Your Career - Choosing the Right Company That Fits Your Needs

"Choosing the wrong job or the wrong company will certainly have adverse consequences and will affect every aspect of your life including your health and your happiness, as well as your family, work and social life." This quote taken from http://www.helpwithjobs.co.uk/finding-a-job/how-to-choose-the-right-company.php

This statement cannot be more accurate. I'm a 34 year old single mom who started a small rep firm back in September of 2010. Why did I decide to do this during a tough economy? I decided to do this because I wanted to be in charge of my own destiny instead of working for a group of people or company that were going to run my life and decide for me who I would represent and how to go about my work. When your boss is younger, and has different experience than you, not willing to hear what you have to say and doesn't understand your expertise I personally feel you've made the wrong choice. That's not to say that someone who is younger than you is not more knowledgeable. I just think that situation can hinder your career growth a bit because ultimately your boss will never understand you as a person. I know this because I've been in several situations such as this and let's just say we never saw eye to eye.

Choosing a company out of desperation because of your finances at home is the worst mistake you can make in your career. In the same way a company looks for an employee who is the right fit for them we must also interview the interviewee. I cannot stress this enough. My main questions that relate to me personally would be:

1) Would you have a problem with me leaving at 5pm 3 days a week in order for me to pick up my son from School at 6pm?

2) What type of insurance does the company offer and will I have to pay an additional fee a month for my son?

3) Will I have to travel and what percentage of my job will require me to do so?

4) Is there room for growth given my experience?

All these questions are so important for me to ask because I am a single mom and I'm looking for a company that not only fits into my career goals but also I'm looking for a group of people that will help me personally and be understanding of my home situation. The previous company I worked for (will remain nameless) had a very young staff, had no idea of family life, gossiped all day and complained how it was not fair that I was leaving at 5pm and they were leaving at 6pm. Little did they know that I was making up my hours in the week and staying later 2 days a week to make up for the days when I had to pick up my son from school. Why do I have to explain myself? All this affected me very much and I wasn't a happy camper when I got home. I was stressed and unhappy. My stomach was constantly upset and I found myself going to the doctor frequently. Sometimes I would even take my stress out on my son who is only 8. I eventually had to leave the company.

In leaving the company I decided to take charge of my life and take my experiences and start my own small firm; Ventas Media. Now I get to decide who I work for and instead of a company keeping most of my commission for all of my hard work I get to keep all of my earnings. Yes it's tough but I work from home, take my son to school in the morning, have my coffee in a relaxed environment, write my blog (hehe!) and pick up my son from school at the end of the day with no worries of rolling eyes or immature gossip. This is another quote from the site above:

"If you are uncomfortable on your visit, you just don't like the person carrying out the interview (your potential boss) or you have a niggling feeling that something is not quite right, then you should probably listen to your intuition and decline any offer of work."

I had a conversation yesterday with my cousin Diana and she told me that my niece Beatrice didn't get a call back from a retail store after going on an interview. She shared with me her disappointment. I have a few words for her. There are more fish in the sea. If they didn't realize what a wonderful asset you were than they don't deserve your wonderful presence and value in their store.