A Beginner's Guide To Job Satisfaction

Rishesh C. Singh (c) 2014. All Rights Reserved. Distributed via www.rcsingh.com and www.androsform.com 2
Author’s Note
I’ve been blessed in my life such that I’m able to do what I love doing for a living.
Having worked jobs I had very little satisfaction with, I understand the feelings
associated with being in such a position. Yet, I think it’s possible for the majority
of people to be passionate about their work, or at the very least feel a little more
content with it than they currently are. That’s why I put together this little guide.
Please feel free to pass this around to anyone and everyone, I just ask that you
leave my name on it and not re-write anything without my permission. Use the
contact form over at www.rcsingh.com to reach me with any questions you might
have, I’m always happy to give any advice that I can.
I hope you find some of this information useful!
Cheers,
Rishesh C. Singh
President and Founder, Sheesh Ventures LLC

In the Beginning
You have either graduated from college, or are about to graduate. You’ve been
doing your career research and come across many websites and articles
dedicated to the topic of “Job Satisfaction”. Naturally, you ask yourself ‘what is
job satisfaction and why is it so important’. Some of these articles are written in
an academic style, and it’s hard to make out what they actually mean—in between
the quotes from Aristotle, Emerson and Buddha.
The Basics of Job Satisfaction
In its simplest form, ‘Job Satisfaction” means you love your job, or the
circumstances around it. There are two types of job satisfaction: intrinsic and
extrinsic.
Intrinsic Job Satisfaction means the tasks that make up your job:
• Research
• Data entry
• Making phone calls
• Discussing and solving problems with your co-workers.
Extrinsic job satisfaction refers to the factors surrounding the job:
• Salary
• Co-workers
• Supervisors
• Workplace conditions
As you’ve learned, nobody leads a perfect life. It’s rare to get both intrinsic and
extrinsic job satisfaction. You may love your work, but the pay is low. On the other
hand, you may have landed a high paying job, but are only in it for the salary—you
want to pay off your student loan debt, and then take the job of your dreams. In
either case, you need job satisfaction to get through the day and live a well-
adjusted life.

You Need Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction is a must; part of living a balanced life. When you were a student,
you could get through the tough courses, or hard times by making the best of it.
There were other aspects that made you happy, and that made the struggle
easier.
If you hate your job, and let the hatred fester, it grows into a huge problem.
Negative emotions spread like a virus or infection—contaminating your job and co-
workers. Stress has a way of spilling over into your entire life-you’ll be fighting
with lovers and friends, drinking or eating too much. Eventually it could cost you
to lose your job. Job Satisfaction can help you make the best of things.
How to Get Job Satisfaction
The first step is to know yourself. Self-knowledge requires ruthless self-assessment. If
you select a job, or focus on a job hunt that is beyond your capabilities, you won’t have
job satisfaction and in the long run, you probably won’t have a job.
• Be realistic. Don’t take a job in the accounting department if your communication
skills are stronger than your computational skills.
• Look at your strong points, and try to select a job that uses them.
• Be honest. Never take a job because it makes your parents or career counselor
happy. Take the job that makes you happy. It’s better than a lifetime of regret.
Help Me: I Hate My Job.
You don’t need advice about job satisfaction if you love every aspect of your job. You do
need help if you hate the job. Don’t quit, or brood about the job until you become known
as the office malcontent. Those are the first people cut when the manager has to lay off
workers. There are a few things you can do to improve the situation.
• Once again, be honest. Do you hate the job itself? If you do, then it is time to
change careers. Start networking, and call your Career counseling office—why
pay for advice when you can get it for free?

• Are you in a love/hate relationship? You love your work, but hate the office
politics, or the management policies? The first step is to talk to your supervisor. If
he or she is reasonable, you might be able to negotiate better conditions. Suppose
your manager is a few fries short of a happy meal? Look for work in another
company. It’s far easier to find a job when you are employed.
When Life Gives You Lemons
It’s your first job out of college, and you’re struggling to master the job, and fit into the
office. There are times when you’d love to quit. On the other hand, this job could be the
best way to pay off much of that student loan debt. You are the only one who can decide
if it is better to stay put, learn the job and make the best of it. Here are a few coping
mechanisms.
• Look at the bigger picture: you are gaining skills and acquiring experience.
Remember how hard it was to get a job when you ‘lacked experience’. Try to get
some pleasure from the learning process.
• Satisfaction is the one gift you can give yourself. Nobody can take it from you—it
is something within your control.
• Once you build a positive attitude, the negative aspects of your job won’t seem as
overwhelming—they may decrease with time and patience.
• Try to create some variety in the job. Most people need variety to keep things
fresh and interesting. Chefs will change a recipe. If something about your job
bothers you, try to vary your routine. By doing so, you may increase your
productivity, and create some harmony in the office.
Develop a Sense of Purpose
Try to see some meaning in your job. If you just live from paycheck to paycheck,
you won’t get much fulfillment from your work. On the other hand, if you do your
job with resolve and persistence, it leads to having work/life balance.
• It’s easier to tolerate a boring job if you find some meaning behind it; even
if you just do it to pay off student loans
• You are learning new job skills
• Cultivate office friendships: they can be a source of future job leads.
• Give your new job at least one year; it looks better on a resume.
• When you value your work, you will value yourself, and so will others.

The Tao of Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction is like finding enlightenment. You have to take inventory of your
character-the strengths and weaknesses. Then, you apply that knowledge to the
workplace. This is a fluid concept: it can be adapted to meet the circumstances and your
needs.
You may not like your job, but you can still take satisfaction in the work you do. For one
thing, it’s going to ease your negative emotions, and give you positive energy. A good
manager will notice your positive energy as quickly as they notice negative energy and
performance. If you do routine work with a positive attitude, good things will happen:
• You will meet assigned deadlines
• Department productivity increase
• Profits increase when productivity rises
• You may earn a bonus or promotion
If you cling to a negative viewpoint, there is a good chance that
• Your work performance will suffer
• You may develop stress related illnesses
• These illnesses could affect your attendance and your health
• You might get fired, and it is hard to find a job if you are fired ‘for cause’
• If fired for cause, you could lose unemployment and COBRA benefits.
Life is complicated, and your job may not fit into any one category. Remember, that you
are dealing with human beings who bring their own emotional issues into the office. A
positive outlook, one that goes hand in hand with job satisfaction, will help you navigate
through the obstacles.
Real Solutions
Your co-workers and manager are a part of the job satisfaction picture. Don’t
count on them all being good, trustworthy people. They are people, and people
have quirks. Most people bring their emotional baggage to the office, and don’t
hesitate to unload it on co-workers. Spotting those people, and learning to work
around them will help you get fulfillment. (It’s like driving around a pothole, rather
than hitting it).

Here are a few tips
• Keep your mind open and your mouth shut. There may be a few odd balls
in the office-if the oddball happens to be your manager, work with him, and
do not put your opinions of him/her on social media.
• Don’t trust people. Many managers have a ‘tattle-tail’ in the ranks. If you,
as a new/junior employee broadcast your opinions, it is going to get back
to your boss, and ‘it won’t end well’.
• Discretion is the better part of valor. Henry VIII once said ‘If my cap knew
my counsel, I would throw it into the fire”. (He preferred to throw wives to
the executioner) All the same, it’s good advice. Keep your opinions to
yourself, unless your boss asks for them in a work related context.
If you follow these rules, you will stay out of trouble, and that is a measure of job
satisfaction. Unless you are a lunatic, you won’t experience job satisfaction if you
are in hot water. Keeping things comfortable is necessary if you want to be happy
at your job. Just keep in-mind, that comfort zones are not universal…and pushing
yourself with hard work doesn’t have to be comfortable at first but it definitely
gets that way.
Evolution or Revolution?
This is your first post-collegiate job, and you are not all that thrilled with it. The
question becomes should you continue, or look for another job? You have to get at
the root of your discontent, and then decide what to do. It’s not like college, where
you can drop a class, or take an incomplete if you don’t like it. Here are some
questions to ask yourself:
• Do you hate the job, or the work environment? If you dislike the job, then
it’s time to look at your options, and consider another career. On the other
hand, if you enjoy the work, but not the environment, put up a fight for it.
• By talking to your supervisor, and bringing up issues that affect
productivity, you might get noticed in a good way. Just make certain that
your presentation is organized, and reasonable. This is an office, not
kindergarten, where you fight because S won’t share the purple crayon.

Although you might not realize it, job satisfaction is part of your life journey.
Buddha once said that a person’s work was to discover their work, and do it as
well as possible. In other words, it builds character—an old fashioned concept but
a valuable one. You’ve heard of the phrase ‘work/life balance’? You don’t get that
balance without job satisfaction. Fulfillment at work leads to fulfillment outside of
work, just as unhappiness at home is going to affect your job performance. As
obvious as it might sound, living a balanced life requires that you keep things in
balance.

A Beginner's Guide To Job Satisfaction

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