Find Jobs That Keep A Better Work-Life Balance

You can have everything – you just need to know how to ask for what you want.

As an experienced executive who has successfully worked your way up, you’re not afraid of hard work or long hours. But if you’re always responding to emails at 10 pm and haven’t taken a holiday without your laptop in over a decade, maybe it’s time to look for a job where you can make a difference and still have a life.

According to the American Psychological Association, one-third of workers say they are chronically stressed at work, and less than half of them (44%) say their company’s culture promotes employee well-being.

If this applies to you, you should look for a job that is more accommodating to your personal life. But be careful how you go about your job search.

“[If you] start asking work-life balance questions (during an interview), they’re going to think you want to run out the door at 5 pm,” says Abby Kohut, a career advisor at AbsolutelyAbby.com.

To find your zen work situation and still present yourself like a dedicated professional, try these strategies.

Make your goals specific

“Define what a ‘reasonable’ work-life balance is for you,” says Hannah Morgan, a job search specialist at CareerSherpa.com.

“What hours do you expect to work and under what conditions? It’s important to write down your expectations and criteria for work-life balance so you’re able to assess your next job opportunity.”

Put your hard work first

When asking how many hours you’ll work, make it clear upfront that you’re not afraid to put in the time, suggests Alexandra Levit, workplace expert and author of Blind Spots: The 10 Business Myths You Can’t Afford to Believe on Your New Path to Success.

“It’s good to start with something like, ‘I’m someone who works really hard, I put in a lot of hours.’ I’m just wondering what your expectations are if you’re available 24/7,” she says.

Ask for flexibility – tactfully

“About 70 percent of companies have some kind of flexible working policy,” Levit says. “If [the company interviewing you] is one of the 30 percent that doesn’t have anything, that’s not a good sign.”

Although whether a company has a flexible work policy and what it entails shouldn’t be a red flag for an interviewer, you’re likely to raise some eyebrows when you start asking about an individual flexible work plan.

“You need to prove that you’re a trustworthy, competent employee before you ask for something that’s not automatically granted to everyone,” says Levit.

So if you have specific requirements for your schedule (working from home, travel requests, etc.), save them until you’ve been offered the job and are in the negotiation phase.

Pay attention to your company contacts

Throughout the interview, you will be dealing with a variety of people. Use this to your advantage and watch out for the hidden (and not so hidden) signals.

“If you’re getting emails from HR at 11 at night, that’s a sign that people are working around the clock,” says Levit.

Sometimes recruiters say things during the interview that indicate the job is not really a 9-to-5 job. For example, if they start talking about free food, that’s a bad sign.

“You won’t have meals at work if people don’t have to stay for dinner,” Kohut says.

The same goes for mentioning that the company offers a taxi service – which comes in handy if you regularly get home late.

Similarly, if your HR contact is always late, preface everything by saying that work has been “really crazy”.

When meeting with potential employees, be direct. “You can ask, ‘Do you feel like you have a pretty good work-life balance here?” says Levit. “Whether you get honest answers or not is open to debate, but you can read between the lines when trying to gauge the culture.”

Change sectors

In many sectors, there are immutable crunch times due to a peak season, a special event, or end-of-month coverage.

However, “some workplaces have a culture where everyone is expected to work past the end of the workday,” Morgan says.

If you can’t find someone in your industry who has more reasonable hours or can arrange some degree of flexibility, you may need to think about taking a different line of work. Need help taking the first step? Join FindMyjob today for free. As a member, you can upload up to five versions of your CV – each tailored to the types of jobs that interest you. Recruiters search FindMyjob every day looking for top jobs with qualified candidates just like you. In addition, you can have job alerts sent directly to your inbox to cut down on the time you spend browsing ads. Let FindMyjob help you find a job that fits your life.

Looking to make a career change or start a new job? Try FindMyJob.lk today to find the perfect job and make your dream a reality.