Priorities

In setting career priorities, what is important to you may not be as important to someone else.  Drawing the line between what you want, and what you get requires a lot of compromise.  Don't be discouraged, the number one reason why people leave a job is because they don't like the people.  As you probably already know, job satisfaction is often a very obscure thing for most people.

Here are some items that you should rank by order of importance for you.  This can help you narrow down the career fields you want to pursue.

• Average Salary for field
• Average Hours (> 40hrs?)
• Feel good work, or money making work?
• Distance from home, or a possible move.
• Amount of travel required.
• Prestige.
• Are you willing to go to grad school?

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Salary is probably the most important criteria for most people.  Salaries vary based on skill, experience, and demand. If you want to work in a very popular field, such as entertainment, you will probably have to settle for very low pay.  If you willing to do something more technical or analytical such as accounting or engineering, the average salary will increase.  Creative fields tend to pay less.  You should figure out a minimum you are willing to work for. The amount should be enough money to cover rent, food, transportation, clothing, and some leisure.  Often we have little control over what we spend. The cost of everything seems to rising higher then our wages are.  If you must accept a job that pays you beneath what you need to live, consider living with your family, or getting roommates to reduce the burden. 

Seriously consider how many hours you willing to work in a given week.  Many fields require long working hours, these fields probably a pay a bit more to compensate.  If leisure is more important to you, then you might have to consider a lower a salary.  Many people that work in these intense fields get burned out after a few years.  It just may not to be worth it for some. 

Many people just aren't happy unless they feel like they are contributing to society or the greater good in some way. Unfortunately, the trade off is usually a lower salary.  Many people believe that if you truly love what you do for a living giving up some money is a small price to pay.

You may be tied down to one kind of career because it's the main source of revenue for your town, or city.  If you live in Detroit, you have a high probability of working for a car manufacturer.  In that case, you may have to consider a move.  If not, then remaining at your home will have a high priority on your list.

Some jobs require a lot of travel time.  If your family situation doesn't allow for this, make sure that you don't apply to jobs that require travel.  Most of these jobs are client or sales oriented. 

Prestige is one those sticky, subjective issues.  As the sayings goes, you shouldn't care what other people think.  Ok, we live in reality and we all, to some degree, care how others perceive us.  Our job's sometimes come to represent who we are.  One of the first questions people ask when first meeting is: "What do you do for a living?"  If the strange look that you get irritates you, you probably care about the prestige of your job function.  Personally, if you paid me a million dollars a year I would wash the floors with a toothbrush.  However, I doubt my mother would be too happy about the usage of my very expensive college degree.  As a result, you should find a happy medium between prestige and pay. 

Finally, graduate school is not something you are required to do.  If your professional demands it, you better be willing to make the sacrifice.  If not, there are plenty of jobs that don't require a graduate degree.