What makes a satisfying career

Ideally, employees should enjoy performing all the essential skills listed in their job description and look forward to coming to work each day. Discontent results when the employee's skills are underutilized or the job turns out to be different from how it was advertised.

For many employees, their salary and benefits compensation package remains a literal indicator of how well their company appreciates them. This characteristic of a career is important to overall happiness. According to RMI , employee morale and retention is directly related to compensation packages and whether workers feel they are being paid fairly and equitably.

When employees work hard but still struggle to pay bills, they are more likely to look around for better opportunities. Similarly, workers who feel invisible, disposable or exploited aren't apt to stick around.

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Job Responsibilities. The Company and Career Growth. Work and Life. Fulfillment and Relationships. By Alison Doyle. Alison founded CareerToolBelt. Learn about our editorial policies. Article Sources. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for TheBalanceCareers.

At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. However, there are a few things that will make a job fulfilling and enjoyable. When the average person spends more than 40 hours a week at work, being satisfied and happy in your job is a really important factor to consider.

Being satisfied and happy in your job can be really essential in how you take care of your mental health , make you more productive and creative, of course, much happier in general. For a job to be truly satisfying and fulfilling, a few requirements need to be met. Even though everyone has a different, personal take on what makes a job satisfying, there are a few criteria that are generally agreed upon that make a job satisfying.

Similarly, a career that has long hours or that causes unnecessary stress can be incredibly unsatisfying. Finding work that will make you feel fulfilled, and like you have done something that matters, is one of the keys to a satisfying job. An enjoyable job will hold your attention, and will never have you feeling bored by the day-to-day.

Having a diverse set of tasks to complete in a day will keep you interested in your role. Having a balance between how much time you spend at work and out of work is really important.

Whether you prefer set working hours, or prefer something more flexible, people become less satisfied with their jobs if they have to work extra hours. Everyone will want something different from the culture their company creates. Whether this is a more open and casual environment, or something that is a little bit more structured, the culture that the company creates and defines itself by is integral for a satisfying job.

The most satisfying and fulfilling jobs will pivot around creative collaboration with the other people in the company. Many things could negatively impact how satisfied you are with your role. These could include a long commute, unfair pay, lack of job security, and extremely long hours. So what are the most satisfying jobs in the world? Teaching is potentially one of the broader industries out there, as the crux of being a teacher is to educate.

This can cover everything from nursery teachers to university professors, so as you can imagine, the levels and styles of teaching vary dramatically. The first thing you need to decide before diving into the world of teaching is what kind of teacher you should be. This will help you find the right path, and prepare you for a career in teaching.

As they say, you have to be able to eat and pay rent, or a mortgage and other expenses. Before you decide to pursue an occupation, learn about the median salary of those employed in it. If you line up all the salaries of everyone working in an occupational field, the median is the one that falls in the middle. That means half of all workers in that field make more than that, and half earn less. Tally up all your expenses.

Include spending on any leisure activities you aren't willing to give up. Decide how much you want to put into savings, perhaps enlisting the services of a financial advisor who can help you with this.

Make sure your anticipated earnings will meet your needs. Career advancement isn't important to everyone, but for some people, it is essential. To them, for a career to be fulfilling, there must be a lot of opportunity for growth. Think about whether advancement is important to you.

If you decide it is, make sure the career you choose offers you room to grow. You will soon become bored with an occupation that doesn't allow for it. Nothing will make a career less fulfilling than if you are always worried about whether you will be able to find a job and stay employed.

Accessing labor market information will allow you to answer this question. You will want to learn how many people work in the occupation you are investigating.

Your chances of finding a job if it employs a lot of individuals are considerably better, but you will also need to look at job outlook. Another thing to learn about is the location of jobs. Jobs in some fields are concentrated in certain regions.

If you are willing to relocate, that won't be a problem for you, but if moving isn't in your plans, you should reconsider your options. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.