Nederlands' I would like to do something more for this world' or 'I would rather do something that really adds something'. Discussion topics that are regularly discussed during the regular drink hour at the end of the week. Intelligent and confident friends with a nice salary, but still with a feeling that they are not getting the most out of life right now. Afraid that they will later name the 'Regret top 5' of palliative nurse Bronnie Ware on their deathbed. "If only I hadn't worked so hard" or "I wish I'd had the courage to live my own life, not the life others expect."
By: Kyra Joosen
And admittedly, my bookcase is also full of guides to a conscious and happy life. Tolle who tells me how I can now get the power out of life, Geurtz about happiness in relationships. Don't we all want to try to chase at least some of our dreams? And isn't it actually a matter of just doing it by simplifying your way of life? 'I want to help the world, but the step back in my salary that I then have to take is really too big'. Although it might give you more space in your life, make you happier and more open to new opportunities?
bull shit job
'Many people feel useless for part of their working hours and have a part-time bullshit job,' said opinion maker Rutger Bregman during the Employer Branding Experience 2016. 'A bullshit job, a term coined by the American anthropologist David Graeber, is a job in which whoever has it – be careful – says that it is actually superfluous.' There is a light chuckle from the hall but no one reacts indignantly. Is it secretly recognizable?
According to a Gallup study conducted in 142 countries, only 13 percent of all employees worldwide are engaged. This means that the purpose of the company they work for makes them feel that their job is important. Our little country scored particularly low: only 9% of our working colleagues are committed.
Your identity
Am I actually involved or do I find my job (partially) redundant? Inspired by Rutger Bregman's lecture, I asked myself this question. I too want to look back on my life proudly on my deathbed and not end with 'If only I had...'. Fortunately, I was able to answer this question fairly quickly, positively, I don't think my job is superfluous. Yes, you ask for a substantiation, of course. I'm not going to tell you the usefulness of all my work.
Ask yourself whether you can make someone else's life easier or more fun through what you do. And that it is especially important that you enjoy going to work. Whether it's the weekend or Monday morning, I get out of bed just as happy every day. And no, I'm not saving lives (yet), I'm not fighting terrorism or putting out burning buildings. If I, together with all my communication colleagues from Nederland , stop the work, The Hague will not immediately declare a state of emergency.
And yes, I also realize that my blog is read by job seekers. Who would rather have a crap job than no job. As the Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP) already wrote in a study into burnouts: we live in a world in which the importance of paid work is growing. Work has also become important for our identity. But let me also go back to basics and put my spoiled congeners full of choices in this life into the background for a while. Ultimately, we just want to make money in the first place.
Every day my colleagues, the consultants at the branches of the employment agency Actief Werkt , have conversations with temporary workers. Een target group that is often told that temporary work is not real work. When asked why someone would like that particular position now, my colleagues really don't receive extensive motivation but just pure truth; money has to come in the drawer. Ambitions don't even come into play here. Only when one is at work and is appreciated by, for example, getting a contract for a definite period of time, do people start thinking about identity and the meaning of the work. Only then will people start thinking about what you really do and want. And indirectly I support my colleagues. We work for people and are committed to people. Een nice goal from Actief Werkt! that certainly ensures involvement for me and who knows, maybe a proud look back at that one bed later.
I am Kyra Joosen, communication specialist at employment agency Actief Werkt! 
Besides writing about the temporary employment industry and everything that comes with it, I am also responsible for internal and labor market communication.