My friend Maria @ http://chatterjabber.wordpress.com/ wrote a post titled ‘Great mis-expectations’ which describes her current thoughts about working in HR and applying for jobs after uni, and she wrote this: “I’ve come to realise that all that ( a dream job scope) doesn’t really matter compared to how well you get along with your colleagues and superiors” and ended with this: “friends are for life, and being able to work with your friends every day of the week is like a picnic in heaven.”
It has made me wonder whether what she said may also be applicable to the world of allied health or healthcare. OTs, PTs, SPs etc have very specific and unique roles and skills; unlike in the corporate world where people like Maria graduated with a degree in Economics, but may end up working in HR. Because we have such specific roles, yet working with similar clients, we often need to collaborate with each other very closely. For effective collaboration, yes, organisational culture is extremely important.
Next, she basically said that its not really what you do but whether you enjoy doing it or not and people you are working with. This one is tricky in allied health or healthcare, because this is about whether you are passionate about working with a certain client group e.g. paediatrics, geriatrics, mental health clients, women, men etc…and they are also people! If one dislikes working with children then it will be hell for the worker. Maria also said ” work is work”, again our work is people, not just paperwork or presentations. So I believe that in the field of health, we need to take into account BOTH passion and culture..
It has also motivated me to think about my experiences with work and clinical placements so far. I find it really difficult to merge friends and work together even though I may sometimes meet the nicest people at work! I guess my question is, although we get along at work, do we hang out after work too? I think the answer can be yes, and no. Yes - we will talk about our personal lives, one day maybe we’ll invite each other for a meal to our place or watch a movie together…’ Or No - we may just be passionate about the job and have the same work ideals, but personal life ideals may not be the same.
Okay I just answered my own questions. Great! Never really done this before outside of an academic piece of writing!
If you’ve read this far, I hope I did not waste your time since it was more of a reflective piece and a personal attempt to answer my own questions.
P.S Greetings from Brisbane!
