Making Career Decisions
2 min read
When making a career decision (e.g. evaluate a job offer, take on a new role, deciding to leave a role) it can be easy to get overwhelmed. To simplify these decisions think about having three dials that you get to adjust to find the perfect mix for you.
Personal - If you took this role/job/opportunity what would your life be like? Would you be commuting? Would you need to relocate? Would you be happy going to work each day? Would it make demands of weekends and evenings that have a cost in your relationships? The personal dimension is largely your life outside of work and how it would be impacted
Professional - This dimension is how the opportunity might fulfill you professionally. Will the role challenge you? Do you like the people you would work with? Do you like the product, the company? Does this role give you opportunities that you are not getting today?
Economic - What is the economic opportunity?
I think of these on a scale from 1 to 10 (but you can use any scale you want). Try to score each dimension and see how it feels.
For example, you might have a new opportunity that is a 9 professionally, 8 personally but doesn’t pay as well you might like, so let's call that a 4. You could imagine a job that has tremendous economic upside (9) but would demand a lot of time (3) and might not even be all that interesting (2).
In each of these scenarios you get to decide what “score” works for you. There is no score that is objectively right or wrong, just subjectively right or wrong for you at that moment. As your career progresses what you want and need will change.
At one phase, money might be more important than the professional opportunity. At another phase that same person, who now has a family, is willing to sacrifice some professional fulfillment for having a more flexible schedule.
Looking at any opportunity through these three lenses just helps organize your thinking. There is no right or wrong answer here. You will still need to make a decision that feels right to you.