Everyone wants a good job. Today, people are considering changing jobs at record rates. Why is this, and what makes a job “good”? Brantley, Dan and Howard discuss what individuals should consider when they evaluate an opportunity. They also cover how it’s critical for leaders of organizations to align the gifts of each coworker to better serve the needs of the world.

Audio Transcript

Brantley: Today we are discussing how to evaluate jobs. Has anyone been doing that lately?

Howard: Every day.

Everyone Wants A Good Job

Brantley: I’m pointing the finger at myself. Anyway, so current jobs, potential jobs, all the jobs on the market. There is a lot happening in this right now for all ages — so this is a super relevant topic. Before we jump into this, I want to mention a quote from Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallop. He wrote this about 10 years ago, “Everyone wants a good job. Humans used to desire love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace, and freedom more than anything else. The last 30 years have changed this. Now, people want to have a good job and they want their children to have a good job. This changes everything for world leaders. Everything they do from waging war to building societies will need to be carried out with the new context of the need for a good job.”

Howard and Dan, I’m curious that when you hear that quote, what does that mean when there is a market with over 11 million open jobs.

Dan: That’s a tough one. People were leaving The Center early this morning, and last night people left a dinner I was at to get home to hear the latest job market report. There are so many jobs that need to be filled. People used to get a job to just put food on the table, whereas now I think it is more about the overall experience of the job. What is the outcome? What are the freedoms? Can I work remote? It seems like it is more about what they get out of it rather than other considerations. What do you think?

Howard: One question is whether these considerations are all encompassing. Do people now group all there basic needs under the category of a good job? Food, shelter, safety, security, and a bunch of other basic needs seem to all be wrapped up in how we think about jobs. City to City introduced me to this.

One of the members in our groups brought your point up, Dan. Their point was that we already have all our basic needs covered; so we can now focus on the experience of the job. I don’t want to give it all away, but I think our jobs do matter and with 11 million open jobs, this is something wroth thinking about.

Jim Clifton was warning about this 10 years ago and if there are 11 million jobs with over 40% of people thinking about changing the job they currently have, companies and the people who lead them need to think about what makes a job good and how they define it. Perception about what a good job is informs all this.

Brantley: Hearing you all comment on this, I’m curious whether you think if that quote from Clifton is still true — given that there are 11 million jobs available?

Howard: My opinion on this is that it’s even more important. People are more dissatisfied than ever with their job. More jobs are available, and more people are thinking about switching jobs. People are thinking about this more than ever.

Brantley: So the jobs that are available are not good enough?

Howard: They are thinking about it.

How Not To Think About A Job

Brantley: If they are thinking about it more, what makes a good job?

Howard: Brantley, you are making a good point. The jobs are better. The conditions are better. There has been progress and now someone can ask whether they find their job fulfilling. I would go as far to say that what fulfills a person has changed. Therefore what makes a good job has changed.

We have some venn diagrams for how we think about jobs, but as you listen, think about this. Today, people think about jobs in terms of what they like to do, what they are good at, and what they can get paid for. The main problem with this is that it puts you at the center of it. We are going to see that when people assess jobs, they think about themselves first.

Dan: In terms of that diagram, I remember when my wife was gone from work for 3-5 days a week when we had young kids and our income went way down. So I took a job just for the money because I thought I had to replace the lost income. It was in Moscow, TN and it was 38 minutes away from where I lived. It was the wrong culture and I quickly learned that I made a huge mistake. I’m not someone to quit, but 11 months later I went into another company with better values. I learned just how much vision and values matter when I switched jobs, and I use this example because taking the job for the money was all about me. I didn’t talk to God about it or seek peace about it. I just took the money to make up for a deficit I saw, and it felt like I wasted a year of my life in that endeavor.

Howard: And, surveys prove that too — ultimately, people don’t work for money. Money is not the top reason to change.

Brantley: Dan, we can easily see in your example how you put yourself first by just focusing on the money. How were the values of that company not putting you first?

Dan: The company was owned by someone outside of the United States; so there was a huge cultural difference.

Brantley: The first company or the second?

Dan: The first company. They were all about the money. Money always came first, and this influenced me in my career. When I started my own company, money was the last thing we talked about. Instead, we talked about serving others, loving others, and helping others. The money would come if you actually did those things. However, none of that was present in that first company. From the top to the bottom of the organization, everything was about profit.

Brantley: How did that experience help you?

Dan: I didn’t go to scripture, I didn’t pray about it, I just went after it for myself. I realized that wasn’t the way to go about it.

Brantley: Howard, do you have any cases in your career where you were operating with that mindset of “you first”?

Howard: Of course, we all have and I’m chief at that. It always caves in on itself. We will see why that is, but we are made to be known and be valuable. None of that is present when we do it on our own. On our own there is no creation of value. You cannot create value for yourself.

Brantley: What do you mean by that?

Howard: We are made to bless and serve others — to make a difference in the world. When it’s all about us, it doesn’t matter because no one cares. It’s not a gift if it’s not used to serve others. You could have a gift for making cakes and make the most perfect cakes in the world, but if you are not sharing that with others it is empty.

Brantley: Here is a silly metaphor that I use for this. For 3 summers I worked for a camp in college. We used to say you could tell which counselors were there for themselves and which were there for the kids. The first summer, I was there for myself and I hated it — worst summer of my life. Then I went back the next couple of summers and God helped me love the kids there. The fourth summer I went back without working and you realize that things go on without you. And, I mention this example because we probably all have things at work where we think we are the primary drivers contributing to the work. Then we leave or things change and the work goes on without you.

So Howard, this week we discussed what makes a job a good fit. Is there anything from the sessions this week that you want to hit on?

What Makes A Good Job

Howard: Where your gifts meet the needs of the world is exactly where you want to be. Of course, life enablers such as compensation do matter, but compensation is just one factor. You know you are doing the right thing by first evaluating the need and second deploying your gift to meet the need. The pandemic showed us just how much flexibility matters and this would be considered a life enabler. Another thing that matters is the culture. A bad culture with no growth opportunity is not what you want.

Brantley: So in the first part of the diagram — the needs of others — what are examples of the needs of others in this scenario? Are these company needs? Marketplace needs? What are the types of things you are thinking of?

Howard: Everything. A company ought to be thinking about the world and the specific communities they serve. If you are a coffee shop, you are serving people who enjoy coffee. If you work at the coffee shop, you need to know how to make coffee. Am I good at making coffee? Am I good at customer service? Am I patient? Can I move around the things that need to be done at a coffee shop? Those sorts of gifts matter — so both. And, it rings true when you know you are working to produce a podcast that is helping other people understand the needs they can meet with the gifts they have.

Brantley: Whether it’s company needs or otherwise, would you say that it's the customer or individual first? Is that what you are getting at? For example, from a company perspective it’s customer first, not company first. That’s what I heard you say because you are thinking about the customers at the coffee shop — not necessarily the coffee.

Howard: When it is aligned, you do not have to make that tradeoff because you know the world needs what you are providing. Therefore, you know as a leader what the gifts and abilities of your employees are and how they can be best aligned with the needs of your customers. So of course they are first. And, if you don’t treat your employees well, they can’t meet those needs well.

Dan: I’ll add this. If we help an employee thrive — putting them in the right spot, helping them financially, connecting them with people — that flows into helping the client thrive. So it’s all with the vision of helping your employees bless others, but you have to help them thrive first — it’s intertwined. Does that make sense?

Brantley: Yeah, that does make sense. Previously, we talked about gifts. How are y'all thinking about gifts in this context? Even maybe for yourself. How have you assessed your own individual gifts, and how does that play into this?

Dan: Well, I think for years we were always taught to work on our weaknesses. You already had a strength, but work on your weaknesses. Somewhere along the way the script switched, and now you focus on your strengths. When you focus on your strengths you are more passionate and you do better work. That was a big switch in thinking for me, and a lot of companies do not do that. A lot of companies just hire for a position, and they don’t think about whether that person is going to thrive there, given how God has made them. That’s how I think about gifts. Play to your gifts so that the return is exponential.

Brantley: Do you have anything else to add, Howard?

Howard: And, look where those gifts are validated. Employers and individuals should look to where someone has contributed to make a difference. It’s not just something you like. You should look at what you’ve done in the past that shows how you are uniquely made to work.

Brantley: These three buckets of needs, enablers, and gifts… How do we use these to help us evaluate whether a job is the right fit or not?

Howard: Dan hit on a lot of that. Is the gift I have proven? Can you serve the client? The question is where the gift has been validated.

Brantley: Where has this been true for you personally?

Dan: If I had this framework earlier and had somebody pushing me to ask these hard questions and self-reflect, I think I would have made a lot of changes earlier. Such as, selling my business. I foresaw it was probably going to happen. So I sold it, and that was scary. But, then it freed me up to play to my strengths more than I was. I was contained without being able to play out my gifts. So being on this side of the deal, I can see how God’s hand was in it all — from my marriage, business, partnership, etc. I can totally see how it played out like that.

Brantley: Was there any job satisfaction component? Were you getting a little dissatisfied? There is this kind of gut-tension where you feel like it is time to move on. Did you experience that?

Dan: Absolutely, I’d been an operator in manufacturing for 25 years and building our business. And, I realized that through that journey that I was not built to be an operator in this stage in my life. I love doing deals or other people’s deals. Problem solving and socahing people is what I enjoy. So when I learned how to play on that field, I’m much more energetic, purpose filled, etc. It freed me up. In the old way, I felt dissatisfied and stuck — always focused on how to get out. Being freed up from that helped me focus on being present in the day to day activities of life.

Brantley: Howard, what in all this rings true for you?

Test Your Dissatisfaction

Howard: One, about dissatisfaction, we all get dissatisfied all the time. You should use this diagram to see if your dissatisfaction is legitimate.

Brantley: Test it.

Howard: Exactly, test whether your dissatisfaction is in the right thing. You can be dissatisfied with your job for some reason even if all the buckets are aligned. But, are you dissatisfied because you are not serving people? Sometimes there isn’t a real need. Does what you are doing matter? Does it matter to the organization and is it helping the organization meet it’s goals?

For me personally, yes, I’ve been dissatisfied. And, sometimes it’s been me and not the job. I actually developed this diagram when I worked in digital marketing as I worked with clients — helping them dial in on what they wanted to do. What I discovered was that most of what I was doing was meeting needs that were bigger and deeper than digital marketing. Over time, I saw I had a gift for helping people with those kinds of things, and so I fundraised to start The Center and it was validating that people believed in me enough to start this thing. It’s life giving when you have the validation of actually helping someone. Whenever you can deliver on a promise to a client, it feels good. These circles have overlapped for me for a long time and I’m thankful for that.

Brantley: As Christians, we know that God has us right where he wants us. In our vocations that can be starting to do things that are setting us up for the next thing. If you are trying to do something else, are you doing any small things to test and see if that bigger thing is validated for you? Even before I was in digital, I just had a passion for doing some stuff. And, I thought I would just measure my Twitter links. So I did — just because I was curious. That curiosity helped me test stuff and whether it was worth pursuing. Those little decisions helped me all the way up to where I am today. There’s likely people out there that are dissatisfied with their job right now. And, in your dissatisfaction God has you where you are for a reason. You can test with small things to test the opposite of the dissatisfaction. That can create momentum for you to go in those directions.

Howard: That’s such a great example. I remember when you were testing and tracking those Twitter links and encouraging you to switch from accounting work to doing that for clients.

Brantley: We’ve covered a lot that is practical and some that is theological. Which stuff is practical and which is theological?

Howard: You just said a bunch of it — here’s the truth. Followers of Jesus have an advantage in seeing the world’s needs — what they really need. They look like they need one thing, but they really need something deeper. We also have an advantage in knowing what real gifts are. The truth is this: if we do not bring our real purpose, our work is in vain. Our work is worship. Our work is meant to bless others and confirm others as people made in God’s image. Our work is to go and make disciples. So ask if you have fruit and whether people are thriving in peace with God.

Brantley: We’ve been covering purpose for the past couple of weeks, and I think what you are saying is that purpose trumps all other alignments.

Howard: Yes, all other alignments. It’s the way you are made. Steve Jobs got to make the purpose of the iphone. If you use the iphone as a coaster, you are not using it for it’s purpose. Likewise, we are made to give glory to God in our jobs and everything we do. We don’t back into it. For example, you don’t start with what you enjoy and then ask whether it can glorify God. You start with asking what glorifies God and go from there.

Brantley: Dan, how has purpose helped you shift your career?

Dan: This is a huge shift for most of us. We grow up thinking it’s all about getting into the right school, getting the right job, making a lot of money. But, to shift to this model where Christ is a the center and then see how that plays out in your day to day is fundamentally different — it changes all your interactions.

Howard: And that’s it. It’s the part of us that’s made to matter. We are made to matter in Christ. Dallas Willard says it this way, “The drive to significance is a simple extension of the creative impulse of God. He made you in His image, now go matter. It’s outwardly directed toward the good to be done. We have to do something that matters or we get discontent. We were made to count like water was made to go downhill. We were placed in a specific context to count in ways no one else does. That’s our destiny.” Being concerned about not mattering is significant. But if you know you are God’s, the way you are made to matter is to make His name great, even as you box stuff up at Amazon.

Getting Practical

Brantley: You are starting to get into some practical examples, but how can we make this even more practical?

Howard: We make it practical by knowing that my needs are covered; so I go out leaving people better off than we find them. We’ve all had tension in a day. We get prayed up and have those tense conversations we know we need to have, but it has to be spirit filled and led. You will see their needs more than you see your own. You care about what is going on with them before you care about what you can get from them. See where someone is — this changes the whole meeting. Know how your agent is doing before talking about the 14 things wrong with this lease.

Brantley: On a leadership level, I enjoy thinking about what Lencioni says about job dissatisfaction. He talks about not being known, not being valued, not being confirmed. For those of us who have left jobs or are thinking about leaving jobs, I would think at least two of those things are things you are struggling with. Two of those things were true when I left my last job.

Howard: If it’s what I like to do, what my passion is, and then how I get paid, it’s just me, me, me. I’ll be anonymous and irrelevant if it’s all about me. The second part is to see if you are off or if it’s the mission of the company that is off.

Brantley: Leaving is not ultimately the thing to prevent, but at the same time we need to know what is driving people to leave the company because we want people to stick around. How are we valuing people? How are we confirming them?

Howard: As leaders, we should see ourselves as gift aligners. Incredible people work for us and how can we constantly align their needs with the needs of the organization to meet the needs of the world. That’s what true leadership is.

Brantley: How would you summarize this to wrap it all up?

Howard: Jesus is the one who has called you his own. You are His. You are a child of God; now go and love other people. Remain in His love by keeping His commandments and doing the things He’s taught you. The more you follow His way, the more you follow the way He’s made you, the more you will know you matter and are loved. So there is reciprocity in doing things the way we are made.

Dan: I would summarize by saying it frees you up.

Howard: Wait a minute, I’m all good so what do these other people need? It becomes reflexive as we continue to do this.

Resources

Job Fit Diagram