Lessons Learned From…Needing a Job

Posted on September 24, 2023 by Peter Marotto, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.

We read a lot about people finding their passion and making it their career. People enter an industry with grand expectations and reasons, and anyone working in a field without that passion is looked at with a mixture of confusion, pity, and mild disdain. Certain industries are more prone to self-aggrandizing than others, and not all the self-aggrandizing is from the employees in the industry. How many parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles of a first-generation doctor or Lawyer bring up their relative’s profession within the first minute of talking about them? How many teachers hear phrases like, “It must be so rewarding working with kids.”

Passion for your profession is fine. Pride in your work is better.

In 2014, prior to attending an annual security manager’s conference, all participants were asked to write a short blurb about why or how we became involved in the safety and security industry. There were many answers from great colleagues who saw it as an extension of their prior law enforcement or military background. One colleague wrote that they view the industry as one of advocacy. Still another colleague pointed out the negative perceptions within the security industry and how he wanted to present a new image. All of these answers were good in their own right.
My answer started a bit simpler, maybe even pedestrian, “Originally I chose to work in Security because I needed a job.”

The backstory is as follows: I worked in a grant funded human service position in the summer of 2003. By October 2003 I was unemployed. In January 2004 I was employed in a temporary job, with the possibility of going permanent, in legal analysis. In May 2004 I was laid off, and after being out of work twice within seven months I went to look for a more stable job. At the beginning of June 2004, I was hired to work in warehouse security, for what was Filene’s (Now Macy’s). I had applied for loss prevention at the mall and chose loss prevention because I had been a student employee at my college’s Police Station.

I needed a job.

In just under two years and I was working full time while attending graduate school looking to become a teacher. A more noble profession, or at least a better paying profession. And by 2010, following the recession, and other life changes I re-entered the security industry.

Again, because I needed a job.

I was 37 and had job hopped a bit. When I was starting my dad said, “You need to pick something and stick with it.” He was right. Just as he was right years before when he said, “It doesn’t matter what you do for a living.” My dad wasn’t telling me to give up on any dreams, but to do whatever I do for a living well.

The lesson is not about entering the security industry. The lesson is about doing your best work in the job you are in. The lesson is about making your job your career, not because it is your passion, but because you learn all you can about the company and industry you are in, and you do your best every day.

My full blurb was, “Originally, I chose to work in Security because I needed a job. I have returned to, and stayed in, Safety & Security because I believe it can be an extension of human service. We help people and do a little bit of good, so all-in-all it’s a job worth turning into a career.”
Here’s something to consider about my full statement. So long as I am able to work for a good company, provide for my family, and utilize my skills to their fullest potential then any job is worth turning into a career.

In the final analysis we all need a job. It’s what we do with that job that makes all the difference.