Author and professor Tessa West explores people's psychological relationship with their careers
Tessa West, author and professor of psychology at New York University
Tessa West is professor of psychology at New York University, where she is a leading expert on the science of social relationships. She is also the author of Job Therapy: Finding Work That Works for You. In an interview with Forbes India, she explores the reasons behind unhappiness at work and suggests ways for different types of career-goers to address individual challenges. Edited excerpts:
Q. Our psychological relationship with careers is a topic that’s rarely discussed. What led you to exploring this theme?
Our relationship with our careers is an emotionally complex one, and this really came through once I started doing research for this book. People would describe feeling “rejected” by their jobs, that they “fell out of love” with a career they were chasing for so long. The language we usually reserve for our romantic relationships, or our friendships.
In many cultures, we are told that decisions about careers should be entirely based on logic. Emotions should never be involved. But eventually, your feelings about your career will sneak in there. It took many of the people I studied a very long time—sometimes decades—to realise, “well, it turns out that logic-based approach wasn’t really working out for me. I have lots of mixed feelings about this career I need to grapple with.”
I was also trained as a relationship scientist; my first line of research in graduate school was on studying couples. And I teach a course on relationships at New York University. I see a lot of parallels in the modern person’s struggle with their career and their struggle with their romantic partners.