By Steve Moran
Imagine this scenario …
You have been out of work for a while. You are watching your savings drain away. You want to work. You love what you do, and you are good at it; and the longer you are out, the more that feeling eats at you.
You have been interviewing like crazy, frustrating at first, but out of the blue, you end up with two amazing offers on the table:
- Job 1 pays 15% more than anything you have ever made. It is a higher-profile company, more visibility, more prestige. On paper, it looks incredible.
But after you interviewed, did your research, and talked to people who work there and people who used to work there, something felt off. Everyone seems stressed. Everyone seems unhappy. They all smile, but it is not the real kind. It is the forced kind — the kind where you can see the effort behind it.
- Job 2 is still a great salary, more than you were making before. But it is 15% less than Job 1, and it lacks the same name recognition or cool factor.
What it does have is people who love being there. They love the company. They believe in the mission. They actually like each other. They spend time together outside of work. They are friends.
Every time you talk to someone from Job 2, you feel something. The joy. The passion. It is not performed. It is just there.
The Choice
Some of you would choose Job 1. Seeing the extra money and prestige as worth the less-than-ideal culture… And then you spend years quietly (or maybe not so quietly) resenting it.
Most of you would choose Job 2, because you have worked in toxic, depressing environments. You know the truth: you would have a better life there. Not just a better job. A better life.
The Rubber Meets The Road Question
Now here is the hard question; I beg you to be honest; after all, it is just you and me, and you don’t even have to tell me.
Which one of those two organizations is most like yours right now?
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