Remember the movie Bridget Jones? That quirky 30-something singleton who was desperate to meet a man and find happiness at work? According to actress Renee Zellweger when asked about playing the role:
Obviously I related to the female aspect [of the character], her day-to-day regimen and fight against Mother Nature… I understood her search for self-acceptance and her daily attempt to define what is going to bring her happiness in life, her struggle to differentiate between what it is that she wants for her life and what it is that society expects from her.”
No wonder I loved watching that movie when I was 30-something. Oh, wait. I’m also fighting against Mother Nature and weight gain so we clearly still have something in common.
But I have turned a new corner – finding a way to define happiness at work. As I interview – talking to about six companies – I am being more honest about how important family and flexibility are to me. I don’t want to compromise who I am for a dollar amount. In a previous blog on negotiating, I am very direct about keeping family out of the salary equation. There are too many stats that show how devalued a parent (well, mom especially) is because it’s common for us to need to leave early for child pick up. So it’s better to leave that part out when talking salary.
Well, I contradicted my own advice and I must say, last week’s interview went really well. I even threw out part-time or contract. I realize this is not for everyone, and not easy to take a risk when your bank account is small.
Hopefully my hypothesis proves to be true.
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