Here are four amazing reasons why I want a new job - and they all start with the letter P

In my last post I discussed three bits of advice to avoid ending up in a career disaster zone and how I am on the lookout for something new.

So today I thought it would be good to share WHY I am on the hunt. Now, we all have our reasons, but I'd firstly like to generalise these into three things: profit, prospects and people. In other words, we're on the lookout for dollars, or better opportunities, or maybe we've just not had a good relationship with someone in the office.

But I'd like to think there is something else, and for a lack of a better word I'd like to call this missing factor "passion".

Why that word? Well, the job must be good enough to explain why I struggle out of bed at 7am - leaving my lovely wife and beautiful daughter asleep - and run to catch the bus and sit in traffic jams, only to arrive at an office, sit at a small desk, and be with people all day who may not necessarily like me. And why should I work on things that don't seem to have any impact at all?

So now we have four factors: profits, prospects, people and passion. I think they have to be taken in balance. Trade-offs may be required.

Anyway, here's what I think of them all...

· Passion: This has to be first on the list. The word literally means "suffering", so the job has to be something I feel is worth going through hardships for. No career is ever perfectly smooth, but I must have the passion to be willing to persevere.

· Prospects: It has to be a career path that is leading me somewhere. Every interviewer I've seen recently always asks me "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I think the job must lead me somewhere, so I become something more than I am today. And I don't just want to improve my hard skills and experience, I want to holistically become a better person.

· People: There will always be frictions in the workplace because we all have differing agendas. For me a great place to be is somewhere where your colleagues embody and believe in the first two Ps. "A common vision - else we perish", to paraphrase a wise saying from long ago.

· Profits: I have put that last, because for me a job cannot be just about the dollars. I think if I can somehow align those first three Ps, I'll one day earn a lot because I enjoy what I do.

The views expressed are those of the candidate and not of eFinancialCareers.