Striking a delicate balance between career satisfaction and proper compensation is something many workers struggle with. Some find they sacrifice happiness for money, while others may take a pay cut to do something they love.
With rising costs across the board, everyone’s looking to make as much money as possible right now. Since it’s still a job seekers market, candidates can afford to shop around to find the best salary or hourly rate with a new employer.
But does gunning for the highest-paying job always net the best results?
Jonathan Duncan is a team leader with Agilec in Barrie and suggests targeting the ideal field of interest often leads to the best results long-term.
“As much as you say: ‘I want the job that’s going to pay the most money,’ ultimately, is it something you’re going to be interested in?” Duncan said. “For three months it might be fine, but ultimately I’m not going to be happy doing that.”
The old saying “do something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life” still rings true today. Taking a job purely because it pays well may be beneficial to your bank account in the short-term, but if the work doesn’t keep you engaged, interest could feign pretty quickly.
That’s not to say qualified candidates shouldn’t seek high-paying jobs, rather they should consider a multitude of factors when seeking work. If the job doesn’t provide you with personal fulfilment or allow you to grow and develop your skills, the monetary component may lose its lustre after a while.
For those job seekers who are unsure about which field or sector to get into, an Agilec job coach can perform a career assessment to help whittle down the choices to find something you’d excel with and enjoy.
“What we would do here is look at some career assessments to do and really find out what their interests are and narrow it down,” Duncan said. “If you like art and painting, then these are the fields you could get into, and this is roughly what they pay.”
A career assessment is an in-depth process which identifies a job seeker’s strengths and areas of opportunity within the workforce. It doesn’t just spit out a list of workplaces to apply for; these assessments factory in personality traits, values and skills to help candidates find the perfect fit.
From there, a job coach can assist with finding a range of jobs in your field of interest, and provide a general idea of salary or hourly rate. Getting that perfect match is paramount to put people on the path to long-term success and happiness.
“The starting point has to be career interest,” Duncan said. “We do career assessments here, and it doesn’t just say: ‘You’re going to go work at Tim Hortons.’ It’s going to say: customer service, friendly, it’s going to come up with a variety of occupations, with groups that are higher-paid and lower-paid.”
If you find work that you’re passionate about, the money will often follow. An Agilec job coach can help with a career assessment to point to in the direction.
Get started today at Agilec.ca or call their office at 705-735-0182.