Office Worker Is Thinking Outside the Box--the One Called a Cubicle

Frances Thronson’s greatest fear is that she’ll turn into a “corporado.”

Corporadoes are people who “cut their characters down to fit a corporate culture and lose themselves in the process,” explained Harriet Rubin, author of “Soloing: Realizing Your Life’s Ambition” (HarperBusiness, 1999).

Thronson, a 47-year-old administrative assistant, said she has seen too many of these ghosts haunting the corridors of Southland businesses. She’s sure she doesn’t want to join their ranks--but she’s not sure what her calling is.

For the last three years, the Mount Washington resident has been toiling at her desk job at a Pasadena-based engineering firm--not exactly where the self-described nonconformist expected to be, especially considering that she’s a University of Iowa Writers Workshop graduate and a trained therapist.

Thronson, who owned a typesetting business for more than a decade and has published two self-help books, longs to find an occupation that will allow her to “make the workplace more humane.”

She doesn’t want to be penned in a cubicle farm. Instead, she’d like to exercise her “strong Crusader Rabbit streak” by tackling independent projects and helping downtrodden workers. But what job would allow her these freedoms?

For guidance, she sought the advice of Manhattan-based counselor Judith Gerberg. “Basically, I’d like to do something for the greater good of others,” she told Gerberg.

“But first,” Gerberg countered, “we should start with the greater good of you.”

After querying Thronson about her work history, career dreams and cherished causes, Gerberg suggested that Thronson focus on three specific goals, each of which would satisfy an important inner need. First, Thronson should find a challenging, likable day job.

She also should seek an outlet for creative self-expression. Last, she should find a way to perform public service. These goals could converge in one occupation, Gerberg said, but that’s not necessary.

More specifically, Gerberg and other career experts had these suggestions for Thronson:

* Find your tribe. Leaving a familiar work role is “a dangerous, cold, and very lonely walk off a cliff called Security,” Rubin notes. But remaining at an unchallenging job or in an oppressive work environment can have its own negative repercussions.

“A person can become less competent, less capable of functioning,” said William Lundin, a clinical psychologist and managerial consultant who is the author of “When Smart People Work for Dumb Bosses” (McGraw-Hill, 1998). The antidote is what Gerberg calls “finding your tribe.”

Thronson may flourish in a business environment that not only provides her with a paycheck, but that also employs like-minded souls--her tribe, as it were. She should ascertain that the environment’s “personality” matches her own: progressive, idealistic, value-driven and socially responsible.

Its management should encourage employee independence, creative thinking, and risk-taking--values Thronson appreciates. She can only discover these traits about potential hirers by researching and asking detailed questions, something many interviewees fail to do.

“People often step into mail-order bride mentality when job hunting,” said Richard Hagberg, a Foster City-based managerial psychologist. “They let themselves be evaluated but don’t [analyze] their fit with the boss and company.”

To even more closely define her ideal day job, Thronson can keep a log of her work activities for an entire week, then review the log, noting tasks she likes and dislikes, suggested consultant Beverly Kaye, author of “Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay” (Berrett-Koehler, 1999). Patterns will emerge that can help Thronson decide which activities she’ll seek in new employment.

* Get paid to do good. Because Thronson holds a master’s degree in counseling, she can consider a career in employee assistance programs, said Dale Masi, professor at University of Maryland’s Graduate School of Social Work.

EAP counselors help employees deal with a wide range of problems, including workplace changes, personal crises and financial challenges. Salaries for EAP counselors typically run between $42,000 and $60,000 a year, Masi says.

If Thronson is willing to take additional business and organizational psychology courses, she could pursue a position in organizational development.

OD specialists evaluate corporate culture, leadership aptitude, job satisfaction and work climates, then make recommendations to help companies increase effectiveness. They do this through assessments, surveys, interviews, work restructuring and on-site consultations.

Becoming a workplace consultant at a large human relations firm such as Towers Perrin or Hewitt Associates is a career possibility that greatly interests Thronson. She’d be able to visit corporations as a paid trouble-shooter, to aid in solving their problems. But she realizes that she may need additional schooling to find such employment.

Typically, workplace specialists have MBAs or master’s degrees in industrial psychology, organizational development or human relations, says Kevin Klinvex, co-founder of Select International in Pittsburgh and author of “Hiring Great People” (McGraw Hill, 1998).

* Rediscover your voice. Thronson says her true “dream job” would be to write thought-provoking columns and commentary. She’s particularly interested in writing architectural criticism and political essays.

However, such serious punditry tends to be the rarefied domain of credentialed academics, seasoned journalists and renowned field authorities, said Jay Severin, MSNBC political analyst and radio host. If Thronson wants to pursue this work, she’ll need to develop recognized expertise in whatever field she intends to critique.

To get opinion pieces published even occasionally in newspapers and online media, Thronson will need to send in well-written, topical essays with fresh perspectives, says Massachusetts-based sociologist Richard Moran, a former NPR commentator who has published more than 40 such pieces in America’s leading newspapers. And she’s got to be fast.

“When news breaks in the morning, I want commentary by the afternoon,” said Joan Connell, MSNBC’s “Opinions” executive producer.

Though the Internet has become an electronic soapbox for millions, its more prestigious sites--such as MSNBC, Slate and Salon--will be daunting for a novice pundit to crack. Thronson could initiate her columnist career by submitting pieces to some of the 50,000-plus online e-zines, or even launch an e-zine of her own, said Len Strazewski, Columbia College Chicago’s coordinator of computer-assisted reporting and news media. Lists of e-zines are available at https://www.infojump.com and https://www.etext.org.

For more lighthearted ventures, Thronson might consider writing social advice columns for syndication, or satirical essays. But, warns writer-performer Sandra Tsing Loh, no matter which editorial road Thronson takes, she shouldn’t plan to get rich through punditry.

“It’s the worst career choice! It pays worse than temping,” Tsing Loh says, adding that she did part-time clerical work until her career eventually flourished. “I didn’t have health benefits until age 35.”

* Consider desktop publishing as a moneymaker. Thronson already does some desktop publishing at her present job, so she’s well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities in this swiftly growing field. Should she become proficient in Adobe Photoshop, PageMill and Illustrator, or QuarkXpress, she might be able to find work as a desktop publishing trainer--a position in increased demand these days, said Harvey Levenson, head of the graphic communication department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an estimated 53,000 additional desktop publishing specialists will be needed by 2006. Advertising agencies and publishing houses--two businesses that Thronson might enjoy--will be particularly busy recruiting skilled desktop publishing workers.

Thronson might also consider in-house or freelance work in the corporate communications department of a large firm, suggested consultant Larraine Segil of the Lared Group in Los Angeles. There, Thronson could write, edit and help publish in-house newsletters and magazines.

Last, she might explore providing editorial content for businesses’ Web sites. Companies are increasingly hiring freelancers to do this work, says Ohio-based Kimberly Hill, the guide for freelance writing at https://www.about.com. But before applying for these jobs, Thronson will need to learn how to write for the Web.

Online writing style is more like advertising copy than journalism, says Teresa Martin, chief executive of Project Cool, a Web design resource firm in Palo Alto. Sentences must be short, colorful and informal. Paragraphs should be brief.

Thronson says she’s going to mull over these new possibilities. And when she decides what she’s going to do with her life? Perhaps the story will find its way onto the opinion page of a Southland newspaper.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ready for a Change

Name: Frances Tronson

Occupation: Administrative assistant

Desired occupation: Uncertain

Quote: “There is little I’ve truly longed for in life. But to find my work--yes, that’s been my heart’s longing.”

Counselor’s recommendation: Develop an income stream in a challenging day job. Seek a vocation allowing creative expression. Find a work environment that suits her personality. Devote time to altruistic work.

Meet the Coach

Judith Gerberg has been a Manhattan-based career counselor for 15 years. She is certified by the International Board of Career Management.