A brief guide to seeking a job that meets your deepest needs - not just the demands of your pocket.

Do you consider yourself to have 'good luck', 'no luck' or 'bad luck'? Do you believe in 'luck' at all?

Looking for a new job? This is the ideal opportunity to try and align the WHO you are with the WHAT you are going to be doing in your life. To try and find synergy, or balance, between what you take out of life AND what you put into life in the broader sense.

When discussing 'luck', 'fate' or whatever other description you choose for events that happen in our lives there are two types of personalities. These could be described as either Internal Control or External Control personalities.

Internal Control types feel that they are in control of their own destiny, that they 'deserve' whatever good things happen to them, barring genuine accidents, and that they make their own luck. IC's don't usually believe in Astrology, Lady Luck or Karma and won't play the Lottery because this leaves too much to chance.

Those who lean towards External Control on the other hand have a strong tendency to believe that there is a greater force of some sort controlling, or at least influencing, much of what happens to them in their daily life. They will often derive comfort from the feeling that they are not ultimately alone in the Universe or that someone, or something, is looking out for them.

As a very general example an EC could well be superb in a role with either an aid or charity organisation or perhaps in a caring profession such as nursing, a role which would satisy the sub-conscious desire to help others or a desire to contribute to the broader community.

A functional, caring society requires both EC and IC personalities to operate effectively. Collectively we need both of you, whatever belief system floats you boat.

Depending upon how someone lives their life there is no 'right' or 'wrong' approach to this providing that the individual recognises whether they are an IC or an EC.

As another example life would be very difficult for an EC who harboured ambitions of owning a large company because for this occupation it would be necessary to actively seek out business opportunities in the wider business world and, if required, to beat competitors to obtain the business.

This is hardly likely to be the approach of someone whose main belief is that good, and bad, things happen by chance. An EC would eventually feel very uncomfortable in such a business role and is unlikely to be successful.

Obviously the examples I have used are painted with a very broad brush but they illustrate the point. There will be exceptions but the examples are nonetheless valid. The point that I am making is that there is nothing to be gained by living, or working, in what is essentially a lie that does not suit your personality.

As an individual you need to recognise which personality best describes you and your approach to life during a process of reviewing your career progress and how you have lived to date.

Are you and EC or an IC? Are you a mixture of both traits? This is not unusual but, if you wish to map out a different path for yourself you need to take a long hard look at previous decisions. You need to ask how you made the decisions and whether the outcomes were what you wanted in order to decide which trait is dominant.

These questions need to be reviewed in the context of the EC and/or IC belief systems that you hold AND how they gel with your own approach.

Only when your ambitions are realistically aligned with the needs of your personality, in other words WHO you really are will you be able to become fulfilled in an occupation that fits you like a glove, gives you peace of mind and allows you to live with yourself.