The Three Most Important Things You Look for in Your Employment Relationship

Most jobs take at least 40 hours of your life during the week. That number could double if you are desperate to earn money or achieve a burning ambition. So, even if you’ve survived a grueling job search, impressed a prospective employer with your resume, sparkled at the job interview and received a job offer, it’s normal to worry if you are making the right choice. Take time to evaluate the most important aspects of a job.

Pay

Unless you have a private income or someone to finance your lifestyle, the salary from your job pays for your home, food and everything else. Whether you are a brain surgeon, CEO or supermarket shelf stacker, there is a minimum salary that you can accept, even in those jobs about which you’ve fantasized. Depending on your circumstances, add in the important retirement plans, insurance coverage and other benefits that you may depend on later. After you are sure that you can earn enough to support your lifestyle, other aspects of a job become important.

Location

Commuting can add many hours and lots of stress to the workday. People who work in big cities or national capitals around the world shrug off the daily commute as an unfortunate part of life. People who live close to their workplace can continue to work, make new friends, socialize, read or write books during the hours saved by their short commute. Sometimes the cost of commuting or parking can cut your effective earnings below your needs. Child care or other family considerations may make commuting to work difficult. If you decide to commit to a job that requires a long commute, investigate the possibility of working from home occasionally.

Related Reading: Important Things to Find in Your Next Job Position

Satisfaction

Even with several varieties of job satisfaction, few people are totally happy at work. It’s important to be honest with yourself about your likes, dislikes and abilities. The younger you try to achieve your childhood ambitions -- to be ballet dancer or an astrophysicist -- the better for you. Decide if you want to work as a middle-ranking manager in a large corporation’s human resources department or if you would rather be a gardener. You may decide to take a well-paid but boring or menial job to pay off your student loans.

Management Culture

It is difficult to measure the management and overall corporate culture of a workplace during a job interview. Management cultures can enhance relationships with co-workers or can poison them. Decide if you can get along with your immediate boss if you met him during the interview. Try to find some information about the company’s workplace environment from friends, the media, or capital market analyst reports to decide if the company is a good fit for you.

Advancement

A shortage of advancement opportunities is one of the main reasons people leave their jobs. It’s important to work out if the new job offers further training or education. Younger employees may find their rise up the corporate ladder blocked by older employees. Maybe the company has no real growth potential. Career ladders can be horizontal as well as vertical; you may have started off in the IT department, but now you would like to try your hand at marketing.

There are three key employer characteristics a job seeker should look for in an employment relationship: reputation, career advancement and work balance. These often show up in employment surveys as being most important for candidates. If you want to find out how a potential employer stacks up when it comes to these three things, you can research its websites, read articles about the company and develop a list of questions before each interview.

Reputation

There are many factors to consider when evaluating a company's reputation. Ideally, it should be be profitable, well established and free of ethical or legal problems. If the company is publicly traded, you can research its financial results and Securites and Exchange Commission filings on the investors' page of its website. Make sure the company has track record of consistent earnings and sales growth, taking into account the occasional blip due to a bad quarter or negative economic impact. You should also find out if it has ever been investigated, fined or sued for illegal or unethical activity. If the company is privately held, you might find details about its performance by checking for news articles in local papers or trade journals. You also want to ensure that it is in a growing industry, one that has not been adversely affected by new technologies and market shifts. For example, if you are interested in working in media, you're probably better off finding a job in digital rather than print media.

Career Development

Your employer must first have an open position that is commensurate with your education and experience. The proper job fit allows you to more quickly make positive contributions. Additionally, check with the company about advancement opportunities. Ask the interviewer to describe the typical career path for your particular job. Find out whether others in the department have advanced in their careers, what levels they advanced to, and how long it took to advance to different levels. Check if the company has training systems in place to help you learn your job and develop new skills. Determine whether the employer encourages further education with tuition reimbursement.

Work-Life Balance

Another important element employers must offer is a balance between work and personal life. You should not be expected to always work long hours at the expense of your family life. Employers must also provide adequate time off for workers, including personal days, vacation time and maternity leave. Some employers allow men to take maternity leave to help their wives. During interviews, ask about flex scheduling and work-from-home options. You also can check online surveys regarding employer job satisfaction. CareerBliss.com publishes an annual survey showing which employers have the highest satisfaction levels among employees.

Other Considerations

Compensation such as salary, bonuses, profit sharing and health benefits are very important things to look for in an employment relationship and should also be taken in consideration when seeking the right job. You can research the average compensation for most jobs through the Bureau of Labor Statistics' "Occupational Outlook Handbook."