I started college with the very clear goal of becoming a Psychologist. However, after taking a year off to "just work" in Social Services (as I had studied and worked simultaneously for years), I found that my professional goals became less clear. I still was intrigued by psychology and the potential career options there, but I began to take stock of the things I enjoyed and didn't enjoy in my daily work, including the types of projects that interested me, the types of people I enjoyed working with, as well as practical things, like schedule consistency, etc. The reality of taking on a mortgage in my 20s also pushed me to move my career in a direction where I could confidently count on position funding (my social services job was grant-funded). Through the networks I had built in my social services work (where I was working directly with families in Drug Court, but also managing a volunteer/ intern program that connected students to internship opportunities doing the same), I found an opportunity arranging Health & Human Services internships for students at a local college. For a time, I returned to school, as I wasn't getting all the stimulation I needed, and thought I might try to start a career in something more creative, like interior design. However, I found that even though I enjoyed the creative process, I didn't feel the gratification I desired from helping others choose between mohair or velvet for a couch! After changing cities, I then leveraged the experience I had gained in connecting students to early work opportunities to land a job in corporate Recruiting. I spent several years in Recruiting, climbing the professional ladder there, but I found more and more that I gravitated to projects that dealt with optimizing the HR system my company was using. Eventually, I was able to transition from Recruiting to HR Information Systems, where I was able to work with HR teams on process improvement projects and configuring the system to meet the needs of the teams using it everyday. The problem-solving involved in removing pain points and easing the way via creative technology solutions has led me to a job that is intellectually stimulating and rewarding!

I work on a team of consultants with experience in a widely-used HR tool, who are assigned to a group of 30+ clients. Our clients contact us for assistance with a variety of work, from one-off problem-solving (e.g. "I cannot get the field I want to show up in a report for a specific person") to longer-range projects implementing new features and functional areas (e.g., "we are changing the system/ HR tool we use for Recruiting and we want help designing and implementing it"). Every day brings me the opportunity for a new intellectual challenge and to assist someone with a problem they are facing at work! I get to interface with both small, regional companies in the US, as well as large, global companies, and I am constantly presented with the option to stretch myself into new areas and add to my skillset.

The clients who engage us are looking for help - either because they don't have the in-house resources (in knowledge/ experience or in people's time) to resolve the problem or complete the work. Getting to answer their call and provide them with a solution, guidance, or assistance feeds my inner "helper" and makes me feel like my time spent working is about more than just paying my bills! Even more than that, I am motivated by the opportunity to continue learning. It took me a long time in my professional life to realize and admit to myself that I feel the most gratification in a job where I am intellectually challenged and stimulated by constant learning. In my current role, I get to solve puzzles all the time, working creatively around constraints to provide a solution to a problem. And because the product I work on is constantly evolving, it is a necessity that I continue to learn and add to my skillset, which I find very satisfying!

Keep chasing the aspects of your work that light you up I knew in my early HR jobs that I was interested in how teams used technology in their daily work. I thought that because I didn't have a background in computer science that it was an opportunity that had passed me by. But, in continuing to do the work I was doing while volunteering for projects that were related to systems-use, I was able to gain valuable experience that, when given the right environment, I was able to parlay into a career move that was both invigorating and gratifying. I was good at Talent Acquisition, but I feel like I have finally found work that is really right for me. It fits my personality and my intellectual and emotional needs more than my former career as a corporate recruiter. And Kognitiv, with its remote work environment, also fits where I am in my life, allowing me to be available for my son when needed. If I hadn't continued to seek out opportunities related to where I thought I might want to be from where I was at, I might not have ended up here. Of course, there are all kinds of paths that can lead to gratifying work, but I think it is important to pay attention to what brings you joy in your work day and do what you can to increase that. Work is still work (they don't call it "work" for nothing), but when you are able to do the work that lights you up inside, you add a healthy dose of happiness to your life!