How do you know whether you’ve reached your career nirvana? In fact, is there really such a thing as a dream job?

Different jobs suit different people; so what is a good fit for one person may be hell on earth to another!

But one thing is for sure: you are going to be spending a lot of time there so surely it makes sense to take some time out and think about what it is you are looking for from your career?

If career satisfaction is high on your agenda (and why wouldn’t it be?) then you need to put some thought into what you want to do, where you want to do it and what sort of company you want to be a part of.

And then ask yourself: what do I want from my ideal career? What are the golden opportunities I’m looking for?

One of your first port of calls should be to determine what a company’s culture is like. Does it align with you? Do the people who work there have the same work ethic as you? Would you ‘fit’?

And it’s never been easier to research these things.

It’s easy, it’s free and you just might discover an amazing career opportunity.

Here at RB we’ve tried to make it as easy as possible to peek through a window into our working day.

We are on Facebook (http://facebook.com/reckittbenckiser), Twitter (http://twitter.com/discoverrb) and on here blogging about our day-to-day activities so you can see exactly what it means to work here, what sort of people thrive here and how we function.

We’re also on Linked In (http://linkedin.com/companies/reckitt-benckiser) where you can get an overview of who works where – plus with the platform’s new ‘follow’ feature you can also now follow a company to keep up to date with events.

You can even ‘chat’ to us if you like – that’s why we’re here; to share our experiences and to help answer your questions.

So drop us a line: it could be the difference between getting a job and getting a job you love.

It has been almost a year with RB and I was wondering why I am so passionate about my work and satisfied with my job. After a careful analysis of my Job Characteristics I found the reason.

Let me explain this in more detail to you with the help of a model known as
Job Characteristics Model.

Two researchers Hackman & Oldham proposed the Job Characteristics Model, which is widely used as a framework to study how particular job characteristics impact on job outcomes, including job satisfaction. The model states that there are five core job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) which impact three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of the actual results), in turn influencing work outcomes (job satisfaction, absenteeism, work motivation, etc

Skill Variety

The degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities (how many different skills are used in a given day, week, month?). My job of  Area sales manager requires skill varaiety that includes management skills, sales and marketing skills, negotiation skills and many more to run a whole distribution chain.

Task Identity

The degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work (from beginning to end). As an area sales manager I am responsible for sales target of Karachi city.   I have to plan, organize, lead and control my team accordingly to have a task identity of my own.

Task Significance

The degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people. I am leading a team of almost 50 people; alot of my time is spent planning for the sales target, deciding compensation for my sales men, putting right people in right place that is why my job has a high task significance.

Autonomy

The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out. As an area sales manager I am given a goal/target and its up to me how i reach to that goal. Autonomy is one of the blessings of this job, my ideas are not only heard but I am implementing them myself!

Feedback

The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by a job results in the individual obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance. I am given feedback from my line (manager who is Regional Sales Manager), Sales director and General Manager RB Pakistan. Because being in sales is like being a soccer player in the field who’s performance is being watched by millions of people around the world.

The Result

The model states that Jobs with skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and for which feedback of results is given, directly affect three psychological states of employees:

1. Knowledge of results

2. Meaningfulness of work

3. Personal feelings of responsibility for results

Increases in these psychological states result in increased motivation, performance, passion and job satisfaction. This is the reason why I am so passionate about my work and satisfied with my job!!

For real job satisfaction you need to know where and in which function you want to work. The RB career website might help you to make up your mind: www.reckittbenckiser.jobs