How Does the Ideal Job Environment Change Throughout Your Career?
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The WSJ had an interesting story a few days ago that reported on a new analysis that showed which workplaces provide the best earnings potential and professional growth — overall and for your specific job. They even had a fun graphic on which companies are best for early career, which are best for growth, and which are best for stability for the long term. I thought it raised a lot of interesting questions, so let's discuss!
Wherever you are in the process, I'd love to hear your thoughts —
- What kind of qualities are you looking for in a company for early career?
- What kind of company environments offer the best growth opportunities for people?
- As you get more senior, what are you looking for in a company for the long haul? How does it differ based on what you were looking for early career?
- What are green and red flags you can look for in the interview process?
- (And maybe most importantly, how can you know when your specific job environment is no longer meeting your needs?)
Here's a gift link to the article… (and a gift link to the article linked within that article, one that talks about what the “best places” do to foster a nice job environment, at least for newbies). (To some extent we've talked about the best employee benefits and perks, but this is another great topic for discusion!)
For my $.02…
If I were advising someone just starting out — I would tell them that there is a certain cachet to a big name, but you have to seriously look at growth potential. If you aren't growing and learning then it's time to move on from the big name. Meanwhile I'd look for red flags suggesting that the lower employees are unhappy. To a certain extent in a field like BigLaw you expect the 1st and 2d year associates to be unhappy (as Donald Draper shouted, THAT'S WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR), but even in that environment some firms are known to be worse (sometimes worse for just women). I think I'd look at who has stayed — what the 3rd, 4th, and 5th year class looks like.
For someone looking for their second or third jobs, I would look for a degree of independence but with structural support for mentoring. You don't want to be without guidance or reinventing the wheel, after all, but you also don't want to be micromanaged or not allowed to grow. I might ask questions in the interview about what the mentoring culture is like, or even ask the interviewee to talk about some of the best growth opportunities they've had an how much guidance they've received. This is also the time to start asking about work/life balance.
For someone looking for a more senior job, I think the analysis nailed it with stability. What is going to be a stable environment for you for the long haul, in terms of work/life balance, remuneration, intellectual engagement, and more? What is going to be a stable job in terms of industry and environment changes (just to pick one example, a job at TiVo in 2005 is going to look a lot more attractive than a job at TiVo in 2020).
What say you, readers — what do you consider the ideal job environment when you're starting out, when you're mid-career, and when you're senior?
Caveat that I don’t have kids and I have a short commute, but I don’t mind being fully in person. I’d love a hybrid with 4 days in office, 1 day telework but I’m fine with my current set up.
I was 25 when the pandemic hit and hated having to go fully remote. I had roommates and a small bedroom and finding space to set up a desk wss hard! In 2022 I was living alone and then got lonely being hybrid but mostly remote. Even though I had social plans many nights, there were a few times I’d be WFH and then not have plans and man we are not meant to have so much solitude!
I am sure in the future when I have kids and move to the burbs and thus have a commute I’ll want a more flexible hybrid situation (I still don’t ever see myself wanting to be fully remote), but for this stage in life I’d prefer to be fully in person.
I am forever an urbanite. My 5 minute walking commute is precious and I made property purchasing decisions accordingly.
+1, I occasionally have to “real” commute because of a meeting at a suburban location, and even that one-off day is sooooooo much worse for having to spend 1.5 hours of it dealing with just getting to the dang office.
I can hop in the shower at 7:30 and be at my office desk working by 8. Can’t beat it.
I definitely didn’t factor stability enough. I’m 52 and was budget cut from a VP role and high salary in January and also was part of a budget trim at a different company post-Covid. It is so, so much harder to land somewhere good the older and more senior you get. I wish I had told younger me to settle for the lesser title and pay at my not-for-profit (where everyone I worked with is still gainfully employed–and, yes, they tried to hire me back and coudln’t get the role passed). No one talks enough about the downsides of climbing. You believe opportunity paired with hard work and smarts makes the future limitless–until you suddenly realize a lot of that opportunity isn’t there.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what optimizing for stability would actually look like?
I got laid off last year from what I thought was stable; it’s been an absolute slog trying to find the next thing, and I’d happily trade growth to not have to go through this again. But it doesn’t seem like that’s actually a possible trade: layoffs are pretty much completely disconnected from company financials so looking for profitability doesn’t do it; no one knows what industries are reliable; etc. So if that trade isn’t on offer anywhere, I should just make as much as I can while I can and hope it’s enough for the lean times.
Nothing is certain, but there often are some clues. Avoid PE-backed. Avoid companies where staff photos don’t show more than a handful of folks in their 40s or up (and, no, c-suite level doesn’t count). Avoid when everyone in interviews has tenure of less than five years. Avoid roles that are new. Those are just a few things that come to mind.
This is a really good and under-discussed point. I was recently notified my Director role was eliminated, and really wasn’t surprised. My company is constantly reshuffling the deck as they don’t really have a strategy beyond more cost cutting, and I now realize any leadership role is going to be unstable. I read some quote from an Amazon leader that “the only known thing is that you’ll be fired”, or something like that.
I’d rather know that I tried and give it my all then keep my head below the radar, if that makes sense. I spent too long in school and working hard to be under paid and under appreciated. The big upside of a high salary role is the ability to save for those in-between times, but that requires living below ones means.
The problem is that “giving your all” and the in-between starts looking different as you age. The sheer number of roles at higher levels lessens, and the ability to maintain salary against younger, cheaper competitors gets tougher. Experience starts to niche you. And then there is good old ageism, especially if you are female. The equation all starts changing. Not enough people talk about how career strategy starts to look different at this stage. I know so many people who make substantial salary concessions, early retire, or become fractional consultants because the market starts deciding for them. Periods of unemployment are no longer three to four months. They become a year or even longer. It’s not a lean time so much as a risk to your career as you know it.
I moved in-house after being a law firm partner because I was looking for flexibility and predictability. Being a junior partner can be a real slog. Yes, the pay is better, but ultimately you’re the one who is left to put out the fires. When I moved in-house, there were fewer fires and I was no longer beholden to the billable hour. For me, that was a massive improvement in my (and my family’s) quality of life.
cachet, please
🤦♀️