Because the impact professions are not limited to this sector. And even if you are convinced that ecology is a fundamental issue, if this subject does not make you vibrate, perhaps you should explore the different possibilities available to you!
What really drives you? What issue has real meaning for you?
In this article, we suggest that you refocus on your passions to find the issue that drives you, by embarking on an exercise that has proven itself during our workshops.
Make your professional transition a real success!
Listen to your passions to identify your challenges
Commitment is expensive, you have to be passionate not to let go
Of course, the environmental emergency is present and a priority. We agree (even more so since the release of the last IPCC report): there is a real challenge! But this is not the only possible dimension for an impact conversion.
Pascale Reinhardt, president of the Société française de coaching says that “an entrepreneur can feed on his passion to overcome the first difficulties encountered”. This is valid even if you are not an entrepreneur!
A professional retraining requires great motivation, because you will have to question yourself and work for yourself: contact people who have a profile that interests you, look for possible training courses... All of this will require work, involvement and what better way to stay motivated than to be passionate?
Environmental and social issues are not necessarily opposed
Working for a cause that is close to your heart in the social sector does not necessarily oppose environmental issues. They are even often intrinsically linked! For example, if what really drives you is the fight for gender equality, that doesn't make you a less committed person, on the contrary!
Did you know that it has been proven that the mental burden of ecology weighs mainly on women? Indeed, 73% of French women surveyed say they do "more" or "much more" than their spouse on ecological efforts (Ifop, 2019). So committing to gender equality and making it your job is a way of fighting against a predominantly female ecology and working to make men care about it just as much.
You work for a cause you care about and the repercussions have a greater impact than just the cause you work for, it's a virtuous circle!
Well, of course, that's an example. Now you have to find the issue that resonates the most with you.
Is it still blurry? We help you with a little exercise ;)
An exercise to identify your key issues
It is not because we are interested in certain subjects that we are ready to spend 35 hours a week (or more) on them.
In the workshop, we do a little exercise with the participants to explore their desires, their passions. We invite you to do it at home!
Exercise instruction: Draw your ideal world
The instruction is very simple, answer the question: What is my ideal world? Project yourself in 20 years, in which world would you dream of living? Don't think about this question mentally. The answer does not wait to be documented with statistics, priority emergencies... Let your guts speak, question your emotions!
Yes, but concretely, how do I do it?
Simply make a mood board by assembling images you like, drawings, words that echo and represent the world that makes you dream.
For the realization, do as you prefer.
If you're more "manual" and you prefer to draw, paint, glue, take an A3 sheet, your drawing materials, your paint, old magazines and let's go!
If you're more "digital", turn on your PC and open, at your choice, Powerpoint (or Google Slide, on your Google drive), Canva (for those who don't know, it's a free online tool, just sign up), Pinterest, Paint…
- First, collect images related to the question. You can find them on your search engine, social networks, free image banks (like Unsplash or Pixabay), in magazines. This can be news images, concept images, article excerpts, quotes. The only criterion is that they resonate with you.
- Then arrange the images as you wish, you can add drawings, words. This will give you a nice moodboard of the issues that are important to you!
Some additional guidelines to help you
Are you blocked? Don't worry, it's normal. It takes a bit of letting go and shutting down your mind. Try not to think, just go ahead and take images that speak to you, you will sort when arranging the images :)
You can also ask yourself these two questions:
- What initiatives, projects, give me hope? In favor of what causes, issues do they act?
- What are the things that make me sad and/or angry in today's world? What would I like to see changed?
Conclusion of the exercise
Once your moodboard is complete, take a few minutes to look at it. What are the causes and issues that emerge? What is repeated, is there a link with the images, the words...?
A priori, these are the most important causes for you, those that resonate with you.
Have you tried? What stands out for you?
A successful career transition is a transition that makes sense to you, and that's what the world needs!
So if you really want to find a job related to climate change, that's great. And if you get involved for another cause, well that's great too 😊
To take action, we suggest that you take inspiration from alumni testimonials from our positive impact skills assessment and find all our resources (practical guide, exercises, article) on our website.
This will allow you to better understand your desires and aspirations.
👉 Do you want to take the next step with support? Discover our positive impact skills assessment: Cap positif!
👉 Do you already have a clear idea of what you want to do? Find your next positive impact job on jobs_that_makesense!