Identifying why is job isn’t satisfying and causing you stress might be easy (long hours, not being paid enough, horrible boss) or it might be quite difficult (values that don’t align, deceptively toxic workplace). At first glance it seems like it should be simple but the causes of job stress and dissatisfaction are often misunderstood as one thing bleeds into another. To make it a manageable task everything needed for job satisfaction will be broken into 5 categories, hence “The 5 Things”. These are the 5 things that every job must offer to be fully satisfying. You’ll rank your score in each category from 0 to 5, with 0 being the worst and 5 being perfect. Only you can make the judgement on where to rank each category, be honest.
When there is overlap between the categories this process will help you organize your inventory. For instance, helping people can make a job both enjoyable and personally rewarding, but for this exercise it will be placed under personally rewarding. When each category has been scored, the total is divided by 5 and you get a score.
The following pages will define what each of the 5 things are, why they are important and provide examples of rankings. They will also help you understand mental barriers such as: being too close to the problem, your job being part of your identity, not evaluating components individually or objectively.
So without further ado, here are The 5 Things
When you are done ranking each area you will have a chart and an overall rank.
0 – You have a terrible job. You should quit now.
1- Your job is not a good fit, you should be looking for new opportunities.
2 – Worse than average. It may be time to consider moving on.
3 – Middle of the pack. There are both good and bad things.
4 – You have a really good job and you should look at fixing whatever is wrong.
5 – Your job is perfect. If you’re complaining you should seek counseling. Your job is so great your health insurance will even pay for it. (and the rest of us both hate and envy you ;-).
Before going any further, rate your current job from 0 to 5 and write it down. Later we’ll compare this initial rating to your final result after you have run through the entire process. During the last 20 years I’ve guided over one hundred people through the process; very few end up with the same score at the end. Some are higher (better), some lower (worse), but very few are the same.
With that basis in place it’s time to start ranking. The first place we’ll start is Convenience