People tend to get consumed in financial compensation in their jobs that they tend to overlook the really important things that will actually provide you with a sense of happiness. Programmes such as The Apprentice enforce the idea that bright sparks can get to the top quickly, with big salaries and big titles to their name. This may well be true and feasible for many, but it’s worth considering the other factors that are involved with job contentment.
There’s more to your career than the money:
A company may offer you an incredible salary, but will you actually enjoy your job? As money-driven as we are in western society, we would do well to evaluate our priorities first.
Before you jump for a job strictly based on salary, ask yourself, if this is something you will really enjoy? Is it something you are keen to integrate into your life? Most career jobs by default become something heavily linked to our day-to-day lives.
This is important because in most cases, it’s better to start at a moderate level and work your way up, in which the money will ultimately increase and so will your skill-set and progression.
But money does pay the bills at the end of the day:
Now, that doesn’t mean that you should take a lowly paying job in hopes of it one day turn into a top-dog position, but rather, think about how you can create a balance: this is when it becomes important to evaluate the pros and cons.
In one sense, it may be attractive to go for the high paying job, but will you still be at the same salary and position within a year? Or, is it better to take the lower-end of the scale and know that within six-months to one year there are opportunities for advancement within the department or the company! That’s for you to decide, but then this is also time for you to find out exactly what drives you to go to work every day, or what motivates point blank. Often, employees find that they start at the very bottom and slowly but surely work their way to the top, establishing themselves as a core member of the workplace and a loyal one too.
For some people, it’s going into an office where people are motivated and work in a team environment, for others it’s a competitive drive that inspires their work ethic. Either way, it’s important to take note of your wants and needs because you may be over-extending your skills and expectations. The last thing you want to do is to accept a job based on having a high salary only for the company to realise that you are not necessarily a good fit for the job.
Shop around and see what works for you:
Whatever you do, just make sure you take all aspects into consideration. Going for the gold means a lot more than the coin, there’s your integrity, reputation, ability and happiness as well –remember your quality of life matters too. Have a real look around before applying; websites like reed.co.uk offer up a wide and interesting range of jobs in financial, creative and media fields, and will illustrate a diversity of roles to think about.
