WHAT IS MEANINGFUL WORK? (AN INVESTIGATION)

Everyone says they want it. But nobody can agree on how to find it, provide it, or even define it. So we set out to try.

- JOE KEOHANE

Jocelyn Lincoln was not prepared for the weeping.

Lincoln is the chief talent officer for Kelly Services, a global staffing firm, and she's been in the recruitment business for 23 years. Over that time, she's witnessed an evolution in attitudes-with candidates talking less about money and more about things like mission, purpose, and bringing their whole self to work. But then came 2020, an exceptional year on an exceptional number of levels, and Lincoln was granted a front-row seat to a seismic shift that may have forever altered the relationship between Americans and work.

“I remember I told my manager, 'I have been on more calls with people crying than ever before in my entire career,'” Lincoln says. People were fed up, overwhelmed, different. “They became very introspective around what's important. What matters? What's sacred to me? What impact do I want to have? What do I want my legacy to be? Am I prioritizing the right things in my life?”

The candidates coming across Lincoln's desk were interested in not only securing jobs, or good jobs, but Good Jobs. Good Jobs that helped them live better lives. Good Jobs that helped them become more realized versions of themselves. Good Jobs at companies that were helping improve the world, or at least not actively poisoning children or cratering democracies.

In other words, people became more interested in meaningful work. They wanted better answers to the question, Why am I doing this? America's hallowed pastime is dunking on the young for being unreasonably entitled, but younger workers aren't driving this change alone. Members of all generations have developed what philosophers call “a will to meaning” in their professional lives.