A major principle of Always Be Job Hunting is to always be preparing for your next job and, indeed, for your next career.

I hope to retire from my full-time job in a few years and change to several part-time careers to keep me busy in my senior years. One of those will be acting, so I’ve been taking acting lessons and doing student films the past year and a half to prepare. An opportunity came up recently to be an extra in a major movie shooting in Chicago this summer, so I jumped at the chance to see the top levels of my new career in action.

What I ended up being for two days was a face in a very large crowd, 650 people or so all working as extras – the industry term is background artists – on this movie (watch for it next March, I’m under wraps in being able to talk about it).

Me, in my acting garb from an earlier acting class I’ve taken.

I greatly dislike being a face in the crowd. I wanted to be discovered and given a larger role. Some were, but not me, so as the time wore on, two 14-hour days, I was reminded of what satisfies me about a job. Recognition is my major motivator. I want to be s star at what I do and want recognition as such. When I don’t receive that, work becomes just a job to me with little personal satisfaction.

Know what motivates you and seek it out, question potential employers about it and don’t apologize for who you are. Better to know yourself and be honest than to try to shoehorn yourself into a job that makes you miserable.
John N. Frank