Why you're in the wrong job

Do you leap out of bed at the sound of the alarm clock? Can you hardly contain your enthusiasm as you rush to work? Do you treasure every moment in the workplace, and thank your lucky stars every day that you landed such a rewarding role?

I thought not.... and the sad truth is that the fact the day grind is such a grind is all our own fault.

A new study by global recruiter Randstad asked people to name the key things that would make a job perfect for them. It's eye-opening in terms of the things we prioritise when we're job hunting - and reveals an awful lot about why so many people are unhappy at work too.

The most popular answer - listed as the top priority for almost a quarter of people - was the salary and benefits package. The study concluded that when it comes to recruitment, money still talks. The second thing on the list was job security - named by 16% of people - and these two were head and shoulders above everything else.

Further down, work/life balance was named as a top priority for 9% of people, while 8% of people were interested in an easy commute, 8% of people said they'd like to do something interesting for a living, and another 8% said they would like a pleasant working atmosphere.

Down the bottom of the list, 5% were interested in a financially healthy employer, 5% wanted flexible working, 4% were interested in being trained, and 4% wanted good career progression.

It means that when we're looking for a job, we're mainly interested in the salary - and we place very little importance on interesting work, a pleasant working environment or career progression.

It's the perfect recipe for hating work.

Top priorities
1. Salary and benefits
2. Job security
3. Work/life balance
4. Easy commute
5. Interesting work
6. Pleasant working atmosphere
7. Financially healthy employer
8. Flexible working
9. Training
10. Career progression

What can we do?

Of course, it's only natural that the salary is a key consideration. When there are mortgages to pay and mouths to feed, it's hard to go home and tell your family that you need to give up your highly-paid accountancy job and become a part-time lion tamer.

However, if we want to be happy as well as keeping the wolf from the door, then it's worth thinking slightly differently when you're looking for a job. Imagine if the question wasn't 'What do you want from the job?' but 'What would make you happy?'

One study a couple of years ago from the Boston Consulting Group looked at the factors that made employees happy at work, and they put together a very different top ten.

1. Appreciation for your work
2. Good relationships with colleagues
3. Good work/life balance
4. Good relationships with superiors
5. Company's financial stability
6. Learning and career development
7. Job Security
8. Attractive fixed salary
9. Interesting job content
10. Company values

Perhaps, therefore, we ought to take more of these things into consideration when we're job-hunting.

Everyone's list of priorities will look slightly different, so it's a question of weighing things up and producing a list of your own.

It means you're likely to end up with a top five that looks something like:

1. Enough salary and benefits for financial safety
2. A good working environment with a good boss
3. Work/life balance (which may include not spending three hours a day on a train)
4. Career progression and training
5. Job security

And if you can track down a job offering all that, there's a chance that you won't be quite so keen to hit the snooze button every morning.

But what do you think? Does that sound like a job that would make you happy? Or would you need the big bucks too? Let us know in the comments.