Summary Of Nailing Down Your Ideal Job
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011Happy with your day-to-day job? Employee stress and burn out can cause unhappiness. After all, you spend a good part of your day getting ready for and being at your job. That is a long time to be dissatisfied.
Now, if you emphatically feel stuck, here are great tips to find a new one:
Brainstorm on paper – Take a pencil and a notebook to jot down your objective as a question. And then next, just list as many answers as you can. For example, you may choose to write “What do I want most in life?” Then spend the next 30 minutes compiling a list of answers to the question . You can easily do over and over again till you get a satisfactory answer.
Discuss with friends and relatives – Quite often people close to us have greater intimate knowledge of us as compared to ourselves. While meeting with one of your friends, mention you are at a crossroads in your life and career. Ask what they think you’d enjoy doing. You might be surprised at how easily they can narrow down what gives you pleasure and report a perfect job area.
Ask your boss and coworkers – Not always obvious but people you work with have a unique view of you. Your coworkers know your abilities as a professional. Make a list of what they say and determine if there’s a hint of what can be your new direction.
Call a headhunter – If you are searching in your career, it’s likely you have resumes handy. From time to time you may get lucky and catch up with a headhunter in between recruiting schedules and discuss with them your career goals. These have happened to me before and they didn’t mind speaking to me. The result are usually good.
Consider taking a skills assessment exam – Keep this in mind: each professional discipline have its requirement. For example, registered nursing career have a different set of skills from a railroad engineer. In the age of the Internet, there are websites with services where someone like you can take these tests. But be careful since some are available for free, others require a fee. But using my ‘headhunter’ tip above, many headhunters have this software and don’t mind you taking the test in their office. These tests tend to be thorough requiring you to click on answers to questions regarding your professional expertise and goals. It’s a good evaluation to see some new exciting areas to explore in your life.
Jot down ideas, like in a journal – It’s always good to browse for what you liked doing or what made your day. Keep your eyes peeled for common themes. Keep in mind that finding things you don’t like is just as important as things you don’t like. For example, if you hate an overwhelming boss, then you’re most likely fitted for an independent field work.
Understanding your career goals is the most important decision you can make. After all, we spend a big portion of our lives at work. So figuring out the right career is important to keeping that 1/3 of our lives happy and productive.