Now that the Holiday season is over, we enter that time of year where we reflect back on what we have accomplished over the past 365 days. It’s also that time where we look ahead at the coming year and start to frame out what we would like to accomplish in the new year.
For me personally, I always use the lull between Christmas and New Years to build out my goals for the next year. These include both my personal and professional goals. It’s fairly easy to come up with 3-5 goals you’d like to accomplish in your current role, but what if you aren’t in the right role? Or even the right company/employer?
Maybe 2019 is the time for you to make one of the biggest changes one can make – a job change. I’ve always given the advice to job seekers to write down your list of ‘must haves’ in your new job and of your new employer. I’ve seen too many people make a job change only to determine very quickly that it isn’t the right fit. Something as seemingly simple like distance from home (commute) has caused someone to leave a job just a few weeks in. What happened is the person got caught up in the excitement of the new role and forgot how important the location of the new job was to them.
This is where the ‘must haves’ come in. These ‘must haves’ should be created before you even start your search so that when you get in the heat of the moment talking to the hiring manager or HR, you don’t forget what’s important to you. If a 20 minute or less commute is a deal breaker before you talked to Company XX, then it should still be after they tell you about the job and get you excited about it (this is what a Recruiter/HR representative/hiring managers role is after all!).
Your list of ‘must haves’ may include things like:
- Commute/distance from home
- Work from home XX days per week or month
- Compensation at or above a certain amount
- Certain title
- Company is/isn’t a for-profit company
- Company is over/under a certain size