A lot of people just sort of fall into a particular career. Maybe it is something their father did, something they think that they might be good at, or just something they like. Nonetheless, few of them seem to put enough thought into it. They don’t really study things scientifically, carefully compare different jobs and locations, and come up with the best places to live and work.
I’ve always taken a more systematic approach than seems popular. For me, finding the best places to work is crucial. I have had too many lousy jobs early on in my career to ignore the obvious: that having a healthy workplace is at least as important as having money, and then having a good community is more important than either of these things. After all, this is your life right now. You want to enjoy it, not just wait around to die while acting as a drone in an office you hate.
There are, of course, some places known as the best companies to work for. If you’re fortunate enough to be employed by one of these, congratulations. For the rest of us, however, we can only expect to find the best places to work in relative terms. It varies a lot from individual to individual, so it is important to know yourself.
For example, for some people the best places to work are simply places where they can be left alone to do their job. Some people hate group work and love to be around self-motivated people who seem to do everything independently. Other people are just the opposite. They love to have the feeling of a good office community to talk to. For these folks, the best places to work are places with a lot of social interactions. Being part of a team they get along with and even hang out with outside of the workplace is essential for the happiness of folks like that.
Then again, the best places to work seem to have certain things in common for everyone. One of them, of course, is good pay. Lets face it, if you aren’t being paid what you need or deserve for your job, you are not going to be happy. Another important thing for most people is a comfortable office environment with a supportive boss. Being in a nasty work environment where people are constantly sniping at each other will grind down anyone quickly and cause a high rate of burnout. Beyond basics like that, however, it all comes down to what you want out of your workplace environment.
Related Blogs
- The Navy is one of the Best Places to Work | USNavy.com
- 2010 Best Places to Work in IT by Computerworld | Resumark Blog – Get Paid to Post Resume and Search Jobs Online
- DPR Construction Named One of the Best Places to Work By SD Business Journal
- Google, OMD and Austereo among BRW’s 50 best places to work – mUmBRELLA
- UM ranked one of the best places to work in IT | e-Veritas
