Job Satisfaction

Ivan's continues his search for job satisfaction, attending a support group for people in career transition. Those who have been fired or laid off can expect to experience a predictable range of emotions, he learns, but can pick up the pieces through a series of steps outlined by outplacement counselor John Gleason and author Kent B. Banning. Among their tips--the secret of the functional resume: Ivan was having a really rough day. Make that week. No, maybe month or even more.

After more than six months of jobless hell, after 350 phone calls and 211 marketing letters and 70 rejection letters, after endless hours searching the want ads and his soul, James Morton has a job. And a revamped outlook. "I've been made whole," said Morton. "It's a relief, a load off my shoulders. It's also a new challenge because my job has been to find a job." Morton, 47, is a new district sales manager for International Multifoods Corp. His July 1 hiring ended an ordeal that began Dec.

A key challenge for employees is to find meaning and satisfaction in the workplace, even when the dollars and the promotions are not available. Our own research suggests that true satisfaction results when a worker's skills, interests and values fit the demands of the job. We'd like to provide an opportunity for you to begin looking at what you truly value, and to begin considering how to put as much of it as possible into your working life.

Karen Wilson has seen it all. From brow-beating managers in large corporations to the by-the-book officers of the Navy, the 40-year-old registered nurse said she could teach a course on how not to treat your employees. "I've worked in hospitals where (administrators) chew you up into little pieces," Wilson said. Then three years ago she was hired by Critical Care America of Costa Mesa.

"There are now too many musicians in San Francisco, more than enough to fill all the 'jobs.' What we need is work, not musicians. Stay away from San Francisco. You will find it cheaper in the end." Notice signed "By order, Board of Directors, Local #6, San Francisco" and posted in the American Musician in 1898. * ANYONE who supposes that American musicians have a tough time finding jobs compared with their forebears obviously hasn't looked into the matter.

Once upon a time, our ancestors had an idea about work. It was dirty, dangerous and mean. You slaved at the grindstone until you wore out. Nobody ever asked if you were happy. And then you died. Today, in the Information Age, many hold to a different notion. Work is supposed to be meaningful. Rewarding. Maybe even--dare I say?--enjoyable. How often we're disappointed. "Don't expect fun," counsels Michael Josephson, who heads a Los Angeles ethics institute.

Don Cohen grew up in his family's gift-importing business. As a student, he worked summers there. As a grown man, he ran the company. So it was with a heavy heart that he sold it in 1977, tired of the endless demands and stress of being in charge. He didn't know it at the time, but Cohen had just taken a huge step toward happiness. He began volunteer work helping the elderly, and it worked its way into a paid job.

No job change looks appealing when you're depressed, Ivan learns. Taking your emotional temperature and getting a handle on your temperament can bring the knowledge needed to make a wise career choice. Los Angeles-based counselors Kathy Marshall and Ann Salzman explain to Ivan how vocational testing works. For a quiz to determine whether you're in the right job for you, see page 29. Ivan Hunter, looking puzzled, stood on his front porch holding the Yellow Pages.

Not long ago, "quality circles," "team concept" and other forms of worker participation were all the rage. But efforts to extend the idea nationwide have met with disappointment. While a few such programs flourish, many more have failed. Most U.S. companies haven't even tried them. Yet some businesses and labor unions have learned from past mistakes. They're finding that worker involvement in the decision-making process can lead both to job satisfaction and higher productivity.

Frances Thronson's greatest fear is that she'll turn into a "corporado." Corporadoes are people who "cut their characters down to fit a corporate culture and lose themselves in the process," explained Harriet Rubin, author of "Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition" (HarperBusiness, 1999). Thronson, a 47-year-old administrative assistant, said she has seen too many of these ghosts haunting the corridors of Southland businesses.