Finding the Job You Want

There are (in my opinion) three main reasons why we work: Money, culture, and value. Understanding your reasons for looking for or staying in a job can give you a whole new perspective on meaningful work and how it fits into your life.

By now there's a good chance you've heard about the #GreatResignation or the #GreatReshuffle, described by LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky as "an unprecedented moment in the history of work where all of us are rethinking not just how we work, but why we work."?

The protracted COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many people reevaluating the role their job plays in their life, either because they need a change in their lives or because they are forced to find a new job. In video chats and text chains and school parking lots and around dining tables people are having frank discussions about where to go next and how to find jobs that pay the bills and bring meaning to their lives. My inbox is full of friends, acquaintances, collaborators, and followers asking for my advice; whether to stay in their current job or pursue their next play; whether to take a high-paying job in a company they despise or a lesser paying job pursuing work they find interesting; whether to look for a job where they'll (eventually) work with other people or to pursue opportunities where culture is less important.

I want to share with you a tool I use to help people find meaning in work. It is by no means a perfect tool or the only way to think about these issues, but it is one that works for me and has worked for people I've helped on this journey.

Also, a caveat: I speak from a position of great privilege. I'm a white english speaking straight man living in North America with a university degree and a broad and deep career history. My experiences and views on work are biased by these and other privileges and while I try to offer universal advice here, I am acutely aware my advice may not be practical or applicable to all people due to historical exclusion and other societal factors.

The Three Factors Driving Job Choice

I spend a lot of time talking to and trying to understand other people. I'm deeply interested in how people make decisions and what drives them. If you've ever met me in person or over text or video chat you've likely experienced me asking about why you do the work you do or how you think about work.

Based on all my conversations and interactions with other people, I've realized there are three main factors driving job choice:

• Money (and in the US, health insurance and benefits)
• Culture
• Value

They form three partially overlapping circles, and each person's job preference can be placed somewhere within these circles.

When I say this, there's a good chance your first reaction is "it's always about the money," and in many cases that's true. But culture and value also play a big part, especially in job retention, risk of burnout, and work/life balance. While they may not be immediate factors upon taking a new job, they become significant factors in staying in that job which is why they should be prioritized in any decision about a job.

Let me break these down a bit further:

Money

The primary motivator for getting a job and staying in a job is usually money and other renumeration (including health insurance in the US). We need money to live our lives, and jobs are the way most people make money.

Culture

Every workplace, whether it's a coffee shop or a corporate office, has a distinct culture. Some companies work hard to shape or impose a specific culture on the workplace, and all workplaces have both macro and micro cultures based on the social dynamics of human beings who interacting with each other. You often hear people talk about "culture fit" when discussing hiring, and finding a job where you are a good culture fit can be important for your mental health. Working with likeminded people who you challenge and support you in constructive ways and who you enjoy working with becomes more important the longer you stay in a job.

Value

Some people (myself included) have an intrinsic need to not just do a job, but to do a job that is meaningful to us. What that meaning is differs from person to person. It could be anything from finding the work deeply engaging or interesting or pleasurable, to doing work that has a direct impact on the lives of others. As a child I asked my father why he wanted to become a doctor and he said it was because he wanted to help people live the best lives they could. That's what I mean by value. The job provides some intrinsic value to the worker in the form of meaning.

Finding (and keeping) the job you want

Moving to North America 20 years ago one of the first things I noticed was how people differentiated between "job" and "career." I often heard people say "it's just a job, not a career" and I have to admit I still don't fully understand this difference.

What has become clear to me is many people feel like their jobs define them. And if they have a job they don't like - either because it's low pay or low status or remedial or something else - they feel it reflects them as people in a bad light.

If I had a switch I could pull to rid the world of this whole way of thinking, I would pull it immediately. It's toxic, and it reduces us complex and deeply interesting human beings to semi-sentient automata whose only value is in the work we produce for others.

So, here's how I approach the challenge of finding a job, and how I invite those who ask me to think about it:

Where do you find yourself on this diagram? What are your reasons for getting (or keeping) a job? And how important are each of these three factors to you in that decision?

• If your primary reason for getting a job is money (and benefits like family health insurance) and the other two are not really that important to you, go find the job with the best pay for the least amount of personal investment. I recently encouraged one of the smartest people I know to take a year off and work at a coffee shop because what they needed more than anything was a job they could leave work at work and not have to think about it 24/7.
• If your primary reason for getting a job is culture - working with likeminded people or in an environment that is fun or challenging or supportive or invigorating - go find a job with a culture you like and with people you can see yourself working with for a long time. It might not be the most meaningful or high paying job, but it will give you what you seek: community and a culture of belonging.
• If your primary reason for getting a job is to do something, be that pursue a personal goal like an academic achievement, or help other people, or contribute to a cause, go find a job where you get the most impact from the time you spend doing the job, even if it doesn't pay the most. You hear a lot of talk about teachers being severely underpaid and spending part of their income on teaching supplies. This is an example of people prioritizing value over money in their work. It is also an example of society exploiting these people and their labor which is harmful to them and to society as a whole. tl;dr: Pay essential workers a fair wage!

Thinking carefully about this for yourself (and maybe discussing it with friends, family, or coworkers) you'll likely discover you find yourself in the intersection between the circles with a preference in one circle. Knowing and acknowledging this fact gives you a starting point for (re)evaluating your job choices and prospects.

Jobs are means, not ends

If you walk away from this article with only one insight, I hope it's this: Your job, whether you consider it "just a job" or a lifelong career, is a means, not an end. It does not define you, and as long as it serves whatever purpose you need it to serve, it does its job. On my journey through life I've encountered many people who pass moral judgement on themselves or others based on their jobs. This is something we collectively owe it to ourselves and others to stop doing.

Whether it's trading stocks or stocking shelves, as long as the job meets your needs for money, or culture, or value, or a combination of the three, it serves its purpose. And if it doesn't, you know what you need to look for in your next job!

Now over to you. Does this make sense to you, or is there something I've missed? The comments are open. Let's discuss!

--

Morten Rand-Hendriksen is a Senior Staff Instructor at?LinkedIn Learning?(formerly Lynda.com) focusing on?front-end web development and the next generation of the web platform. He is passionate about diversity, inclusion, and belonging and works every day to build bridges between people to foster solidarity. Morten still doesn't know what artifact to give the museum. Design is political. Code is political. Hope is a catalyst.