We often hear, ‘Don’t pick a job just for the salary.’ But if not salary, then what?
Typically, the answer is – role, company culture, growth opportunities, brand, etc. And admittedly, all these things have serious merit.
However, in my opinion, here is the most important factor: Work where you are respected.
If people don’t respect or value you, it does not matter how much money you earn or what your business card says – you will be miserable.
Now, this is not to suggest that the burden is totally on our colleagues to give us respect; our work and integrity has to show that we are worthy of it.
But even if your best effort does not earn you respect, time to move on. It does not matter whose ‘mistake’ it is. If you are doing your best (and doing great), and still not earning the respect of your colleagues, move on.
Similarly, if you feel your own work is not good enough to earn respect, you need to find something else you are good at. Humans don’t always fit into the small number of moulds out there.
We all think that we really care about money. However, here is the funny thing – once we have been on our first job, most of us will trade money for respect any given day.