This is a question which I’ve discussed, many times, with colleagues and friends, and I think it’s such an interesting topic that I wanted to share my opinion with you and, in return, I’d appreciate if you shared yours. So, please, feel free to comment.

Although the answer seems petty easy to predict, I would never decide only based on money. Yes, it takes a great part on my decision process, but there’s three more parameters I’ll also evaluate: 1. What’s the main vision, the mission and culture? 2. What kind of problems and challenges are they solving? 3. How does this company contributes to my own professional objectives?

The answers to this questions are as important as how much will they pay me. Let me explain…

The Vision, The Mission And The Culture

Lately, I’ve been hooked on Simon Sinek’s videos, on YouTube (if you don’t know him, I highly recommend you watch some of his videos). He talks about how important it is for a company’s vision (and mission) to be palpable, and how it effects their employees. He says that a well defined, tangible, goal, where people can clearly imagine that vision coming true, would make them feel more motivated to help achieve that goal.

That’s why this is the first thing I analyse, when I look at an offer. I try to know and understand what’s the vision, where does this company wants to go and how can I add value to that? Where do I fit? If I don’t feel good about the culture in place, I will simply decline, period.

No money in the World would make me wake up to “just” do my job. I want to be working on something that has meaning, that has a positive impact in the World. I want to be able to say “I contributed to that!” to my friends and family. I want to be proud of me and my work.

The Problems And Challenges Ahead

The second thing I tend to look is the type of company that I’m evaluating: is it a Design Agency, a Consultancy Agency, a SaaS Company? This let’s me filter out offers from companies on which I’d take no pleasure working on.

To avoid that, I tend to prefer a company that has a mix of mature projects and gives the liberty of exploring and trying new things. Bonus points if they encourage their employees work on side projects and present them as possible new solutions for the company, or it’s clients, to benefit from.

So, How Does This All Fit Into My Master Plan?

My main career objective is to be a Team Leader. It’s an awesome title to have, but that comes with big responsibilities. Being a team leader requires more than hard skills on whichever area you’re trying to lead on. It requires exceptional soft skills, like empathy and people management, for example.

I definitely know I’m not yet ready to take that kind of responsibility, but I work very hard, everyday, to improve myself to, eventually, fulfill that objective. That means that I can take advantage of making myself available to be wherever it’ll help me gain the necessary experience to get to where I want to be and I may even be comfortable in getting a little pay cut if that represents a step closer to my main career objective.

Again, like I said at the beginning of this article, money is still an important metric, specially for exclusion purposes. However, I found out that focusing on being a better you, on finding your true purpose and keeping doing what you love the most, will make you a more rich and fulfilled person. Happiness is king here, and I keep saying that we must position ourselves, in life, on where we really love to be, and do what we really love to do.

Because money will always follow your passion. It’ll always be a part of the equation or, at the very least, a result of it.