I had a great conversation with friends last weekend. Both of the women that I was hanging out with are highly successful, and both have worked really hard to get there. We were all talking about just that....hard work and how difficult it can be to find young people with our same work ethic. Luckily, I have found great people to work at Gladwyne Animal Hospital with me so far, and we are looking to hire more. If any of the candidates coming to interview happen to read this beforehand, here is a piece of advice that will make me like you more: do not say that you want "work-life balance".
I find the phrase "work-life balance" so annoying. I feel like you could insert the phrase "do everything half-assed". For example: "I would really like to find a career where I can have work-life balance." You could also say: "I would really like to find a career where I can do everything half-assed." I think that a much better phrase is "work hard, play hard". That says to me, that you want to give 110% while you are working and do the absolute best that you can, then you want to focus 110% on whatever it is that you do while you are not at work the rest of the time. Work-life balance is only achieved by working hard and playing hard. If you are doing your best all of the time, whether it is at work or at play, then you have work-life balance. You create it, you don't ask for it in a job interview.
Could you imagine a working border collie herding sheep and then just thinking to himself, "Jeez, this is taking too long, I got most of them, I would really rather go chase a ball, I am going to stop now." (Border collies are smart, they could possibly go through that thought process...) No, he is going to work hard and play hard and be a happy dog.
Be where you are. When you are at work, be at work, when you are at home, be at home. Don't think about what you need to do at work while you are at home and vice versa, then you have work-life balance. Your boss cannot give it to you.
Now, a note to my husband: If you just read this and are thinking "What??? She just said all of that and she totally worries about work while she is at home!" You are right, but I am trying to work hard and play hard and not be half-assed. I think that writing it down helps.
