How to find a job that makes you happy

The best days of work are fulfilling. When you feel good about yourself and the work you’ve accomplished, that’s a sign that your job makes you happy.

Unfortunately, many people don’t get that feeling often—or ever—from their jobs. If you find getting through the workday to be a slog, it might be time to seek out an opportunity that gives you that sense of joy . But how??

In her latest story for Forbes, senior contributor Tracy Brower offers some advice for finding a job that makes you happy. What works for one person may not necessarily work for everyone, but Brower digs into multiple variables that can impact your level of contentment where you work. Here are just a few of the tips she covers:

1. Look for culture: If you’re a person who excels in an environment of go-getters and driving hard and fast toward achieving goals, you probably won’t do well in a more free-wheeling office space where taking risks and innovating are encouraged—and vice-versa. Seek out a team that fits with your style of work, and remember that the best cultures offer opportunities to learn, adapt and grow over time.
2. Look for leadership: Part of being happy in your job comes from being inspired. Do your best to discern whether the leaders at your next opportunity are energized about where the company is going, and whether you want to be a part of that future. If the leaders at your job don’t lead well, it’s easy to become disengaged with your work.
3. Look for work that matters: You don’t want to end each day feeling like you just punched the clock in order to get a paycheck—you want to feel like you’ve accomplished something. As you’re assessing your next role, consider how your responsibilities contribute to the team, the organization, the customers or the community. Choose opportunities where there is clarity about how the role matters within the organization now and into the future.

Make sure to give Brower’s full story a read for even more factors to look for in your job search, and always remember that no job is perfect. Bad days will happen even if you land a position at a company you’ve dreamed of working at for years. The important thing is to set yourself up for success—and happiness—more days than not.?

Read the full story:How to find a job that makes you happy

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Evolution of Work: Consider your commute to work during a job search

For most workers in the U.S., the commute is back: While the Covid-19 pandemic ushered in remote and hybrid work models for many, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 77% of workers did no remote work in March 2024.

Still, it appears that remote work—at least in a hybrid sense—is here to stay for some. In an analysis of remote work’s impacts over the past few years, economist Nick Bloom and his colleague Arjun Ramani observed what they called the “donut effect”—a spreading out of residents in metropolitan areas , with workers trading off longer commute times for preferred housing and lifestyles.

If you want to live farther from the city center, it is a good idea to start factoring commute time (and frequency) into your job searches and negotiations.

Read the full story: Consider your commute to work during a job search

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Thank you for reading! We’ll be back Friday with another edition of Forbes Edge.?

This edition of Forbes Edge was curated by associate editor Chris Dobstaff .?