Is salary the most important thing to consider for your executive job search?
Most of us get a job in order to make a decent living. We all need food, shelter, and clothing – and all three require money. Which leads us to consider salary, something I’ve been thinking a bit about over the last few weeks.
To get money, we get jobs, move up, become managers and executives, get recruiter by headhunters for bigger and better jobs, and ultimately render our personal services in exchange for a salary. The higher the salary, the more we can buy to make our lives more comfortable and more enjoyable.
Which led me to thinking about our needs in life. Once the basic needs are covered, psychologists tell us, we start working toward our desires - emotional and spiritual, as opposed to the physical.
Most executives and managers in business today do well with meeting their physical needs. So when it comes to a job change, whether you’re seeking it out by distributing your resume, or whether the headhunters and recruiters are calling you directly, salary may not be one of the prime reasons for you to consider a career change.
That’s not to say salary isn’t important. On the contrary, it’s still what you need to meet the basic needs in life. What I’m really getting at is that, when you’re presented with competing offers, don’t knee-jerk jump to the one offering the higher salary. It may be hard - especially if you’re currently between positions right now, and money is a more pressing issue.
It’s cliché, but money by itself won’t make you happy. If your job continually requires you to do something you dislike, money’s not going to help, and you’ll just burn out and be thinking about starting a new resume blast again before you know it. Instead, evaluate your choices based on issues like the location of the workplace, the people you’ll work with, and the nature of the work itself.
You’re a professional, you’re going to make a good salary no matter where you go. So go ahead - take the salary for granted for a moment, and start thinking about the things money isn’t going to buy.