How to use your values to find a job you love

Why do we work? 

This is a question we’ve all asked ourselves at some point! 

And after we’ve moved past the obvious ‘because we have to pay the rent’ there are many different reasons why we go to work. 

Whether it’s for personal development and growth or social interaction and creative collaboration, as well as the all-important pay-check, work has the capacity to provide for us in many different ways. 

But for most of us, there’s one pivotal element that brings us the most satisfaction and desire to work. When our personal values are matched and upheld by our employers. 

Working in an environment where our values are not aligned is a sure-fire way to lose motivation and start wishing the weeks away. 

So in this article we’re going to explore why values are so important for your career, how you can begin to identify them and what you can do today to use them to find work that you love. 

If you’ve found you’re starting to get the Sunday scaries and feel like Thursday is the new Friday, this one is for you! 

Why values? 

How often do you think about what is most important to you in the world? 

Do you know your why? 

We might know what we need, or what we want in the moment, but knowing what’s at our core takes more time and reflection. 

Aligning with our values helps us to solve the Pesky P’s that can send us into career spirals! 

Purpose, potential and priorities. 

Purpose 

You can spend years looking for “a purpose” but you can make the decision to live purposefully. today. This is what values help us to achieve. When we know our values we can begin to live in alignment giving us a sense of authenticity and purpose. 

Potential 

Rather than worrying if we’re ‘living up to our potential’ (a concept usually created by what we think people expect or societal norms) values help us to think about potential differently. If we take our potential to be living our highest values - we can start to see where we might be letting things slide and how we can begin to act in the most meaningful way. 

Priorities 

They say that when everything is a priority, nothing is. Values can help us to identify what is truly most important to us, and knowing this helps us set boundaries, make decisions and actually prioritise. 

So you get that values are important for your career, now how do you start identifying them? 

How to find your values 

The first thing to say is that finding your values takes time, sorry! 

Yes there are quick tools to help you start to uncover them. But true alignment with your values requires ongoing reflection. 

Here are a few questions to help get you started. 

• What is most important to you in the world? 
• What activities bring you the most fulfilment and joy? 
• When do you feel most authentically yourself? 
• How would you like people to remember you? 

What themes emerge from these questions? 

Are there any words that stand out to you? 

How would you define these words?

To carry on this work there are countless methods, models and tests to help you refine and define your answers to these questions. The Squiggly Careers podcast has some great episodes on identifying your values. 

So how can your core values help you in finding a job that’s right for you? 

Core values can cover all areas of our lives and at first glance may not feel they have much to do with work at all. 

Values like Love, Generosity and Kindness might not be the first values you think about when you’re looking to change your career. 

But they should be! 

When it comes to work, what we do is only a part of who we are. So using your core values to guide your career search can help you stay true to your authentic self. 

Let’s take an example of Kindness. 

How can Kindness help you identify a career that’s right for you? 

• Maybe it’s working for an industry you consider to be kind (non-profit, charity, people-oriented, with animals etc). 

• It could be how you choose to approach all engagements with your colleagues. 

• Or you could use your value of kindness to offer more time to those you know are struggling. 

• Equally you could celebrate and recognise kindness with feedback and acknowledgement. 

• Alternatively, it may just be that work offers you the flexibility to volunteer or spend time supporting those with kindness. 

In this case, the value of Kindness can guide you not only in picking an industry that aligns with your values but also in providing intention around how you want to be at work. 

When we look at our values like this, work becomes just another opportunity for us to live in alignment, rather than the only place in which we can find fulfilment. 

As we start to recognise our values we can also begin to see how they interact with our strengths. 

When we gain this understanding of how our values and our strengths make up our unique contribution to the world you can start to build a picture of the type of career that will bring you fulfilment and satisfaction. 

If you’re looking to explore your career options further why not take a look at our previous article on identifying strengths? 

What to do today? 

Let’s do a quick values assessment. 

Once you’ve got an idea of 2-5 key values spend some time answering these questions for each value. 

• On a scale of 1-10 how much are you living this value? 

• Think about a time when you were really embracing this value, what were you doing? 

• How could you be living this value more?

What do your answers to these questions tell you about your current work or life alignment with your values? 

If you can see that work isn’t aligning with your values and letting you thrive, take a look at our Jobs board at the amazing roles on offer from purpose-driven companies. 

Still feeling stuck and want to seek some support? Reach out to Flo Coaching to book a free discovery call .

Flo offers 1:1 holistic career coaching and Group coaching for women - in career ruts and looking to find work that works for them. Working with Flo you’ll begin to find clarity, build confidence and take back control of your career.