Do our careers define us?

Reflections from lockdown and furlough.

With lockdown restrictions easing and furlough coming to an end for many people, I thought about what the last three/four months have meant...

If you told 18-year-old me that I would be given four months off, at nearly full pay, he’d have been ecstatic. Why wouldn’t he? It sounds like a great deal, right?

But that was much less the case when I was offered furlough back in March.

It wasn’t because I was worried about not having a role to return to and it wasn’t because I was worried about catching the virus. I was worried about what that would make me. Recruitment, like many industries, is full on. The highs are high, the lows are low. There are times when you don’t even get a moment to think about anything else. Long hours are a regular occurrence, along with lunch at your desk. Rookie me once asked why people say recruitment is stressful… which we now often joke about, but after 6.5 years in a high speed, high-pressure environment, what would I be? I was worried that without the daily direction of my career, I would lack purpose, floating adrift.

In a simple way, it's possible for our jobs and careers to define our entire lives.

If someone had asked me about who I was, or what I did, I would tell them I work in recruitment. I’d talk to them about boring things like industry knowledge, employment law, changes to legislation or worse, politics! But never about me… I wouldn’t talk about my passions or my hobbies and I wouldn’t talk about the things that make me happy, or the things that truly make me, me. Partly because you fear no one is interested in those things, but I think also due to the fact that we lose sight of them. We get so caught up in the day-to-day life of work, that we can forget who we are.

At the start of the year, I challenged myself to fully adopt the mindsets of positivity, growth and resilience, so that how I’ve spent my time on furlough – thinking about the person I want to be and what I wanted from life.

There have been times where I’ve lacked purpose and floated listlessly through the day, but mostly it’s been a positive time of growth. I’ve been able to improve my mindfulness with regular yoga sessions and bike rides and I’ve worked on re-learning some old skills like woodworking! And I’ve seen it in others too. Before, conversations with friends and family could often be superficial, with questions about work, complaining about the traffic or the weather now evolving into deeper, more meaningful discussions.

I think lockdown and furlough have been an opportunity for everyone to reflect on who they are and the way they live. Friends have had realisations about career changes or spending habits and families are speaking more. I’ve seen the fantastic efforts of communities coming together in the truest sense, helping each other in a way they may not have done in many years.

I’ve learned a lot during my time on furlough, but my greatest realisation is that my career doesn’t define who I am and I think this rings true for many of the people I’ve spoken with. Sure, I’m looking forward to getting back into the hot seat, working closely back alongside the team that have grown to become friends, but now, I’ll do so with a greater reflection of who I am, bringing more of me alive and into my role.

What about you? Has lockdown or furlough changed your perspective on life at all?

Do you think what we do as a job defines who we are? What will you be looking for moving forward?