What Would You Do?
Preface: I’m not in an active job market search. I’m always open to ideas or options people might throw out there. It’s similar to my thought process of “everything I own is for sale.” Certain things I own may not be for sale at a reasonable price, but there is a price point on it all that could outweigh replacement time/cost. And no, my wife and son don’t count as things I own. They aren’t for sale.
Onto my personal dilemma. I stumbled across a link this morning to a job description that may fit what I do better than I could explain it myself. Only this would be on a much larger and more public scale as for what is produced. The job itself is a great position, including the things I love: design direction, copy writing, strategy, communications, PR and development all rolled into one. It would put me in a position that I would thrive in, the ability to have a team around me that probably do any of the above better than I could but would allow me to bring them all together to produce some great products.
But here’s the rub, the job itself is for an organization that I don’t really believe in. Not that I don’t think they know what they’re doing, or that they’re a bad organization or are involved in inappropriate or criminal activities; but in a sense that ideally I view things differently.
Is there any chance I would be happy in a position like this? Producing great work, leading a good team and enjoying all the areas I would be getting my hands dirty in all the while not agreeing the message being sent out to the masses?
I think I know what my answer is, but I’d like to hear yours as well. Persuade me.
WWYD? What Would You Do?
“the job itself is for an organization that I don’t really believe in.” I think you answered your own question with that statement.
I’m in a similar situation now. I took a job that pays well. it’s a great company, the people in my team are great, my bosses are awesome and overall a normal person wouldn’t really complain about this job. However it’s just not my passion. I’m in the process now of starting my own company and trying to get to a place where I do what I love for clients and companies I’m excited about and who’s visions I believe in all the while being financially stable.
In my experience… If there’s hesitation, don’t do it. The money may look appealing. The work may be what you love to do and what comes natural and what your expertise is in. However if your not passionate about who your working for that ultimately will lead to you not being happy. Again, I speak from MY experience and in my opinion… I believe we should strive to get what we want just as much as for what we need. I don’t know about you but I want to love what I’m doing, enjoy who I work for and be passionate about my employers vision.
Create a scenario: You have your own company. You have a position open. a key leadership position. Wouldn’t you want the person your looking to hire to be passionate not only about their work and the position itself… but also be passionate about your vision for the company and about leading your team close to accomplishing that vision?
I wouldn’t do it. 🙂
Solid points all the way around, Jose. I was mentioning to my buddy just earlier that for me to apply for/take the job, they would have to pay enough to make me forget every morning what exactly I was doing it all for.
And frankly, they don’t have that type of budget.
Yeah, I feel ya there. It’s a scary place to be, at least for me. I noticed that when money becomes the dominating factor on weather or not we move into a position we’re not really excited about – the outcomes tend to be more negative than what we anticipate. Quite frankly thats a HUGE red flag I definitely missed.
In my mind, I figured that the salary I was going to step into would ultimately over-weigh the fact that I really wasn’t going to like being at the company. I then realized what I had heard many times over from friends and family and what I was taught my entire life is actually… TRUE: Money, will not make you happy.
In the end I’ve learned a valuable lesson. 1. God always takes care of his children. I’ve learned alot and grown alot. God’s grace has been ridiculously abundant and He’s definitely used this experience to teach me a hard lesson AND even provided the means for me to excel in my career and network with people I would’ve not met otherwise.
Even if the company had the budget to exceed your salary demands and provide the means for your family to live beyond the normal comfort of a nice financial cushion and put you in the top percentage of the wealthiest people in america… Money isn’t everything, my friend. Take it from someone who’s learned the hard way. 🙂
http://tinyurl.com/how2berich