Write a list of guidelines to live by

7/16/23

This is not necessarily a list for life overall, but it's great criteria for making a decision about a job. I wrote this 3/14/2011.

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As we go through life it would behoove us to “certify” the activities we’re involved in, the people who are in our lives and our environment to determine whether or not these elements are actually working. And when new opportunities come along we should “pre-certify” them to ensure that they will be a good fit before we invest any time or energy...We can do this by making a criteria list. Below is a criteria list I am using to choose a career (aside from writing) to pursue.

1. I must be in a collegial, respectful environment that believes in and articulates their commitment to employee growth.

2. There must be a career path ie assistant, coordinator, manager etc. Or the trajectory could be monetary meaning that the title doesn’t change, but rather the salary goes up with years of experience.

3. Since I love to talk about work, there must be some sort of accompanying professional organization, association or meet-up group. Even an active group on Yahoo or LinkedIn would suffice.

4. If the position is an obscure one then it’s not for me. If I do a search on indeed.com, monster.com, idealist.org or a similar job search site and no jobs come up, then it’s not a career path I would pursue.

5. It must be a field where I can learn more about the industry on my own. Once I worked for a law firm for close to a year. Since I didn’t have any experience in the legal field, at first I felt lost. I immediately went to the library and found a book on the type of law the firm practiced and read it in a week. My comprehension then tripled. When I worked for a social service agency, I read a few books on getting grants and the same thing happened. I understood much more about what I was doing on the day to day.

6. As I am still raising my children, the area where I work must offer part-time, job-share or flex-time opportunities.