Career satisfaction depends on many things. Your salary, your working hours, and your coworkers all play a heavy hand in whether or not you are happy to work where you work. It’s essential to recognize that your happiness at work greatly influences your general happiness. With that in mind, it’s critical that you invest in finding a job that you feel you can thrive within. You must enjoy and feel fulfilled in your work environment.
But it’s not always cut and dry figuring out what makes people happy at work. Sometimes, it’s really about the company you choose to spend your time with. Here’s how to find the right company for your happiness and long-term success.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Tough Questions
Too often, a candidate is so excited to receive an offer that they don’t take the time to ask the tough questions. Remember, you are evaluating a company just as much as they are evaluating you for the job. If you don’t want to risk any relationships, it’s an option to wait until an offer has been made. But before you accept, you need to ask the questions that will help you evaluate whether the job is right for you.
Make sure to ask direct questions about the projects and responsibilities that will take up the majority of your time every day. Ask how management prefers these responsibilities to be executed. How will success or failure be measured? What feedback or direction or coaching can you expect from the company to make sure that your efforts are on track? How will your performance be judged on a regular basis? How will you be provided with feedback? What KPIs are you working toward? What are the expectations of you within the role over the next thirty days? Sixty? Ninety?
In many cases, your hiring manager won’t know all the answers to these questions, but that’s ok. An essential part of the conversation is asking the questions and listening to the thought that goes into the answers. How a manager thinks through these topics will play an important role in how happy you will be in the long term.
How Does the Culture Align to Your Working Style?
Having a positive work environment can be a huge influencer in whether or not you are happy at work. Still, also worth considering is whether the company culture is a good fit for your working style or even personality. Even if the work isn’t always the most exciting or engaging work all the time, a great corporate culture will keep you invested for longer. And if you can help control the environment you’re in; you are even more likely to stick around for longer.
Research has shown that company culture is becoming more and more important to candidates entering the modern workforce. But a positive corporate culture is about more than a ping pong table in the break room or lavish holiday parties. It’s about the people who make your company their life’s work. What’s the average work-life balance seem like? Are employees expected to put in overtime and work long hours? How is upward-directed feedback received? These are cultural elements that, if misaligned with your expectations, can be deal-breakers in the long run. Sometimes, it’s clear what corporate culture is like just from speaking with a hiring manager. But sometimes the reality of a job is different than advertised. It’s worth doing some external research to learn more about what life is like at a company, then make the call with the knowledge that short-term employment is not always worth the long-term frustrations of working for a company that is not willing to work for you.
Find a Job That Works Best for You
For more tips on how to find the job that works best for your career, connect with the team at ESGI today.
