financial reflections

I’m lucky to have received some very sound career advice during my very first job change.   It came from a recruiter I had at the time, who had all the financial incentive to steer me towards the job he was trying to fill, instead of the other job I was considering.  I was at a point where I had two jobs to choose from, and both had pros and cons.

My recruiter knew about the job, but instead of pitching all the pros for the job he was representing, he told me a simple two step system for career decisions that I’ve used ever since.  It’s only two questions that you should ask for each job.  They are, in order of importance:

1. Is this job right for my family?
2. Is this job right for my career?

That’s it.  Note the order of the questions.  These questions seem so simple, but I’ve seen too many people put number two ahead of number one, and suffer at home because of it.  And from what I’ve seen, when home life suffers, work suffers and what seems like a great job decision can be a nightmare.

The first question also silently encompasses a variety of quality of life issues.  Are there quality schools where you new job is (if you move)?  What hours does the new job require?  What’s the commute like?  Those questions shape a lot more than the job description alone.  And I’m one who takes the advice of David O. McKay seriously: “No success can compensate for a failure in the home.”

Not to say that career isn’t important.  One has to take long term career issues into the equation as well.  Grabbing for short-term cash might not be right in the long term.  Sometimes a short-term cash boost is what someone needs to make certain moves in their financial progress. 

Only you can decide what’s best, but those two questions have helped me on every job decision I’ve made.  Good luck!