The perfect job has different meanings depending on the stage of your life. There is the high school student that is looking to make some extra cash to the middle level manager that feels they have been stuck in their same position for the past decade without a glimpse of upward mobility.
So how does someone go about finding the perfect job? It all starts with you. I would argue that first and foremost you need to build a personal brand before you do anything. The process of creating a personal brand, creating a personal branding statement will be one of the most important steps that you can take. This helps you determine a starting point for the answer to the question: what do I even want to do with my life?
Finding the perfect job is more about the journey to the perfect job rather than that judgment day when you are interviewed.
Follow this 5 step process and you will be on the correct path. Now this is not to say that something can’t go wrong along the way, but what would life be without a few bumps.
- Figure out what you actually want to do. I would suggest you start with an industry. It certainly doesn’t have to be the industry that you are currently working in, it can be a dream industry. I have seen people make moves from Middle Eastern affairs to Forestry – anything is possible.
- Figure out where you are. This step is too many times overlooked. I hear time and time again “I can’t do that because I am doing this right now.” It irritates me the same way I hear college students say “I am just a college student – I have no experience” this statement leads me to conclude that the college student speaking has done nothing for the past 20 years of their life. Everyone has some sort of experience and most would be amazed at how the skills you have picked up doing your current job can carry over to your future perfect job. It is important in finding the perfect job that you sit down and analyze what you like and dislike about your current employment. This master list will act as a guide in the future.
- Talk to your perceived perfect job. Find someone in your area that is holding the current position that you think you would like and take them out to lunch. Get a feel for what they do as many times what you think a job does and the actual job may differ. It is also important take it all with a grain of salt because the job may differ company to company. It is also important during this step to take a look at what the job requirements for that job are stated to be, these will act as a way to compare the person you are talking to against the actual job.
- Look for commonalities. As you start to get more in touch with the position you want to hold you are going to see common traits that almost everyone else currently holding that position has. Perhaps they are part of an organization, maybe they all read a certain publication, whatever the case is, it is a good thing to start looking for these commonalities and start to mimic them.
- Create a map. You have already figured out where you are, you have an understanding of what other people in your desired area have done in their past. Start to plot all this down and a simple flowchart will help you build a concrete plan to get where you want to go.
Don’t feel discouraged along the way. It is not a simple path to finding the perfect job. There are so many factors that go into the job search process that you have to start within yourself and then expand. Don’t get so caught up in finding the perfect job that you miss out on what is actually important to you.
- Author: RJ Sherman
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