Know someone who loves their job?  What do they look like when they talk about it?  If you work with them, what are they like as they walk around doing their job?  What about someone who’s marking time and would rather be elsewhere?  Have you ever loved one job and hated another?  What was the difference in the way you felt?

Everyone of us has had a teacher that inspired us because that person was dedicated to their subject and devoted to passing on knowledge to students.  Then there are the teachers who make a great argument for why tenure should be revoked.  In college, I received an A for my most difficult class out of  all 4 years. 

I didn’t intend to publicize this, but last week I was in the hospital for surgery and stayed over night.  The care of the RNs, and everyone else I encountered blew me away so significantly, I wrote a letter to the SVP Patient Care Services, copied the Director of Marketing, liked their Facebook page, and posted a blurb on it.

Danbury Hospital, in Danbury, CT, is a 400-bed teaching hospital.  Don’t tell me that automatically makes it a good facility – I was a recruiter for mid- and upper-level management in hospitals for 5 years.  My second job out of college was the admin in the Business Office/Finance department of a 150-bed private hospital in Dallas, TX, that was right across from Baylor Hospital (huge hospital – huge).  It might not count quite as much, but I was both a candy striper and an adult volunteer, and have been a patient more than once. 

I have never seen such a group of people who loved and excelled at what they do.  And this reflects back on Danbury Hospital, their philosophy, and their attention to their employees.   I know.  I asked the RNs and had it confirmed.  They all loved working there.  I knew that too.  I could see it.  How many times did you think you were joining a great company and then….pffffft, big let down?  There’s a huge fundamental problem with how job seekers go about their search – (see part 2 next week for that)

While I was in the OR holding room, everyone connected with my case introduced themselves; checked my name, DOB, and procedure to their chart and my wristband; smiled; passed on info; and asked me a bit about me.  And still the place was jamming.  7 am in the morning and it was vibrating with positive energy, smiles, laughter, and activity.

I woke up in the recovery room – same thing.  Ally – she looks like Courtney Cox – never missed a beat in checking on my pain level.  Smile, a few questions, reassurance…and off to another patient.

From the time I arrived to the time I left, I never once was concerned that I’d have to call someone when my IV needed to be replaced or remind someone to handle all those other lovely things that come with being in the hospital.  Each departing RN gave me the name of her replacement.  The replacement always stuck her head in and introduced herself, since I was a new patient to her.

I was right by the nurses station, so (between naps) I liked to watch the activity.  Very impressive.  Easy camaraderie.  Efficiency.  Efficiency of movement.   Relaxed energy.  No heavy sighs, no exasperated looks when the call button went off, no quiet disparaging comments about some annoying patient.

Even when a doctor called up to the floor, the RN who answered the phone relayed the call to another RN across the station.  “No,” she said calmly and with a smile on her face.  “He calls up here all the time expecting us to drop everything.  I’ve got patients to take care of.  He needs to come up here and see his patients himself.”

These were people who say, “I love my job,” and know how to be happy at work.  Sure, sure, you say.  You have to love nursing or why be a nurse?  That’s why I shared my hospital experience because I’m telling you, that ain’t true no way, no how.  Passion, pride, gratefullness for their career and their employer – it was all there.  This, in turn, made me glad to be there, and allowed me to fully relax because I trusted them 100%. 

So what about you?  Do you feel like that?  Have you ever felt like that and then lost that lovin’  feeling?  If you’ve been unemployed a long time, passed over for job offers, getting desperate, you may not find it next job either.   There is such a thing as your perfect job, your dream job.  If you want to find it, come talk to me.

Part 2:  that huge fundamental problem job seekers have that equates to shooting yourself in the foot