Not all of us are lucky enough to be in our dream jobs. Of course, we often talk about other people’s job and how perfect they seem. Here are 3 easy steps that you can take in landing that dream job:
Step 1: Analyse yourself
Think about what you actually want in a career or job. What do you like doing? What is your largest priority in finding a workplace? Is it the day-to-day responsibilities that need to feel most meaningful? The flexibility it allows you to have in your home life? These priorities can change over time, of course, but it’s important to take a really honest look at yourself before you get started.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What would you be doing if money wasn’t an option?
- What industries would allow you to involve that skill or field in your day to day work?
- Do you like working closely and collaboratively with others?
- Do you prefer autonomy and independence?
- How interested are you in management opportunities?
- Do you like the set of skills you’ve currently amassed or do you need to pursue new, more exciting areas of learning?
Also, do a SWOT analysis on yourself. What are your own personal strengths and weaknesses? What are the opportunities you have given your own talents? How about your challenges?
Step 2: Focus your efforts
Focus your job search on careers in which you are truly interested. There is no need to apply for jobs that do not meet your requirements. The more effort you put into applying for the jobs you are truly passionate about, the greater chance you have of landing that job.
Don’t think in terms of “I just want a job” as that will get you nowhere. You need to really think of the types of places you WANT to work, otherwise you won’t have any direction or motivation to go through this process.
(You’ll also be less attractive to employers if you can’t name specific reasons why you applied for their job and want to work for them. This is one of the top reasons people fail their job interviews in the first few minutes of the conversation).
So start by brainstorming all the companies you would like to work for and all the kinds of positions you want. Bonus points if you look up companies that do have open job postings.
Step 3: Perfect Your Pitch
You are going to have to learn how to pitch yourself. A pitch is basically a presentation of yourself. This occurs in casual or formal conversations, where you have to promote yourself in terms of what you do for a living and what your dreams are in your career. Eventually in these conversations you will be asked about what you do. So you better have a good answer to that question.
Create an “elevator pitch” for yourself. This is basically a brief, pursuasive speech that you would be able to deliver in the time it takes to ride a few floors in an elevator.
In about 4 sentences clearly and concisely explain what makes you awesome and end with what you are looking for. If you have a sales background here is an example of your pitch: “I’ve worked in sales for 5 years, ran my own franchise of a window cleaning business and broke sales records. I’m looking for a job that will challenge me to grow as a sales person, I excel at person to person sales, but I really want to learn about big ticket sales. So I’m shopping around for a few different positions currently and learning how to really upgrade my sales potential.”
Once you have your pitch ready, you can start looking for opportunities to use it.
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