I had a job interview about 6 months ago that I've been thinking about lately. During the interview, the interviewer wrote the following six phrases on the whiteboard:
- Challenging work
- Proximity to home
- Good money
- Fun, exciting coworkers
- Opportunity to advance
- Reasonable hours
He then proceeded to explain that in his experience it was reasonable to expect that in any job you can expect to get at least three of the items in the list. He said that if you only have two, you can do better and you should find a new job. If you have four you're doing well. If you have more than 4 you should never, ever quit. Do all you can to retire from that place.
Most people, though, can only get three items from the list. He then asked me which three I thought were the most important.
Lately I've been thinking that I'm probably in the top half of the list.
Some of you reading this are my coworkers and I can say with 100% certainty that if I work with you you're the exception to the rule when it comes to that fourth item. It's all the OTHER people. You know what I'm talking about. ;)
I haven't been that optimistic about item 5. I'm trying, but it's been slow going. Option 6 is out of the question for the foreseeable future.
How do you think your current job ranks (assuming you have one)? Leave a comment.
