how would know if you've landed a good or better job?

For me that is a question that takes time. It is so easy, depending on your skill set, to hop from job to job, looking for that next better job. To determine if a job is really good, you have to stick around for a while and see if the environment is static of fluctuating. If it is a really relaxed environment, is it due to it being a down time? Or if its tense, because its a busy period that will end soon? For me who I work with really can make the job enjoyable-- and it takes a little while to get to know people. So generally it takes me a bit to get a true lay of the land to see if I want to stick around.