Excelle

Career Tips >> Browse Articles >> Career Advancement Tips

Career Tips >> Browse Articles >> Entrepreneurism

Career Tips >> Browse Articles >> First Job Seekers

The First Step to Finding Your Dream Job

There’s no formula that works for everyone, so be as specific as you can when figuring out what the job you’ve always fantasized about really is.

We know it’s possible, even if we haven’t read The Four- Hour Work Week yet. We know people in our neighborhoods or we’ve seen people on TV who have dream jobs, so we know they exist. It’s the post- millennium workplace fantasy: To do work we love and are passionate about, be paid well for doing it, and to work among smart and supportive team members under the leadership of a wise and ethical chief executive officer. Sounds reasonable on paper. Why is it so hard, in real life, to get all the dream job ducks to line up in a row?

For starters, it’s helpful to remember that our dream – job requirements often change over time. One job I held in my youth was a dream job at the time but would be impossible for me now because of the working hours. When I was twenty – something and single, I was perfectly happy to sit in a conference room with my workmates, eating pizza and talking shop at 11 p.m. Couldn’t, wouldn’t consider that now.

You may have longed for a management role at one time and realize now that’s the last thing you’re interested in; or you may learn that you’re happiest working independently, where your teammates are available if you need them but aren’t in your face all day long.

Put it All On Paper

The point is, dream jobs aren’t a one – size – fits – all kind of deal. And that means that your ultra – customized dream job is the perfect job for you, not the whole world of job – seekers. So your task is first to understand what you’re looking for, and decide which elements in your wish list are most critical for you; and then to make and execute a plan to go out and find that job. The very worst way to land a dream job is to wait for it to find you.

---