So what makes a good job? (and provide examples if you have one)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ok, so having just taken a new job several months ago after some misfortune at my previous job, I have come to the conclusion that I hate “Corporate America” (or what we in the consulting business call “industry”). By Corporate America, I generally mean large, slow moving, beaurocratic, organizations populated by people who generally “fell into their jobs”, work 9 to 5, and generally stay at their jobs for years and years, getting promoted about once a decade unless some misfortune causes a separation. Basically what you see in Dilbert, The Office or Office Space. Real world examples might include WalMart, American Airlines, etc.

In contrast, most of my experience has been with what I call, for lack of a better term, “high performance companies”. Places like consulting firms, law firms, certain front-office financial services jobs, and other professional services firms. These companies tend to hire tons of bright kids out of college and then burn through them in a few years. They are characterized by long hours, poor work/life balance, higher salaries but higher turnover (including “up or out” policies) and often young, inexperienced management with inflated titles (ie a Vice President in an investment bank is part of a pool of junior level managers about 28 years old while a VP in Corporate American is usually much older and runs an entire division). Generally just being hypercometetive. Typical examples would be seen in movies like Wall Street, Boiler Room, The Firm (but maybe not so crooked). Real world examples would include a trading floor at Bear Sterns (ok maybe so crooked after all) or Accenture.

These are also they guys who blow into the first type of company and get things all stirred up (for better or worse).

Health care and non-proffits also seem to have their own unique culture, but as I’m not as familiar, I’ll leave those out of my OP.
But what actually makes a job “good”? I liked the people, the moderate travel and other client perks of my last job but I had no personal life. In contrast, I work 9 to 5 at my current job, but my day litterally consists of 15 minutes of actual work as it takes over 6 months to come to a consensus whether we should start a $30,000 project.

People at my current job seem to spend several miserable decades there, the whole time hating the same obnoxious boss. People at the “high performance” companies seem to get fed up and quit after about 2 years if they don’t get promoted so it seems like there’s never anyone around who actually knows what they are doing. Then again, the people who have been at the Corporate jobs know what they are doing, they just don’t care as 99% of their job appears to be avoiding the incomprehensible beaurocracy.

There’s a lot more pressure at the high performance companies too. You are always a bad trade, blown deal or low utilization quarter away from being shitcanned.

So what actually makes a job “good”? (Please limit bitching about your current job…I’m kind of looking for ideas for jobs that don’t suck).

2

I think my first job out of Uni was a good job.

The firm is a consulting engineering firm, one of the top 500 in the U.S. (according to trade pubilcation Engineering News Record). Fair salary and 8 to 5 work hours, accountability from management, challenging projects, knowledgeable co-workers and supervisors. The place even had an ongoing management training course; you give one hour of your time once a month and they bought your lunch. During the one hour we learned about accounting and business practices which were never taught in school.

Occasionally you’d have the miserable project, or a bad apple co-worker, or end up working late for a few days on a project with a short fuse, but overall it was (and still is) a very good place to work.

Why did I leave? I didn’t want to be 30 minutes away from my elementary-school-aged children.

3

My idea of a good job is probably not yours. I’m a teacher abroad and I love (almost) every minute of it. I have new challenges every day and I am always learning- I’ve already learned French and am in the process of learning Mandarin…how cool is that? Not to mention all I’ve learned about different cultures, foods, life in general…

I meet new people constantly and have the chance to interact with bright young minds who are always happy to see me. I have the chance to make a difference in people’s lives and do some good in this world. I work short hours and have a pretty good amount of freedom to teach what I like. I’m pretty much a VIP and everyone wants to hang around me- meaning lots of invites to good restaurants, etc. I get compensated enough to live well but simply (yeah, this part could use some work). I have loads of vacation time and get to use that to travel to all kinds of exotic places.

Of course there are challenges- no cheese, I get sick a lot, I deal with bureaucracy now and then, people stare at me on the street, it can get overwhelming at times. It’s definitely not for everyone. But overall it has been a dream come true for me.

4

I telecommute doing a form of forensic accounting and love it. What would be even more perfect would be reading electronic book slush from a SF/fantasy publishing house from home.

5

I work in the green industry as a design consultant. Mainly working for non-profits in New England helping them green their buildings, staff, culture. It’sa very fulfilling job that I get much joy from.

I followed a short career as a college instructor at a small liberal arts college here in New England, then went on to consult in my area of expertise and then took a high level executive directorship of a small non-profit to get them back on their feet, now back to consulting. I do very well working for myself. :slight_smile: However, lack of benefits and a slowing economy have put a slight damper on the last few months.

That being said, to your OP. A good job is one where you can meet your financial needs, meet your own personal aspirations, provide an income that sustains your lifestyle, and above all [IMHO] have fun and enjoy getting up in the moring to go to work.

6

I couldn’t agree more! This fits my current job pretty well - even though some days (obviously) are better than others.

7

I think a good job is one that fits your neuroses, not your strengths: for me, I’m anal-retentive, insecure if I am not the smartest person in the room, and have two gears: I am either working my ass off, or collapsing entirely. Teaching is perfect for me. All that stuff is a strength–or at least neutral–in a teacher.

8

See, I like jobs in “the industry” but I’m at a different place.

A good job gives you flexibility- need to get the kids to the dentist, not an issue. Kids are sick, stay home.

A good job lets you leave it behind when you go home - because if you are really worried about turning your project around in an impossible timeframe, you aren’t a pleasnt parent.

A good job doesn’t require it be your social life. I want to go home to my family, not miss out on opportunities because the good stuff happens over happy hour.

A good job pays fairly well despite having all this flexibility.

A good job requires a decent boss and coworkers - people who are understanding, have a little bit of a sense of humor, who you can like.

A good job gives you some independence and authority. You can make some decisions.

If that means getting capital approved is glacially slow, and no one ever looks at the TPS report you create every week - well, not every job is perfect.

9

A good job is one where the bad parts are acceptable.

10

I think my job is a good job:

It’s a federal government job, so it has good benefits and relative stability;
I telework one day a week, and could probably get a second day if I ask;
I’m an outstationed employee - so even though I work in a regular office with other employees, MY boss is 600 miles away!
About 25% of my work requires field travel - but I schedule that travel so it’s never overwhelming. I also get to pick where I am going (within the SW Ohio area) for 40% of that travel.

Note: This job would NOT be good for extroverts. I haven’t had a work lunch with someone else since the office Christmas luncheon, and the field work doesn’t usually involve contact with other people.

11

Telecommuting is key. Although in my last company it was more to make sure we had the ability to work even after we went home for the day or on weekends and vacations. Still, it was nice to be able to work from home the day after a company happy hour. I heard they’re cracking down though.
For me, the boss and coworkers are key. If my boss is too much of a nutcase, I can’t work in that environment.

I don’t need to be best friends with my coworkers, but I don’t want to work in a place where I eat lunch alone every day. I’m a pretty social person which is probably why I take a lot of professional services jobs.

I also need to be busy. If I spend too much time with my thumb up my ass, I start to get really crazy. On the other hand, I don’t want crazy psycho projects where I’m working until 3am every night. I went through six months of that crap at my last job and it totally ruined my spring and summer.
So clearly, I have the wrong job right now.

12

I’m a maritime surveillance pilot and I think my job is good for me for the following reasons.

  1. I’d do it (flying in general) regardless of whether I got paid or not, i.e., it is also my hobby, but I don’t need to spend any time or money on my hobby because it’s my job, so I can spend my spare time and money on other hobbies!

  2. It is flexible and varied. When I go to work 99% of the time everything will go to plan, but sometimes it won’t and I may end up in a different city for a couple of nights.

  3. I spend some time away from home. I normally have around 10 nights a month away from home. I like this and so does my wife.

  4. I can leave the job behind when I go home.

  5. I’m only required to be at work to do a specific flight. So I go to work to go flying and once the flight is over I go home. It doesn’t matter if it take 6 hours or 12 hours, I don’t have to fill in time or be at work when I have nothing to do.

  6. I get a lot of time off so I can spend time with my family.

  7. Finally, I get paid well.

The specifics of the job aren’t really important. If I found another job that had those fundamental attributes I’d be just as happy; enjoy it for what it is, some variety, some time away from home, plenty of time off, and good money, that’s a good job in my eyes. Work to live, don’t live to work, and other similar cliches. ;).

13

My husband and I both like our jobs, but I don’t know if I’d call mine “good” because the pay probably isn’t high enough to count as a good job.

He’s a systems administrator- he works a lot, but he loves what he does, he telecommutes 99% of the time, and he makes decent money. The cons are corporate bureaucracy and the fact that he doesn’t see anyone but me for days at a time. It’s perfect for him, but definitely not for everyone.

I’m a postdoc in a research lab- The money isn’t great, but there’s definite potential for advancement, hours can be long but are also flexible, and job satisfaction is high. Cons are the highly variable stress level, and a requirement for persistence verging on masochism.

Bottom line, I guess, is that it’s really hard to define what a “good job” is for someone who’s not you.

14

A good job is one that fits you. It meets your social needs, it helps you meet your professional goals, and it gives you as much of a life as you want. I get calls all the time for startups, but I want time with my family. I’ve always enjoyed doing research based on real data and real problems, and I’ve pretty much been able to do that for the past 28 years (with one small exception.) I enjoyed being a first level manager, but I also enjoy doing things on my own. I was an acting second level manager for a short time, and I hated it. I’m sure I could have made more money, but I make plenty to keep us happy, so I’m not complaining.

But I suspect that there are plenty of people who would hate my job. It’s good only for me, but I pretty much got to define it.

15

I’m in publishing and I’m really enjoying the work style. I am working for a large, international company that publishes books and journals, and I am a production editor for the journals division.

My job is constantly in motion. I have 4 journals, which print from anywhere between 4 to 32 times a year. Manuscripts are always coming in from the societies and I am constantly moving files between editors, proofreaders, copyeditors, typesetters, and printers. Rarely is there nothing to do, and often I am called upon for questions on those journals both major an minor.

I love having “my” journals. I love being to person who makes sure these things are printed and put in the hands of libraries and academics. The subject matter of my journals (life sciences) isn’t my personal area of expertise, but the company is so large that with a year or two under my belt I could move anywhere. We publish everything from journals on evolution to cookbooks to pop culture studies, so that’s a big plus.

Production is pretty fun, on average. My managers know what they’re doing, everyone is invested in the content and the business and my peers are also very competent.

It helps that the company is awesome, but even when I worked for a shitty company last year I still enjoyed the actual work I was doing.

16

I couldn’t have said it better! This describes my job to a tee. And I love my job. The flexibility and laid back people make it great. It’s not a typical “Corporate American” job, but rather a smallish company with about 400 employees… who genuinely care about their employees. This makes all the difference in the world. There seems to be a direct correlation between job satisfaction and how employers treat/trust their employees.

17

4 years in RnD.

4 years as a Lab Tech (QC), often with managerial tasks (like keeping all the ISO 9000 documents up to date).

7 years as a consultant (SAP: QM, PP, PM/CS and now an in-house built ZAP for Project Management and no, I have no idea why people buy SAP when they don’t want it).

For me, it’s not about the job title. I’ve had good jobs and bad jobs in all of those groups.

Things I must have:

  • Clear goals. Whether my objective is to make sure that we’re not sending out bad products or that we’re implementing a good data-management system, I need to know what the heck is is that’s expected of me.

  • A boss who knows his head from his ass, at least 90% of the time. It’s OK to have a bad day, whether you’re the boss or the most junior person, but please don’t hand pick a team of experts and then tell them “I don’t pay you to think, I pay you to solve problems.”

  • Clarity on non-direct-tasks stuff. Things like “how many vacation days I have left” should be answerable in minutes, they shouldn’t need a whole bloody week to find out.

  • The salary/benefits must be conmesurate with the job.

  • Teammates and bosses who respect my right to not go out and get drunk as a “teambuilding activity.”

Nice to have:

  • Compensation hours. If I have to work on a Saturday, I’d rather get a mid-week day off sometime at my convenience than get, say, a plaque, a pat on the head or nothing. I’d even rather get “my time back” than extra money, but of course this is preferable to the previous three.

  • Telecommuting. Some tasks are simply much better done from home. If I have to do something that requires juggling complex data and do not have any meetings, please let me do it in a place where I can play Rammstein without my headphones on! I promise the volume is so low no neighbor will ever complain about it!

18

Control.

Simply the ability to make mature decisions about the direction and progress of your work without micromanaging or rule by fiat from anyone.

19

Where I work (non-profit) we had an ‘‘Employee Appreciation Week.’’

Along with free lunchtime screenings of ‘‘The Office Space’’ and ‘‘The Office,’’ upper level management constructed a completely functional miniature golf course on our department floor and allowed us to play on company time. We also had an outdoor BBQ and our bosses hand-delivered our personalized sundae orders to our desks.

That’s a good job.

serious answer

In my experience, a good job is one in which you are rewarded for hard work, which has room for expansion and growth and likely promotion. It is essential that you feel like your feedback is heard and appreciated. A good job is one where they understand that there are more important things in life than work, such as a death in the family or your personal health. I want to work for the sort of people who will not only hold a chair float contest, but who will also roll up their sleeves and participate.

I have all of these at my current job. The only thing lacking about the company I work for is that it’s not in a field that interests me in the long-term and the work can be repetitive. It’s the sort of work that you wouldn’t tolerate unless everything else was perfect. But everything else IS perfect – from the 17 Paid Days Off every year and Profit Sharing Bonus to the ridiculously nice employees and management – . I have never been more consistently impressed with the way an organization treats its employees and clients.

20

For me it’s important to work with people I consider “winners”. People who are there because they want to be there and want to do a good job while they are there. “Losers” are people who appear trapped in their jobs or simply just don’t give a shit. It’s like the guy who bitches about his boss for the past 5 years. You get ONE year to bitch about your job. If it still sucks after that, you only have yourself to blame for still being there.