I have recently read several articles and blogs about what's important to a candidate when they are considering a new position. Obviously, each candidate has a unique set of circumstances and their own decision-making criteria, but the general categories are "relationships", "work/life balance", "type of work", "company" and "financial considerations".
With each general category, there are subfactors:
Relationships (sample list below)
1.) Who would you report to?
2.) What are the peer to peer dynamics?
3.) Who reports to you?
4.) Are you working within a team?
Work/Life Balance (sample list below)
1.) How many hours a week are you expected to work?
2.) Are you expected to participate in after-hours work events?
3.) Is there a travel component?
2.) What are the commuting expectations?
Type of Work (sample list below)
1.) Will you have more responsibility?
2.) Is the work challenging?
3.) Are you learning new things?
4.) Is the work personally rewarding?
Company (sample list below)
1.) Company location
2.) Organizational culture
3.) Value proposition
4.) Future growth
5.) Prospects for career advancement
6.) Work environment
Financial Considerations (sample list below)
1.) Increase in salary
2.) Potential for incentives
3.) Overall benefits program
4.) Does the company "pay for performance"?
Generally, people look for job stretch. This means some combination of the following:
- More responsibility
- More money
- Better benefits
- More opportunity for career advancement
- More challenging work
What's interesting, especially over the last couple of years, is that salary is typically not the most important factor. Of course, it is part of the decision, but it doesn't solely make the decision. If you could only use of these factors to make a career decision, which would it be? How would you decide?
