1) The document presents a simple framework for quantifying personal preferences to help with career alignment and decision making. 2) It involves assigning a total of 100 points across 7 categories of job preferences - compensation, work-life balance, autonomy, impact, learning, brand/status, and team - with the points indicating relative priority. 3) The framework is intended to be revisited annually as preferences may change over time, and to help evaluate new career opportunities based on alignment with one's evolving priorities.

1. A simple framework to create alignment by quantifying preferences
DO
WHAT
YOU
LOVE
LOVE
WHAT
YOU
DO

2. Source
Quantifying preferences – A Thread
I happened to read this thread some time back. A
great thread.
Extremely practical and anyone who has more
than few years of experience and switched jobs
few times can easily relate to it.
Thought of compiling it in a presentation format,
so that I could refer to it/use this at a later point.

3. Job - Different Expectations for Different People
What do
you expect
in your job?
Compensation
& Benefits
Work-Life
Balance
Autonomy
Impact
Learning
Brand
Team
1. Compensation & Benefits
• I want my salary to be XX Lakhs
• I would like to relocate to my XYZ location
2. Work-life balance
• I want to spend quality time with my kids or aging parents
• I don’t want early or late hour meetings/weekend work
3. Autonomy
• Freedom to do the right things;
4. Impact
• More than 500000 users are using the application
• Has generated 100M$ revenue for the client
• Career growth
5. Learning
• Working on cutting/bleeding edge tech stack
• A challenging project
6. Brand/Status/Role
• Want to work for a branded company like XYZ
• Recognition
7. Team
• A great bunch of people to work with. Most of them are from XYZ.
Feels like family. Support from my Manager, Team

4. Does your job expectations
stay the same throughout
your life?

5. The root of much career
unhappiness is different
preferences over time
E.g. you wanted a job with big Impact, got it, but one
year later what you value now is work-life balance.
No free lunch!

6. What are my priorities?
Million $$$ Question: How do I know what am I looking for?

7. 100 Point Scale – Rate your current priorities
Preferences Year 1 Year 2
Compensation (Salary) 10
Work-Life Balance (Personal life) 05
Autonomy (Independence) 20
Impact (Your role) 25
Learning (Opportunity) 20
Status (Brand) 05
Team (People around you) 15
Total 100
• Life is full of TRADE-OFFs.
• You WILL NOT GET EVERYTHING you want in your life.
• Be TRUE TO YOURSELF when you are doing this. Continue
doing this exercise on a YEARLY basis.
• OUR PREFERENCES CHANGES over a period of time. Being
honest, will help you understand what are your expectations
on the job?
• UNDERSTANDING YOUR PREFERENCES, can help you
keep things simple.
Having 100 points explicitly forces tradeoffs
Do I really value compensation twice as much as work-life balance?

8. How can use this information as an individual?
• Use this information to make informed Career Decisions.
 Should I continue doing what I am doing right now? Is it right for me?
• If you decide to continue, use this to stay informed.
 This is your documentation on why you are currently doing what you are doing.
• If you decide to find a new job, use this to evaluate the new position – is it aligned with my
preferences?
 100 points can help you be much happier in your next role
 After all you don’t want to get into the same situation somewhere else

9. How do I use it as a Manager?
• Use this information to understand your team member’s preferences/priorities
 What motivates them?
 What are their preferences?
 Example: If one of your team member is going through a financial crisis and he is a key member to your team, should you do
something proactively or plan for a backup?
 If one of your team member’s top priority is learning, see whether the project provides enough learning opportunities. If not,
you know for sure he is bound to find something else.
 Map the current position with their preferences. See whether there is a fitment/mismatch
 Plan your course of action based on your team member’s preferences
 You may want to apply this for new team members as well.

10. Thank you!
Happy Learning!
Prakash Jothiramalingam
do
what you have to do
until
you can do what you want to do