Job Worth Your Time?  Seek Employee Motivation and Other Warm and Fuzzy Perks

When you're job seeking, your instincts may be to apply for every job for which you're qualified.  Big mistake!  You could get hired quickly, easing the immediate stress of job seeking, but you could also find yourself stuck in a job you hate.Concentrate on looking for a job to keep over the long term.  Ultimately, it's less expensive, less stressful, and more likely to win you career points when you do re-enter the job market.

Take a Close Look at the Company That's Hiring

Good companies focus on more than attracting qualified job applicants; they cultivate their employees.  Seek an organization keen on increasing employee motivation and employee satisfaction.  Pick an employer that actively works to keep its employees happy.

Happy?  That's right.  In a job market defined by fierce competition and sparse opportunities, employers benefit from offering concrete employee incentives.  In other words, competitive employers understand that a happy employee that feels loyal to the company and performs well ultimately saves the company big bucks.

Even in a thriving job market in which job seekers can pick and choose their employers, companies that focus on employee motivation are the ones that manage to avoid high turnover and raise their efficiency to a maximum.

While you're brushing up that portfolio and revising your resume, also take the time to research employers that keep employee motivation in mind, offering tangibles like:

And don't neglect the intangibles.  When you go on that interview—which, by the way, is as much to determine the employer's suitability as yours—look for:

At the interview, ask questions designed to tease out how focused an employer is on getting employees to perform from employee motivation rather than power plays.

Ask about supervisory styles.  Look for an executive, manager or supervisor who exhibits the "warm and fuzzy" qualities that make a good leader.  Seek bosses that:

To feel out the organization's dynamics, chat with as many current employees as you can.  Ask whether they like their jobs and what they like and don't like about the company.Even if you find you have to take advantage of a job opportunity that's less than your ideal, there are real benefits to starting a brand new job knowing what to expect.  Sometimes all it takes is for an employer to acknowledge the need for employee motivation in the first place.