Key Steps That Will Help You Discover Your Dream Job
There’s nothing as frustrating and unsettling as desperately wanting something but not knowing how to go about getting it. This also applies to finding a job. What do you need to do to gain access to your dream job?
First of all, you need to identify your what, why, and then how.
i. Your What
Start by asking yourself what you really want to do for the next year or the next five years. “What do I want to do? What do I want to get out of this?”
Find out what you truly enjoy doing. What makes you come alive and stand out from everyone else? Discovering your career path is a gradual unfolding journey. Knowing what your interests are starts from what things you enjoy doing in the family, at school, at university, and even in your community. If you enjoyed Math, you’d probably love working with numbers and you may find yourself in the Business of Accounting or being a Business Analyst.
You may also discover that you’re good at a career path you never even considered before. Today, so many people are getting rid of the narrow-minded stereotype that strictly confines you to only one industry or one type of job. We learn more about ourselves by doing and engaging in activities that show us what are strengths and weaknesses truly are.
If the vision of your dream job keeps coming up in your mind from time to time, year in and year out, please do not ignore it.
ii. Your Why
Ask yourself, “Why am I interested in this position? Why am I going to do this?” Are you looking for a job simply for the money or is it a combination of financial gain, self-fulfillment, or service to humanity? Your answer will help shape your motives. If you really desire to uncover the steps to landing your dream job, you must identify the reason why you want the job.
iiii. Your How
Here lies the challenge. The process of uncovering the steps is a daily effort. It will require lots of wisdom, resilience, and grit.
Here are seven steps on how to uncover your dream job:
1. Develop Your Talents
Once you’ve identified what you’re good at, you’re like a diamond in the rough. You’ve got to polish your skills to the best industry standards. Check out the job search sites. Companies will only recruit the best fit. So, if you want to land your dream job, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and carefully find opportunities to improve your skills.
This could be attending a webinar, participating in a virtual or in-person talent acquisition boot camp, joining a small group to learn a course you need to get better at, or simply volunteering to gain more work experience.
When the challenges come up and each time you’re tempted to give up, always remember the end goal – your dream job.
2. Create Your Vision Board
You’ve probably read many times that dreams; short-term and long-term goals should be written down. You may find that cliché but it really helps to define that path you wish to take. For some, this could be getting a pen and an attractive notebook or diary. For others, it could be opening Google Doc. and taking the time to write the step-by-step process for your goals.
Unfortunately for some of us, that’s as far as it gets. After a few weeks, we drop that book; leaving it somewhere to gather dust, or the Google Doc you created in May remains untouched 5 months later. Why? This could be because you’re not taking intentional steps to inch closer to that dream job.
But hey…since a dream job requires a lot of mental visualization, for a healthy creative thought process, why not make your own vision board?
A vision board is where you put all the goals you want to accomplish within a given period of time. It could be a one, two, or five-year vision board. The board could be a digital version you design with Canva or it could be a physical vision board you hang at a strategic position in your room where you can see all your goals as a collage of pictures, personal effects, and inspirational quotes staring you in the face every day.
This is a proven way to act as a constant reminder that you owe yourself a duty to land that dream job or accomplish that lifelong dream.
3. Seize Internship Opportunities
Studying in school is not enough. You can be book smart but still unable to apply the knowledge from the classroom if you’re not in the field of work early enough. That’s why internship opportunities are so important.
As a young student, you may feel the occasional confusion about what you want to do in life and that’s a normal feeling, but you should never make the mistake of remaining complacent with just academic work. That’s a limitation that you’ll only have yourself to blame later on.
Instead, while you’re still in uni, try out internship opportunities for exposure to learning on the job. There are skills you’d acquire from an internship that you can never get from being in a classroom.
The closer you get to managers and top executives and, those in the workforce, the better informed you’d be about what you’d love to do when you graduate. You’ll be surrounded by people with a wealth of knowledge willing enough to share their failures and successes stories so you would not have to repeat them. Internships are a great way to uncover great career opportunities.
4. Networking with People in Different or Similar Industries –
Networking is an empowering process to gain information. Through social media platforms like LinkedIn, many job seekers have found their dream jobs. But get this, each person who successfully got that coveted position had to take the first step by asking the right questions to the right people.
Not everyone is going to reply your questions but you want to make sure you’re not only asking the right questions but reaching out the right way. This could be something as simple as giving a brief intro, stating why he/she could help you, and going straight to the point with your question.
Chances are you’ll find someone who’s gone through the stage you’re currently in. You’d be glad you overcame the fear and doubt of reaching out.
5. Know Your Tools
Asana, Notion, Buffer, Calendly…what do these tools have in common? Organization and structure. A job candidate who’s unaware of the tools of the trade is clueless and of no use to the company. In today’s tech-savvy world, you want to be the one who can confidently convince the recruiter that you’re the right person for the job.
Be intentional about the learning process. Most recruiters will tell you (if they’re considerate enough to give feedback) that they chose another candidate, not because they were better, but because they had proven knowledge of the software or content management system (CMS) in demand.
6. Keep Yourself Accountable
A dream will remain a dream unless you make yourself accountable to someone competent enough to constantly nudge and stir you in the direction of your dreams. In effect, this person has to be your career cheerleader; someone willing to see you succeed.
7. Prepare By Having Mock Interviews
This is one step you don’t have to wait at the last minute to prepare for. This is where a thorough review of the job description and proper research about the company you’re applying to is very important. Imagine not being able to answer a question about a project the recruiting company embarked on and recently posted about on its social media platforms. This leaves an impression on the hiring manager that perhaps, you’re not really interested in joining the company.
If rejection emails come in one after another, at that moment, it’s okay not to be okay. The important thing is you applied yourself. Step back for some time and take a short break from job hunting. Go back to the drawing board and carefully plot your steps by checking out all the steps we’ve looked at here. Then when you’ve recovered, show up each day as your authentic self. Soon enough, your dream job will find you.
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