High Pay, Job Satisfaction or Both?

Many people would be thrilled to earn the salary of a surgeon or chief executive officer. However, many people also mistakenly believe that a salary is the only factor that determines their level of satisfaction within a job. Career experts encourage job seekers to investigate a variety of work-related factors before they let a salary amount play the most significant role in their career decisions.

Indianapolis, IN (PRWEB) October 12, 2006 -- Don't doubt the ambition of today's college students. They work hard to earn their degrees and plan to be well rewarded for their efforts in their first jobs as young professionals.

According to a recent survey by Yahoo! HotJobs, nearly half of college and university students expect to earn a starting salary of $50,000 or more. While this figure may seem lofty for young employees getting their feet wet in the work place for the first time, career experts believe students are right to aim high when it comes to their first income.

"Economists compared the earnings of people who started out in lower- and higher-paying jobs and found that those who began at a lower level generally had not caught up to the others even 10 or 20 years later," says Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D., authors of 250 Best-Paying Jobs.

The survey also found that more than half of students identified a strong starting salary as one of their top factors in choosing a job. There's no doubt that money is on the mind of young professionals eager to financially support themselves while gaining momentum in the work force.

However, Farr and Shatkin encourage these young career planners interested in earning a high income to remember that a high salary isn't the only factor that makes a job appealing. They encourage job seekers to also consider a job's required work hours, tasks, and setting; co-workers; physical demands; growth; and annual openings.

In 250 Best-Paying Jobs, they advise students and others pursuing a new career to understand that "any job choice you make should be tentative, and before you make a commitment you should investigate the work in greater depth, ideally from seeing and talking to people on the job."

Furthermore, job seekers must understand they will not earn bigger paychecks without a great deal of effort and experience. Farr and Shatkin found that some work-related factors, such as impact of decisions on co-workers or company rules; public speaking; and the importance of being exact or accurate, are better factors than others for predicting high income.

If young job seekers don't feel quite prepared to defend their decisions or speak in front of a group of 50, they may want to consider trading in a larger paycheck for a career that is better suited to their interests and abilities.

Farr and Shatkin believe it's simply on each individual job seeker to determine just how hard they're willing to work to make big bucks.

"You need to decide how you feel about each of these factors and determine how much they characterize the kind of work you are considering."

250 Best-Paying Jobs is available at all major bookstores and from the publisher (www.jist.com or 1.800.648.JIST). For a free media copy or to speak with the authors, contact Natalie Ostrom.

JIST, America's Career Publisher, is the leading publisher of job search, career, occupational information, life skills and character education books, workbooks, assessments, videos and software.

# # #