26 April 2008 - 14:29Why I enjoy my job

I just attended the 2008 Government Communicators’ Conference - I only managed to catch Mitch Joel’s keynote speech about the power of personal branding, which was great. Robin Brown at Da Biz Blog has a great summary of Mitch’s points, as well as an interview with Mitch conducted on Wednesday night during a Geek Dinner.

I met some great people at the conference - all of them are thought-provoking, energetic people who have worked in communications for some time.

Most of the people I know in government communications are bright, creative and innovative. They know that there’s a complex web of rules and protocol to follow, but deal with the approvals process with humour. Instead of being bogged down by the system, they have faith that they are somehow making a difference.

To work in goverment communications for the Federal Government means that you have a strong sense of resolve and believe that there’s a sense of purpose to your work. Maybe not everyday, but most of the time. You’re helping people understand complex issues and opening channels of communication for Canadian citizens to discuss and debate policies that will affect them. Often, you’re the bridge between the technical specialist and citizens or between senior management and your other co-workers. Your clients might not be offering you private window boxes at Air Canada Centre, but they are genuinely happy and grateful you’re there to help them. If they’re not, then you’re not effectively doing your job.

I enjoy my job because I work on many different projects, love my team, meet very interesting people and love helping people. I also have a huge choice of departments and agencies to choose from if I wanted to expand my professional horizons. There are also many great learning opportunities I can take advantage of at work. I know I’m luckier than most because our training budgets are high, but even getting to attend one major conference or take one course is one more conference or course I might not have been able to afford on my own (whether because of cost or time).

If stability, security and salary are your only reasons for working, then you will hate any job you do. The people I’ve met who stick around because of stability, security and salary become complacent in their work. They work to live and don’t offer more than they have to. If you can’t find more purpose to define where you spend over half your day, then you are entering a depressing situation. Step out and re-define who you are and what you believe in - what Mitch defines as having an internal conversation.There are some huge changes coming up in the next few years, as well as what I believe will be an extensive re-branding exercise. I think we will be living in interesting times indeed for the next little while. I’m willing to stick around for a bit and see what happens.