Jo Mills is the General Manager of Career Analysts, an organisation dedicated to helping individuals and businesses to identify their talent and realise their potential.
She writes a regular column for nzgirl to help you all with your career worries, troubles and questions...
What would it be like if you left work feeling like you had made a positive impact on someone? Or had made the world a better place in some way? How amazing to feel that you make a difference every day in a way that fulfils your values and contributed to a cause that you really believe in...
There are opportunities for all of us to feel this way – whether we work in fields that we are passionate about, volunteer in the weekends, or once a year dontate our time to a cause we truly believe in.
Sarah Clarke at West Wave Swim School has spent the last two years as the Waitakere Special Olympics Coach. In addition to her full-time job, Sarah devotes time and energy to a cause she believes in. Sarah’s time as Coach has “been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life so far”. An experienced swim instructor/coach, Sarah saw a gap in what is available to the disability sector in swimming and decided to take action “I wanted to provide them with the same opportunities as the wider community”.
Animal Welfare works to promote better welfare practices for animals in the community. Priya Sundar is the Marketing and Education Office and gets “great personal satisfaction from the role and I would like to think that by doing so I have some influence in the community no matter how small that influence is”. Priya has made a career out of her passion, and her advice to you is to just do it! Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid to follow your dreams.
Like Sarah and Priya, you can make a difference to the world around you...
Take the time right now to think about one thing about the world or your city that you wish was better in some way. Grab a sheet of paper and write down what that one thing is and put it aside (we are going to come back to it shortly). An example might be ‘wishing that animals were treated better’ or ‘that Auckland was cleaner’.
Brainstorm 3-5 different organisations, charities, businesses or individuals who currently contribute to the above cause in a positive way. e.g. SPCA, Animal Welfare, Dog Trainers, Project Jonah, WSPCA....
List the key talents that you can contribute to one of these e.g. writing newsletter articles, telephone sales, cleaning...
Write down how much time you would like to offer e.g. four hours per month.
Take action – write an email or give them a call to share your skills and offer your services!
My sister Erin, has done just that. Passionate about animals and a great fan of The Dog Whisperer TV Series, Erin has become a Foster Parent for animals awaiting adoption from Animal Welfare. So far the list includes kittens, a deaf young dog, a Staffie puppy with piranha teeth and a batch of Mastiff cross pups that were found dumped in a rubbish bag. “I just love it” Erin says. “There is nothing like waking up with a cat on your head, puppies trying to eat your socks and your own dog barking indignantly!”
We all can gain considerable satisfaction and achieve great things by focusing on what we believe is important. Look around you and find a way that you can make a difference today!
Jo Mills is the General Manager of Career Analysts, an organisation dedicated to helping individuals and businesses to identify their talent and realise their potential. aug08.jpg)
Sarah Clarke at West Wave Swim School has spent the last two years as the Waitakere Special Olympics Coach. In addition to her full-time job, Sarah devotes time and energy to a cause she believes in. Sarah’s time as Coach has “been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life so far”. An experienced swim instructor/coach, Sarah saw a gap in what is available to the disability sector in swimming and decided to take action “I wanted to provide them with the same opportunities as the wider community”. 
Take the time right now to think about one thing about the world or your city that you wish was better in some way. Grab a sheet of paper and write down what that one thing is and put it aside (we are going to come back to it shortly). An example might be ‘wishing that animals were treated better’ or ‘that Auckland was cleaner’.
My sister Erin, has done just that. Passionate about animals and a great fan of The Dog Whisperer TV Series, Erin has become a Foster Parent for animals awaiting adoption from Animal Welfare. So far the list includes kittens, a deaf young dog, a Staffie puppy with piranha teeth and a batch of Mastiff cross pups that were found dumped in a rubbish bag. “I just love it” Erin says. “There is nothing like waking up with a cat on your head, puppies trying to eat your socks and your own dog barking indignantly!”(73).jpg){kind=small}