Steve, I agree with your article, but with the caveat that I agree mainly in principle. I've been in my current job for many years. It wasn't what I wanted, when I first joined, but I've come to love it, or at least aspects of it. I use my technical skills, education and training to help a segment of our society that is very poor, to help them get assistance for their needs. I'm proud of the work I've done, and believe that, indirectly, I've helped potentially thousands of people in my area needing support they couldn't afford.

However, one of my personal problems is I'm not particularly good at looking for other work. My current job has brought along new challenges, which has helped keep it fresh. New skills to learn, new tasks to accomplish. But it is also a "term" position, renewable from one fiscal year to another. Over the last few years I've mentioned on these forums how we've not had a pay raise since 2008, how our budget has been cut each year. How we've lost people every year since 2008. Well, this year is the one where I'm one of the chosen that they're going to get rid of, due to yet more budget cuts. Since 2008 our operating budget has been cut 58%, so it's really no surprise that eventually they'd have to let me go. I've got almost 2 months to get a new position, but this is where I come back to what you said. Ideally I'd like a position that's more in keeping with a vocation. Failing that, I'd like a position that's at least more along the career that would interest me (not necessarily what I've done where I'm at now). However, since on July 1 I'll be out of a job, right now I'm just in need of something to get food on the table, keep the roof over our heads and pay the car payment. That's not what I want, I'd rather it be career based or even if possible vocation based. But at least from where I sit, sometimes those vocations aren't attainable. It just that sometimes it seems as though there's the ideal, but then there's the real, and sometimes one can't get to the ideal.

Let me end by saying to any reading this, I'm available. Please contact me, if you have an opening.