Feeling connected on the job hunt

Thanks to the prevalence of today’s technology, everyone has access to an unprecedented degree of connection to others. But for those just entering the job market—those belonging to Generation Y, who have lived in this tech-savvy, hyperconnected universe—a job search in today’s economic environment can bring about surprising feelings of isolation. As part of this generation myself, I’ve been there. But I’m learning that there is a way to navigate this search from a spiritual standpoint that encourages a deeper perspective of employment, and that sheds new light on what connectedness is really all about.

On the surface, being employed means going to an office or accomplishing certain tasks, and for someone seeking employment, the main motivation may be a prestigious title or handsome salary. But, as I’ve recently discovered through my own search for the right niche, real employment amounts to much more than those activities. I’ve found that rewarding employment occurs through actively expressing spiritual qualities, contributing to a community while also being open to the supply of good coming continuously from God.

I think keeping this divine idea of employment in thought makes for a more productive job search and a more rewarding work experience. It also helps immensely in connecting with what our true purpose in life really is.

Last winter, I decided to take some time off from school, move to a new city, and look for a job. While I typically like change and enjoy new adventures, I became apprehensive about this move just before I was about to set off. At this point in my life, I did feel rather disconnected. My relationship with my girlfriend had just ended, and I was preparing to leave an academic community to which I was attached. I was also wary about finding suitable employment and housing. All of these conditions led to a feeling of emotional distress that I’d rarely encountered before. Feelings of isolation set in.

At the lowest point in this period, however, a few lines from a familiar hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal came to mind:

Although I was leaving people and places to which I had grown strongly attached, I realized there was a larger Love from which I was never detached.

In other words, I realized I had the power to see myself as permanently connected with Love, which Science and Health identifies as a synonym for God.

Up to this point I’d largely viewed love as a connection that was just made between me and the people I cared about. It was a highly personalized sense of love, and this limited view prevented me from seeing my connection to divine Love, described in Mary Baker Eddy’s spiritual rendition of the 23rd Psalm in Science and Health. It begins, “[DIVINE LOVE] is my shepherd; I shall not want. . . . [LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.” With this gentle affirmation of the power of Love not only to connect, but also to guide, it became clear that in order to find proper employment opportunities and foster new relationships, I needed to leave behind the old limited sense of human affection and replace it with this greater recognition of Love as God.

During this process, I realized that my primary responsibility, regardless of whatever employment I found, was to express this higher sense of Love in whatever community I became a part of. I again turned to the spiritual rendition of the 23rd Psalm, in which the word consciousness amplifies the original “house.” I saw that my real job was to understand and assert my position in “the consciousness of LOVE.” With this view in mind, I went on my journey into the new place with a strong sense of peace and calm. My mounting anxieties about employment and relationships were dissolved and replaced with trust that my needs would be met. And along with this sense of inner peace, I thankfully found two jobs, housing, and a great group of friends.

While one of the jobs met only a temporary need, the other job was an internship that continued after I graduated from college.

I’ve found it helpful to continually keep in mind that any true work or accomplishment must have a spiritual basis in order to be fulfilling. This experience has proved to me that no matter whether we feel disconnected or hyperconnected in the job hunt, God provides us with a higher kind of connection. And this divine connection provides income, involvement, and opportunity—in greater quantity and quality than we could ever hope for.

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