Instead of Looking for The Perfect Job, Keep Moving in the Right Direction

You might think you need to find the perfect job right now to have a successful career. 

That’s an awful lot of pressure. And you don’t.

Still, it’s the kind of pressure many of the people I coach impose upon themselves. Most are achievement-oriented MBAs and professionals, so anything less than an ideal outcome can seem like a failure. They may have a list of half a dozen to a dozen criteria they simply must have in their next role.

And they’re rarely ever able to get all of them, at least in the earlier parts of their careers. 

Sure, there are times when people do find the perfect job, but even the ‘perfect job’ can turn into the ‘not-so-perfect job’ after you’ve been in it for a few weeks, or even days, and begin to realize the imperfections of your new company, boss and assignment that were just below the surface during the recruiting process.

Instead of promoting a pressure-filled approach that can often lead to disappointment (don’t compromise on your dreams!), I advocate for what I think is a more sensible and ultimately more motivating approach that’s focused on continuous improvement and a trajectory that leads towards your aspirations and dreams. 

Recognize that you might not meet every one of your criteria for the perfect job in your next move and instead focus on moving steadily towards meeting more and more of those criteria. 

If you follow this approach, you’ll ultimately get to your perfect job or very close to having your perfect job.

Document your criteria

Before you can hope to be moving in the right direction — towards your perfect or ideal job — you need to know what the right direction is. That is, what are the criteria you would actually use to qualify a job as being perfect or ideal?

Do you have a sense of what those criteria are?

I prefer a holistic approach to develop your criteria, one that incorporates considerations about both work and life. It’s getting harder and harder to separate the two, so why not consider them as a whole and make sure they’re compatible? 

To get started on your criteria for the perfect or ideal job, think about the following:

Role — What do you actually do every day? What types of activities make up your minutes, hours, and days?

Context — What industry or industries do you work in, who compensates you, and who are the people you interact with on a regular basis?

Mission — Who or what does your work ultimately benefit?

Finances — What are your financial requirements, now and in the future?

Geography — Where do you want to live, and if you have a commute, where are you commuting to?

Personal — How much time and flexibility do you need for personal interests and commitments to family, friends, and community?

Health and Wellness — What do you need in your life to feel at your physical and mental best?

Try writing a sentence for each of the points above. Consider if there’s anything else you want or need to have. You could have criteria that fall into categories that aren’t listed above. Include them. 

Let it sit a while. See how your ideas develop. Challenge yourself. Ask if the criteria you’ve listed are truly important to you or if they’re the internalized expectations of other people in your life. If they are, consider if they really belong on the list or whether you feel ready to part with them.

Prioritize your criteria

Recognizing that your next job may not satisfy all of your criteria, you’ll need to prioritize them. Ask yourself:

• What are your must-have criteria? 
• What are your nice-to-have criteria?

If one or more of your criteria include a number (like a salary), is meeting that number absolutely necessary, or would you consider a range of outcomes?

Document your results and make sure you keep them somewhere where they’re easily accessible. When you’re under pressure to make a decision about whether to pursue or accept a job, you’ll want to be able to refer back to this list. Apple Notes, Google Keep, a starred Google Doc, a note in Evernote with a shortcut, a piece of paper. Use whatever is your favorite and most readily accessible and retrievable method of storing important notes and information. 

Rather than promoting a lazy attitude towards career management, the recognition that you typically move towards the perfect job over time is motivating and fosters resilience.

With each move, get a little more of what you want and a little less of what you don’t

In the approach I’m proposing, you would typically start a career with a few essential criteria in the must-have category and the remainder would be in the nice-to-have category. As you gain experience and learn more about yourself, you might adapt your criteria. You’ll also end up moving nice-to-have criteria to the must-have category. And with more experience, self-knowledge and credibility, you’ll have the leverage and confidence to insist on a longer list of must-haves. 

By the time you get to the latter part of your career, assuming you’ve achieved a degree of success and credibility, most if not all of your criteria will have moved to the must-have category. 

A few words about mission…

As an executive recruiter working to fill roles that would likely be the last or second-to-last role of a candidate’s career, I noticed that criteria related to mission take on greater importance. Often, the people I worked with had achieved enough success in terms of title, prestige, and compensation that they felt free to focus their attention on legacy and the impact of their work. 

That’s not to say that impact and mission aren’t important at the earlier stages of a career, it’s just that they seem to become even more meaningful as people advance and achieve success. They want to give back.

…and motivation

The evolution I’ve just described is a gradual process that happens over many years and possibly several roles and phases of a career. I’ve noticed that rather than promoting a lazy attitude towards career management (I know some of you were wondering), the recognition that you typically move towards the perfect job over time is motivating and fosters resilience. It helps the people I’ve coached weather storms and see past the inevitable bumps in the road they’re likely to face as they pursue career advancement.

Conclusion

Take some of the pressure off yourself, and don’t expect your next job to be the perfect one, one that satisfies all of your criteria when it comes to work and life.

First, get clear on what your criteria actually are. Write them down. 

Prioritize them and understand at this point in your life and career, which criteria are must-haves and which are nice-to-haves. 

Pursue your must-haves with intent, and with each new job and opportunity increase the number of your must-haves until you one day realize that you’re in exactly the right job for you.