The American Identity Crisis

ìNo other society puts as much value, respect and self-worth on a personís career as Americans,î says J.T. OíDonnell. With several current job satisfaction surveys showing the number of American workers looking to change jobs on the rise, increased job dissatisfaction is not good news for the rebounding economy, which is already expecting a labor shortage in the next decade. ìThe job hopping we saw during the dot.com boom of the nineties is going to pale in comparison to whatís coming,î says OíDonnell. ìUnless people and companies start putting career into better perspective, the workforce is going to be in a state of chaos,î she predicts. OíDonnell further concludes that itís the companies who will pay the price financially for the lack of loyal workers.



OíDonnell has the ability to back up what she says. She is the author of the new book, Find Your Career Path: A Revolutionary Guide to Career Satisfaction. In it, OíDonnell outlines the effects living up to others expectations is having on Americanís ability to identify and pursue satisfying careers.

ìThe first mistake people make is that they expect too much from their careers. They believe their careers need to define them as a person as well as provide happiness to their life in ways that are just not practical,î states OíDonnell. OíDonnell should know, as a professional career coach, she has worked with hundreds of individuals who are unhappy at work. OíDonnell says the majority of her clients come to her with the same problem. ìClients are always telling me that they donít understand why they are dissatisfied. They go on to describe how they have, in their opinion ëfollowed the rulesí and tried to pursue a successful career, but just donít feel fulfilled or excited by what they are doing. It isnít until I take them through a customized self-assessment process that they finally see where their current career plan is falling short. After that, itís amazing how many people are able to make changes that produce much better career results.î

OíDonnell says that corporations are also to blame for the increasingly unhappy American workforce. ìMy corporate clients come to me to learn how to build a loyal workforce. I use my career coaching methodology to help companies identify a sustainable corporate culture and then teach them how to create and fill positions in their company with individuals who will want to stay employed by them long-term,î explains OíDonnell. ìMy goal is to reduce the turnover costs that ravage most companies,î shares OíDonnell, ìItís a simple fact that the more seasoned and flexible your staff is, the more valuable a companyís human resource assets become,î OíDonnell states. ìAny business owner will tell you that when a company has a strong team of employees, it has the ability to maintain and grow the business much faster.î

OíDonnell founded her career coaching company, BLUE KILOWATT, in 2002, after she realized the need to ëredefine the rulesí with respect to career development. Her private practice thrived, and her coaching process was so successful, she decided to write a guidebook so more people could take advantage of her innovative methodology to career development. ìPrivate career coaching just isnít affordable for many people. I wanted to write a guidebook that anyone could use to help improve their career satisfaction.î

OíDonnell will be speaking at Stoneweaver Books in Hampton Center on Thursday, September 8th, at 7pm. Her career discussion entitled, ìWhat Do You Do?î will be a lively talk designed to challenge participants to put the term ëcareerí into a whole new perspective. What is OíDonnellís own career goal? ìIím doing my best to improve career satisfactions rates. By helping both sides, employees and the companies that hire them, I hope to change the way Americans look at work, ultimately improving our quality of life.î