Can you smell that? Homemade, buttery, Christmas-y goodness is probably flowing through the air, be it at home or at your office holiday parties. End of year assessments and new year business goals meetings are also underway and sweeping every company’s atmosphere.
Yet while you’re physically present in those Excel-sponsored meetings, your mind wanders and starts to think of the changes that 2016 can actually bring to your career — and the way that crappy office chair is making you twist and turn in constant discomfort isn’t helping you focus all that much.
Nothing like a fresh start brought to you by the Gregorian calendar. Yes, we know what you’re thinking…
Bear with us.
If you already have a clear picture of what makes you feel challenged in your job, it’s also time to give a thought to its surroundings.
Our YourFit model, developed by our co-founder, José Paiva, also takes a job’s Environment into account when assessing your current or prospective job. This second factor basically answers the question, “what’s it like to work there?”.
The Environment element of YourFit takes on Office and Location, Culture/Vision, Flexibility, and Type of company, four key factors that should be considered when assessing which work environment you feel the most comfortable working in.
Would you rather stick to your own thing in a cubicle with a wall separating you from the next living soul, surrounded by glass walls, or do you want to be able to boast about your brick-walled office’s beanbags and soothing riverside view?
All across Europe and beyond, there is an enormous lack of qualified tech professionals for the opportunities available, so it’s critical that companies invest in their workplace environment (#employerbranding) by selling its appeal to attract the best candidates. Photos or videos of the office and work environment, interviews with staff and the like, are incredibly effective at getting this information across in a way that a simple job posting increasingly does not.
Now, if you’re going to spend most of your waking life working in an office, no matter how hip of a startup it is, it’s pretty important to make sure it’s one that you feel you can lay back and be productive at the same time. An uncomfortable office can foster a contagious sense of dissatisfaction that can hurt productivity, and bring down an entire company in the long run. Add a vicious hour and a half-long commute to the mix, and that challenging offer may not be the best choice after all.
And how about the company’s culture and vision? Is it a reflection of your way of working, thinking, and all-around way of being? Both these things are important, because they give a company its personality, and inspire its employees to do great work.
Understanding how you can have your ideal work-life balance is also essential. Some people have already been to the gym and done an hour’s work before the sun rises, others are at their productive peak when most people have gone to sleep, and still others seek to fit a full-time job around their families’ schedules. Finding a job that enables you to balance the two is crucial to how you do your job.
Deciding if you’re more of a large or small company type of person also directly influences your work environment. Do you feel comfortable with a startup’s fast-paced environment or do you prefer something more corporate and standardised? What appeals the most: programming global systems at a pharmaceutical company or developing the first code for a music app? There are pros and cons to all of the above, but doing your research will go a long way to ensuring you end up with a match that’s good for you.
Every person and company is different, and the needs and wants of both will shift and change over time. Make sure you ask and answer these questions to make a clear and right decision before signing on the dotted line — and before starting the countdown on the 31st.
Aim for more in the New Year, and find a job that makes you feel comfortable in the space you work in. The time is now — know YourFit!
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