What is Vocational Awe?

Is your work considered noble? That might be why you're overworked and underpaid.

I was facilitating a workshop with a group of librarians a couple of months ago when I was introduced to the idea of vocational awe.

Then, while coaching a client, the concept came up again. When something gets mentioned twice in a short window, it's worth looking into.

If you haven't heard of "vocational awe," it's the belief that a profession is so inherently noble, sacred, and good that any sacrifice made for it is justified.

Fobazi Ettarh, a school librarian in Hawthorne, New Jersey, coined the term in her 2018 article, "Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves." She named the way people get taken advantage of at work in the name of a higher purpose, and pointed out that once a problem has a name, it can actually be solved. While she wrote about librarians specifically, the same pattern shows up in nonprofits, government, education, museums, and anywhere the work is framed as service. She passed away recently, far too young.

Her point, in short:

If you work in a profession people treat as "holier than thou," you're expected to sacrifice for it. Mental health. Time with family. Fair pay. Naming vocational awe is the first step to pushing back on it.

I bring this up as a warning.

Are you being asked to take on more than you signed up for? Some call it scope creep. Some call it burnout. Either way, your job grows and your compensation doesn't. Vocational awe.

Or maybe you try to raise concerns about overwork or low pay in your field, and someone reminds you how noble the cause is. Vocational awe.

Or you're missing your kid's milestones because you're stuck at work, uncompensated, for the sake of the mission. Vocational awe.

Naming it is the first step to changing it. Thank you, Fobazi Ettarh. Rest in peace.

Read her article here.