As 2016 comes to an end, everyone is gearing up for the New Year and with that, comes New Year’s resolutions.
While most people’s resolutions include things like being more health concious, and spending more time with family, another resolution many have is to find a job that is more in line with their career goals.
Like all resolutions, the hardest thing about it is starting. To help, I’ve compiled a list of five things to ask yourself as you begin your search for new opportunities:
- Career growth– Is this new opportunity aligned with where I see my career heading? Does it provide me with new challenges and opportunities that my current role doesn’t? If you’re not sure, discuss what your growth could look like with the potential company in the next 3-5 years. Are they flexible in how they want to help grow your career? Also, think about the growth of the company, since it can affect your ability to grow individually as well.
- Company values– Does this company value what I value? Every company has a different set of values, so make sure you’re asking questions about them throughout the interview process. Also, make sure that everyone is on the same page with their company’s values. If you talk to multiple people about what the company values are, that can be a tell-tale sign of whether those values are consistent throughout the company or not.
- Company culture– Can you see yourself working at this company and with these people every day? Do the employees inspire and encourage each other? Would you want to hang out with them outside of work? You want to make sure that you enjoy the culture of where you work, because you typically spend more time at work than at home.
- Work/life balance- Are you able to work from home if your child gets sick or you need to wait for the plumber to come? Are you able to focus on your New Year’s resolutions beyond January? A lot of candidates will blindly accept roles and not realize that they are going to be regularly overworked. A good way to prevent that, is to ask multiple people what their schedule looks like on a day-to-day basis. Sure, there will always be busy days and even busy seasons, but does the company and your manager value having a work/life balance?
- Passionate about the Role– At the end of the day, not every job you look at will be perfect, but you want to make sure that you choose a job where you’ll wake up in the morning excited about going to work and doing the tasks at hand. Try to gain as much insight as possible into what you will be doing and who you will be doing it with. Is it going to give you the challenge you crave, and excite you to get out of bed in the morning? If not, then maybe that isn’t the path for you.
If you can’t answer all of these questions about a potential opportunity, make sure to do more research. Research the company online- visit their website, visit Glassdoor to see how current and past employees feel about working there, or even reach out to current employees whom you may have a common connection with. The more information you get about an opportunity up front, the happier you’ll be with whatever decision you make.
I wish you a very happy holiday season and best of luck with your New Year’s Resolution as you kick off 2017!