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The Perfect Job

There's no such thing as the perfect job.

Not exactly a news flash, but sometimes we refuse to believe it. Think about it: When we're in our twenties and just embarking on what we think might be--or lead to--the perfect job, we surely believe one exists. When we're 35 or so and have changed jobs two or three times, the idea of the ideal job has faded, but it hasn't disappeared.

We discover it's still lurking in the back of our brain because one day when we're in our forties or fifties, counting the years until retirement, we suddenly hear ourselves telling our kids: "Study hard, make good grades, apply yourself, then get out there and find that perfect job."

If the perfect job doesn't exist, why are we perpetuating the myth?

David Carley, a Philadelphia-based management consultant, believes that the perfect job exists, "but it's different for everyone."

"The perfect job," Carley says, "is one that pays you well for doing something that you would do for nothing--if you could afford to." Conversely, the worst job, he says, is "one that pays you a handsome salary for doing something you hate.

But finding that perfect job, caution Carley and others, always is more difficult than merely looking for work. Knowing what you're good at, the kind of work you like, being willing to follow your instincts and take a job that pays less but offers you more, these are the kinds of things the experts say you have to consider if a perfect job is part of your quest.

Tom Goodwin, president of a Washington executive search and management consulting firm, says that looking for the perfect job "is kind of like expecting to find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow." In his opinion, the most nearly perfect job "combines self-satisfaction, good pay, great benefits, plenty of flexibility, and a good measure of free time."

Owen Hardin, a retired executive search consultant who lives in the Boston area, agrees with Goodwin's "almost perfect perks," but says they're "unimportant as well as nonexistent for the hordes of idealistic young people who flock to Washington following every election cycle."

In Washington, Hardin says, "the perfect job--if you're 25 and don't know any better--is working in the White House, where during the current administration, 12- to 15-hour days, six or seven days a week, are considered de rigueur."

According to Hardin, efficient time management has yet to become part of the inside-the-Beltway culture.

Those who come to Washington on the coattails of a newly elected congressmen or recently appointed Cabinet member rarely expect the perfect job. What they're looking for, says Goodwin, "is an opportunity to act on their idealism. For them, that opportunity would be job perfection. The country is lucky to have their energy and enthusiasm for even a little while."

Hardin says the only people he ever placed in high-pressure political jobs were "workaholics or workaholics-in-training." The type, he says, is instantly recognizable: "very intense, fairly intelligent, super ambitious, with never a thought about a perfect job, or having a life apart from work."

Both Hardin and Goodwin agree with David Carley that one person's perfect job could be someone else's nightmare. It all boils down to personal goals, interests, and ambitions.

The worst job in the world, Goodwin believes, is being president of the United States. "The tough decisions that he or she has to make every day, the inability to play golf or go to a movie without the world knowing your score or how you spend an evening, must be terribly frustrating.

"But the worst part of all is having to deal with Congress. Can you imagine anything worse?"