Week 1 - Personal Job Satisfaction

Kicking off your career clarity challenge with the personal job satisfaction model.

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the first of the Career Clarity Challenge, and it’s a good one! If you haven’t stepped back and thought about what you want from your career, or you’re not sure what to look for, then this challenge is going to help you!

I'm using a personal job satisfaction model to help you assess which key aspects of your career are important to you. To make this even easier, I’ve created a printable workbook for paid subscribers (join now for just £5), which includes some additional questions.

This model is helpful because it encourages you to consider and reflect on (based on your experience) what makes you feel good in your role rather than extrinsic factors such as pay and job title.

Once you’ve completed it, you can use the answers to determine what you should look for in future roles or what you could adapt in your current role. I truly believe this level of clarity will help you move forward with confidence in your career.

Research has identified seven main areas that are important for job satisfaction. I have listed these areas below and added a few questions for you to answer for each.

The answers to these questions will be very subjective. We each have our own opinions on what they mean to us. For example, some women I coach love working in team environments and will look for teams with whom they will work well, while others prefer flexibility and working alone, so please do take the time to think about how you work best and what you enjoy.

Photo by Valentina Conde on Unsplash

The Personal Job Satisfaction Model

Below are the seven areas of this model, and I’ve added two to three questions for you to answer. It’s hard to estimate how long this exercise will take, but be honest with yourself and see what comes up for you.

1. Task Variety

A job that you consider to be varied.

• How important is variety in your role?

• Which types of tasks make your role varied? (Some people don’t like writing reports every day, whilst others may see writing reports on different subjects as a variety).

2. Colleagues

The people you work with, including managers and team members, significantly impact your daily experience. These answers will depend on your personality type and your work situation. Are you 100% working from home, office-based or a hybrid?

• How much do your colleagues impact your satisfaction at work?

• How important is it to have colleagues you get on with?

3. Working conditions

This covers firstly physical conditions, such as a pleasant office environment, a reasonable commute to work, and a nice canteen for lunch, but then also something more profound about the company's ethos. For example, does it promote creativity or collaboration, which are likely to increase the happiness of colleagues?

• Make a list of positive and adverse working conditions you currently have.

• What aspects of working conditions would you wish to change, and to what?

4. Workload

Having enough but not too much work.

• How manageable is your current workload?

• Ideally, what workload would you like to have that provides enough stimulation but is not overwhelming? List what this would look like for your ideal role.

5. Autonomy

This is quite wide-ranging, but it means the level of control you have over your work and its various aspects, e.g., flexible working, the projects you take on, and your deadlines.

• How much autonomy do you currently have?

• What would be the ideal level of autonomy for you, and in which areas of work?

6. Educational and development opportunities

Research shows that people have a need for personal growth, and we need to feel we are making progress, learning new skills, and becoming competent. If the conditions are right, there may be opportunities for learning and development, such as taking courses, earning qualifications, or learning on the job.

• How much do you prioritise learning and development at work?

• How does your current company support your learning and development?

• What would you like to learn to further your career?

7. Congruence

Congruence, in this case, means the degree to which the person and environment are a good fit. There are three factors to consider for good congruence:

Strengths - the things you do well. If you can use your key strengths at work, you are likely to be happier.

Values - If you feel that the things that matter to the organisation are also the things that matter to you, this is likely to increase your satisfaction levels.

Identity - if you feel you can be yourself in the workplace, you are more likely to be happier there.

• Looking at these three factors, on a scale of 1-10, how congruent are you with your workplace? (1 being lowest, 10 highest).

• Which areas need improvement and why?

(The Personal Job Satisfaction Model as adapted by The Career Coaching Toolkit by Julia Yates)

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This exercise may show that you are satisfied with your current role and that it aligns with what you want from your career, or it may show some discrepancies between what you are doing now and what you want for job satisfaction.

The awareness you have gained will support your decision-making and help you know what to look for in future roles or even ask in interviews.

Actions:

If you have the Substack app (I really recommend it), I’ve opened a new chat thread for you to post when you’ve completed the exercise. Feel free to ask any questions or share your insights there.

Focusing on your general interests and career history can reveal trends you may not have noticed before, and it may highlight a greater purpose in your career that you would enjoy. I’ve created a six-page printable workbook for my paid subscribers with these additional questions, which you can download below.