October 14, 2009

Career change: Is the new normal not so new?

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There's been a lot of talk of the "new normal" this recession has brought on -- workers spending less, saving more, and feeling far less certain they'll be able to retire as early as they'd hoped, if at all.

Now the good folks at international staffing firm Randstad want us to know that one thing has not changed: the American worker's definition of the so-called perfect job.

In a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted this fall, Randstad found that 83 percent would not change their definition of the perfect job when the economy improves. Despite the lousy job market, you won't see any permanently lowered standards here.

In fact, Randstad states that 61 percent of those polled wouldn't change their job or field when the economy improves because they're happy with their current position. (Perhaps this number is a bit inflated due the recession. Many pre-recession surveys had put worker satisfaction in this country at just 50 percent.)

So what makes a dream job? Eighty-one percent of workers polled ranked pay among the most important attributes (duh). "Interesting and challenging work" was a priority for 66 percent of those polled, and health insurance topped the list for 65 percent of those surveyed.

Curiously, working for a company with a "strong corporate social responsibility platform" ranked at the bottom of the dream-job attributes, with just 32 percent citing this as most important.

Other stats of interest:

- Just twenty-two percent of workers polled said that their dream job would involve a shift to a completely different vocation.

- The women surveyed were more likely than the men to report that they already had their ideal job.

- Despite the fact that "do more with less" has become the unnerving mantra of doing business in America, causing the workloads and paychecks of many to skyrocket, 31 percent of workers surveyed said that their perfect job would entail more responsibility than their current job affords them. Just 6 percent said it would entail less.

Readers, how about you? Have you lowered or raised your standards for your ideal job since the recession began?

Michelle Goodman is the author of "My So-Called Freelance Life" and "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide." E-mail Michelle at mgoodman@nwjobs.com

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