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How to find a job with purpose – Cosmopolitan Magazine

Long hours on your feed. Meeting after meeting. Work can be beyond draining when you don’t feel like your job truly matters. That may be why nearly 75 percent of people covet positions that not only pay the bills but also deliver a sense of purpose, according to a recent LinkedIn sand Imperative survey. Luckily, more companies are realizing that doing good can be (very!) good for business, and almost anyone can now score more meaningful employment. Step one: Soak up this wisdom from five masters of rewarding work.

Get involved from 5 to 9

If you already love—or just need to keep—your job, here’s how to find meaning off the clock.

1. Figure out what fits into your life.  

“Volunteering takes time. Do you have enough to help out at your local hospital? To paint schools? Search VolunteerMatch.org for opportunities. If you can’t participate in ongoing projects, jump into one-time events like a climate-change march or breast-cancer walk.”  — Susan McPherson, founder and CEO of communications consultancy McPherson Strategies

2. Join a big squad.

“Last October, I teamed up with thousands of women for an online fundraising adventure called If Girls Ran the World. We ran, tracked our miles, and fundraised. As a group we collected more than $135,000 for organizations like Women’s Refugee Commission, a nonprofit that helps displaced women and children.” — Catherine LaCour, senior vice president of global marketing at Blackbaud, a social good cloud-software company.

3. Ask how you can help. 

“Go out and actually talk to the people you want to support. If that’s low-income students, for example, ask their teachers how you can provide them with the tools they need to succeed.” — Michele Sullivan, president of the Caterpillar Foundation, which champions programs that help alleviate global poverty.


Article originally appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine October 2017 print issue.