Use a spreadsheet to choose your next role

“Job Rank” is a simple framework to identify the job that best aligns with your values.

We all know the feeling: You’re at a career crossroads, staring at 10 different paths and paralyzed by choice. Do you chase the high compensation package or the mission-driven role? The exciting new stealth startup or the reliable organization? Jump to a nonprofit or stay in big tech? For people who’ve spent time in product or design, this sounds like a strategy problem. You’re theorizing about a major life decision but without a useful rubric.

I’ve been there three times in my career:

1. I was leaving my first company, silverorange, after seven years and moving to California to try my hand in Silicon Valley — I spent the next five years as the director of design at Digg.com.
2. I was leaving a successful Silicon Valley social media startup after five years and choosing my next move — I joined a gaming startup called Glitch that later became Slack.
3. I had sold a company to Google, spent five years at Google Ventures as a design partner and was trying to imagine a role that had more positive impact on the world — I spent the next eight years at a global public health charity called Resolve to Save Lives, working on tools for healthcare workers to manage patients with hypertension, the biggest killer in the world.

When the stakes are high, I turn to a simple framework: a weighted scoring spreadsheet. This approach forces you to stop and define your internal metrics before you evaluate each option, which helps you make a more objective decision. By setting your criteria up front, you can evaluate each opportunity according to a common set of priorities instead of getting overexcited about any one option.

Using the “Job Rank” template

The idea is simple: Create a rubric of what matters to you right now, assign a weight to each metric, and then score any potential job (or even your made-up dream job) against it.

Get our free “Job Rank” template →

Here’s a quick-start guide to the “Job Rank” template:

Step 1: Choose your values (The Metrics)

This is the hardest part. You need to diagnose what genuinely brings you fulfillment. For me, that meant things like Commute Time, Work on Cool Tech, Work with Inspiring People, Allow me to try new things, and, most recently, heavily weighting Doing Good for the World.

Try to be thoughtful about your values, but also don’t agonize over them. You can always change them while you’re scoring job opportunities if you find the scores don’t align with your gut feelings.

Action: Spend time journaling or talking with trusted friends. Look back at past jobs—what made you happiest to go to work?

The template has a suggested list, but your values will be unique. Here are some common ones:

Step 2: Assign weights (The Multiplier)

Not all values are equal. In different chapters of my life, the importance of Money shifted dramatically. Maybe today, Commute Time is critical (5/5), while Work on Cool Tech is just a nice-to-have (3/5).

Action: Use a 1 to 5 scale, where 5 is the most important value. This multiplier is what gives the framework its power.

Step 3: Score the roles (The Data)

Now, take every role you’re considering and score each value. You’ll have to make educated guesses for some scores. The spreadsheet does the math: (Score × Weight) = Weighted Score out of 100

Action: The role with the highest total weighted score is the one most aligned with your current life priorities.

In an industry defined by moving fast and breaking things, the “Job Rank” framework is your anchor. It gives you an objective metric for a deeply subjective life decision. Use it to choose your next chapter wisely.