This week, building upon aspects of one’s job like dealing with potentially unpleasant coworkers as I mentioned last week, I’d like to take things further back to the very first step – choosing the right job.
Taken from LifeHacker.com
The concept of choosing a job is somewhat similar to that of choosing college courses – do you choose the course you know you will get good grades in (but it isn’t the most exhilarating class to take), or do you choose the course you are very interested in (knowing it might sacrifice your grades a little)?
Similarly, do you choose the job you know is easy to do well in and pays well (but is the most mundane job ever), or do you choose a job you are genuinely interested in (but requires extremely tedious work and the salary doesn’t quite cut it)?
Of course, to say that all job-hunters ultimately come to this decision would be pretty black and white – there are rare cases of people choosing the job they love, do well in AND make very decent salary. But how probable is that?
As with anything related to psychology, ‘it depends‘ is perhaps the best answer. Perception is always key, thus if someone is working at a routine job but enjoys routine work, it may be the most suitable job for him/her. Someone could also be challenged at his/her job but love the unpredictability of the job, despite lower pay.
In fact, the adaptation-level phenomenon in psychology explains that individuals judge the stimuli that occur in their life based on previous experiences. Harry Helson, founder of the theory, explained that we as human beings have what is called ‘neutral levels’ that are shaped based on previous experiences. Our dissatisfaction and/or satisfaction is then relative to the most recent experience. Therefore if someone grew up in an environment in which routine was, well – routine, it stands to reason that a job that may seem mundane to some is not a problem for those with that particular upbringing. Similarly, those that grow up in environments in which unpredictability is a common may choose and enjoy jobs of the like. The ‘perfect’ or ‘right’ job, then, is indeed all relative.
Reference:
Myers, D. G. (2007). Psychology. (8 ed., pp. 543-544). New York: Worth Publishers.
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