If you’ve been a longtime reader of the PACE blog or have experienced our hiring processes for yourself as a PACE candidate, you know how we feel about fit. We think the secret to a successful employee and employer partnership is ensuring both parties are aligned on all five components of fit. Simply put, you’ve got to zero in on the perfect career leap before you jump.

In this blog, we are going to focus on one of the five components of fit – Logistical Fit.

We often have talented candidates who’s skills and experience perfectly align with one of our open jobs. But it’s not the right fit logistically. We say things like “You will have a very long commute”, “Are you going to be able to make the commute on public transportation?”, or “Are you going to be able to work in the office everyday?”.

We’ve seen it time and time again: candidates take the interview anyways, get excited about the role, love the team and then start rationalizing to themselves “Yes the commute is long…I will spend 2 hours in the car everyday. But I’ll figure it out. I’ll be okay.”

Then, we say things like ““You will have a very long commute, are you prepared for what this will be like everyday? How will it impact your personal life?”. Heck, we almost try to talk them out of the role trying to convey how logistically unfit the position is for them.

But they are still optimistic, overwhelmed by excitement and accept the offer. And guess what? 6 months later they resign. The commute was too much.

Why do we do this? Why do we take jobs that are so clearly outside of our logistical needs?

Because we don’t get clear on our logistical fit needs before our job search starts.

So if we aren’t clear, then we often take the exciting role that is in front of us instead of the role that fits exactly what will be a long term fit. Over the course of your career, making this mistake more than once can have a damaging effect and leave you branded as a job hopper (a major red flag for employers, more on that here).

Once you establish your logistical needs, it’s important that you don’t seek opportunities that don’t support those needs. For the same reason, house hunters won’t look at homes outside of their budget for fear of knowing they’d fall in love with a home and try to figure out a way to “make it work”. This same temptation is real when it comes to jobs!

While the example above focuses on a commute, which is the most common factor for most people, there are several other important factors of logistical fit to consider for accepting a new position. Here’s a couple important ones:

• What kind of a work schedule do you need? Are there personal commitments on your daily/weekly schedule that cannot be interfered with?
• Do you have the necessary transportation to the facility? Are you okay with commuting somewhere only accessible by public transportation? Or somewhere not near a bus route?
• How long is your commute? Up to how many hours are you committed to spending in the car per day/week/month?
• Will you be comfortable working from home? Do you have a designated workspace where you can be productive as if you were in an office? Or, vice versa, are you comfortable working in an office? 

Have you ever taken a job that fell outside of your logistical fit needs? Comment below!

PACE Staffing Network is one of the Puget Sound’s premier staffing /recruiting agencies and has been helping  Northwest job seekers find their “just right” jobs for over 40 years. A  5-time winner of the coveted “Best in Staffing” designation , PACE is ranked in the top 2% of staffing agencies nationwide based on annual surveys of customer satisfaction.

PACE provides multiple placement options:

• Direct Placement – Full or Part Time
• Temp to Hire Auditions
• Short or Long Term Temporary Assignments – Full or Part Time
• Contracts & Projects

For more information on how the PACE Staffing Network can help you find the right Temp-to-Hire audition for you, give our Candidate Services team a call today at 425-637-3311 or send us an Email