Gen Y – What do I look out for in a job?

There has been much talk about Gen Y Singaporeans, from MM Lee to the guy on the street. Some attribute Gen Y to be those born post 1965, some refer them as people who have grown up in the 80s and 90s are have spent quite a few years in the working industry. Regardless of the category, it is debatable what each indvidual wants, and what is needed. It used to be the case where recruiters evaluate candidates for post based on what they can provide to the organization. Gen Y may include people who not only consider what they can offer, but what the organization can offer to them. Gen Z have been critizised as people who tend to price themselves high and factor in what the organization can do for them. Gone are the days where people start low and rise through the ranks. Today sees the tendency for candidates to hunt for banks, the Big 4.. you know, the works in general and shun away from those outside the realm of the big boys.

The line between a want, and a need is thin.  What someone deems as a want, may be a need for another. There is no right or wrong. For example I want a car, vs I need a car. The question is, why do I want or need a car? Do I want a car cause I hate the buses and MRT and I want to reach my workplace crisp and fresh, or do I need a car cause I am in sales and getting point to point in the most cost and time efficient way means I can get more done in less time. In this case, would a car be seen as revenue generating? Then what about the Toyota Altis vs that BMW. Do I need a BMW while the Altis can ferry me around just fine? Is the intrisic value of the BMW comparable to the Altis? Perhaps the person is working in an industry where people are judged by what he or she drives. It is easy for us to stand by the side and critisize the person for following the herd mentality. Perhaps we respect people who go against the norm and can be effective and deliver just as well as another who has ‘the works’  to be effective. Is it a want, a need, or an excuse?

Salary has been something that is taken into serious consideration. I have my own top 5 things I look for in a job or when I do a change. What are yours? Take the time to think, and evaluate.

In all its simplicity, the higher the salary the better. After all, if your income earning power is low, and you save 20% of your pay, how much can that be? Compare this with someone who has a much higher earning capability. 20% out of 2k, and 20% out of 8k is vasely different. So the higher the salary the better. Perhaps. That said, at what price will this come at? This brings us to the top 5.

I personally do not spend a lot. Sure I do spend here and there and I believe I am anything but stingy. I get a 1k profit from an investment and I take people out for a meal. Why? I am the sort who likes to share. The general rule of thumb is to not spend more than 10% of one’s profits. But what does the other 90% encompass? Perhaps I derive joy that I am able to share something with the ones around me. Can that be measured? Hardly. The true value of the dollar is beyond measurement.

What about priorities? People need a high salary for various reasons. To chase a goal perhaps. To feed a family. To feed the car, or that Prada bag, What is it for you?

Personally, I am now the proud owner of my own home. I have a mortage to pay, insurance premiums to pay for, the bills and perhaps that trip here and there. I do not own a car at this point for I cannot justify the cost of having one. The insurance premium for the car alone, exceeds the entire cost of my transportation needs. And wants. I take the bus everywhere and rarely take the taxi. I estimate my taxi bill to be around 200-300 per year. The average cost of public transport for me is 900 a year. My line of work isn’t something that is time sensitive enough to warrant me owning a car. In fact, one of the considerations I had when I chose my first apartment, is the location so that I do not need a car. Honestly, if I lived in a corner of Pasir Ris and my work place is in the CBD I am pretty much ‘screwed’. The time taken to get onto the feeder service, to the MRT easily exceeds the time taken to travel to the CBD via train from Pasir Ris. I will likely need a vehicle as traveling for 1.5 hrs per way, is just not how I would like to lead my life. A lot can be done with the 3 hours. A lot.

So here are my top 5s, in order:

- My direct supervisor. As strange this may sound to you, I am someone who works best when I work in a team I am familiar with and have been proven to work well together.  I work hard not for the organization but for my team mates and my boss. Seriously. Perhaps it is just the way I tick. I like to know what I am getting into and I am not as efficient if I have to spend time worrying about this and that with my team and boss. This may limit my choices and opportunities. That said although this is the top consideration (based on my comfort level needs) it will not be the only one. For obvious reasons.

- Work/life balance. While I can handle stress,  I would not like to be burnt out on a daily basis. That said I have heard of this private banker, who worked 18 hours a day.  In reality it was 24 hours as he was a private banker working for a very rich and demanding client.  If the client wanted a flight the next day, the dude is expected to answer the call at 3am and have things ready. Haven’t we seen some of these in the movies? That said, within 2 years, he earned more than $2 million. Was he burnt out? Sure, beyond recognition literally. He left the job but has enough for a lifetime literally. I heard about this guy back in 2007. He left the job and went traveling around the world to get his mental health (literally) back. LastI heard, he was still out there somewhere. The question I have is, if it were me, would I do it? 2 million is a lot. I may never earn that amount through my income alone. What may I potentially lose? My sanity? My health? Can I buy back my sanity and health? So many questions, no answers. End of the day, my decision is no. Some told me, I wouldn’t know if I could handle it, without trying. True, but do you need to dip your hand into the hot oil to realise you will be burnt? Some things you don’t need to try, you can simply observe and learn. Furthermore, life is short and fragile. I don’t know when I will breathe my last, for whatever reason. Do I want to lie on my death bed, rich, but realizing I won’t have the chance to enjoy what I have been working so hard for? The truth is, we could go anytime. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not for the next 50 years. So many ‘ifs’,  but a decision is a decision. That’s me. I like my time out of work, to switch off, to learn and grow in other ways other than just my career. I need my time away from work just as much as I need to work. It is a tough pick, but the brain says no.

- Career Progression. This isn’t about doing a job that will land me the post of CEO one day. This is about, how the work I do aligns me to my goals in my life, and in my career. In a way this is related to the first point.  I ask myself what do I like and want to do in my career. Where do I see myself in time to come work-wise? What is the work that I do that will make me happy? There are some who work very hard doing things they hate doing all for money. Is it worth it? Perhaps to them but not to me. I dislike dragging myself to work in the morning. So, career progression. Say, I would like to be working in mid management in a bank. How would the work I do now, bring me closer to that? If I decide to change my job, how will it bring me closer? To be frank, 10 years from now I don’t know where I will be or what I want to do. At best I know my plans in the short term. Hence the best I can do is to work towards that.

- Salary. I won’t comment on how much I earn or where I work. What I earn isn’t near the market rate. Yes, I refer to the bottom tier. One could say, look for that chance to do a strategic jump. I don’t know bout the other professions, but in my area, it is very hard to justify giving a 50% increase, even if you jump to manager level. Our last drawn is always taken into consideration. It is just an HR practice. A hiring manager may really want an individual and is prepared to close the gap to birng the salary to at least the market rate. This may mean a 50, or even 100% pay increase. However a hiring decision includes those from his superior, and HR.  A lot of justification is needed for HR to approve an out of band salary jump. A good band is between 10-20%. The higher this is deviated away from, the bigger the justification needed. It is not uncommon to see people job hop in order to achieve this. Sometimes, people just don’t really have a choice. I have been stuck at the same salary for a few years now due to the way the company prides itself on its ’low cost’, high profit mentality. There comes a time when enough is enough. I have a mortgage to feed and while I am financial savvy enough, the truth is, 10% of 1k and 10% of 10k is very different.  Has it also occured to you, if someone has been working for many years but earns relatively low, that there might be something ‘wrong’ with the candidate? If a lawyer who has been working for 10 years, but earns $3.5k (a real case scenario), would you question the candidate and his/her ability? The salary in some ways, does reflect one’s capability. In some ways. We all know of highly paid people who just sit around. Whether they deserve that high salary of theirs is debatable. That’s for another post anyway.

- Overseas exposure. The way things work in its own natural progression even if you are doing the same line of work, is to proceed from local, to regional and then to a global role. As I am single and young, frequent exposure to the world out there can only do me good. Forget the country’s security and political issues for this one. Naturally I won’t go to Afghanistan if I could help it, but to put it bluntly, I have no real dependents. If anything happens to me the impact is not as high as someone who has a huge family to feed. I am also sufficiently insured enough and I’ll pretty much be able to leave something behind for the ones I care. Sometimes I do wonder if I am worth more dead than alive! I do not have control over when and how I leave the world (other than suicide) but all I can do is to mitigate that risk, and if the unfortunate happens, I leave behind a small legacy that I hope people around me will know I cherish them the way they cherish me too. I’d like to see the world in some ways but I do not intend to migrate or work on an extended stints overseas. I like a week or two in a country, get back home and head to another destination for a few days, etc. I will eventually be tired of this hectic traveling around (especially since I very susceptible to jet lag) but till then I shall maximise my youth to grow in more ways than one.

So there you go. The top 5. You will find that they are intertwined together in some way. How do I know if the next job is the really the right one for me? I don’t. End of the day I trust my gut instinct a lot. Peppered with a lot of considerations. I trust my heart. As how someone phrased it; “The heart is on your left, but it is always right.”