Making your job the one you want.

This time of year, many of us are aiming to make progress toward greater career happiness. “I want work with more meaning, a specialty that better fits my unique talents,” are hopes I frequently hear.

I want this for all of us, too, yet I also understand that we need to keep putting food on the table. So after hearing their goals I’ll usually ask, “What’s your bottom line income target?” For the majority of people, it’s not much less than what they’re already earning, and often over $50,000 each year.

This translates to a pay rate of about $25 per hour working full time, which is skilled-labor compensation. To earn at that level, you’ll need to bring some expertise to the table, and the farther away you move from your current experience base, the less income you’ll be able to command.

So making a big change in a short period of time doesn’t work for many people. Yet there are other strategies that can help them achieve their career goals. For example, if you’re seeking work with more meaning, look for ways to find it in your present job by crafting your position to be more satisfying.

Take Ellen, for instance. She works as an office manager making $60k a year, and spends most of her time handling bookkeeping and responding to coworker and customer requests– tasks she has little passion for anymore. What she longs to do is mentor youth, a job that if she could land one, might pay $30k.

Yet it turns out her employer has an ongoing need to recruit production workers, and recent high school grads are a good fit for their requirements. After brainstorming with her manager, Ellen realized she could get involved with area high school work-study programs, lining up and supporting interns interested in gaining experience at her company. Although this isn’t a full-time mentor position, it does address one of her key interests, and makes her work more rewarding.

There are other job crafting strategies that can help you achieve this year’s career goals, so tune in next week for more ideas.