How To Find A Job You Love
7 Steps to answer the question- How To Find A Job You Love?
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” Confucius once said
After you graduate, your life gets into a rat race of going after money & recognition and finding purpose. On this journey, you can lose track of what’s important and see your life pass by.
Work becomes a bigger portion of your life. It not only takes up valuable time but also affects your mood & personality. Your bad days at work become bad evenings at home as well.
In a way, your work redefines who you are.
If you don’t find a job that you love, you are not going to hate your work, but also get less from your life.
By following these seven steps, you can get closer to a job that you’ll love.
Step 01: Find What Interests You
The obvious places to look at are your hobbies.
It might seem impossible but it isn’t. A classmate of mine ended up working in a strategy role for Bayern Munich — the football club. Another classmate turned down a role from a gaming company. Another friend used to work for Sony Music.
Roles are available in companies that market your hobbies and passions. However, it’s not always about hobbies.
The first step is for you to understand what you like. Yes, hobbies are part of that. But you may also like new techs, fashion, food or types of services.
List them all down.
Step 02: Find What You Like Doing
The second step is finding what you like doing.
I am a marketing professional. You can get me a finance role in my dream company but I wouldn’t be interested.
Similarly, understand what you like doing. Is it presenting, public speaking, data analyzing, creating models, prototyping, strategizing, making content, creating ads, running advertisements, or something else?
Once again, list them all down.
Step 03: Identify Your Sweet Spot
Once you have the first two lists ready, you need to identify the intersecting area for these two lists.
The sweet spot helps you identify which industry you want to work in and what should be your role.
For example, my friend liked working in strategy and football interested him. He ended up working in strategy for Bayern Munich.
From here, you can shortlist industries and companies.
Step 04: Upskill Yourself
Once you have the companies and potential roles listed, figure out if you have the right skills and experiences for the industry.
In today’s world, getting experience in a relevant industry and upskilling yourself through online courses is easier than before.
Look for the common skills that will open doors in multiple companies. Then start your journey.
Step 05: Talk to Existing Employees to Understand Culture
Culture is an important part of your experience with a company.
You might love everything else, but a bad culture will just not allow you to enjoy your experience.
Talk to existing employees to get a pulse on the culture of the organization.
Step 06: Identify Your Specific Needs
So far, you have been doing an high level scanning. Now it’s to time to be specific.
Identify what exactly you need from your job. Here are some pointers —
- Money: How much is the minimum amount of money you need to live as you want? Have an exact number in mind.
- Role: What kind of role are you looking for? Are you looking for a managerial role with a team? Or do you work better solo? Are you aiming for a senior role?
- Travel: How much travel do you want as part of the role? Do you love traveling and staying in fancy hotels? Or do you prefer staying close to your family?
- Work location: Work from home or work from the office? Which one do you prefer?
- Flexible timing: Do you need flexible timing?
- Culture: What kind of culture do you prefer? What should be the organizational structure (Flat or hierarchical)?
- Medical benefits: Do you need dental and optical coverage?
You get the drift.
Be very specific.
Step 07: Shortlist Companies Based on the 25% Rule
Let’s face it.
In step 6, you created your wishlist. But you may not get everything you want from a company. It’s ok if you get 75% of all that you desire.
My Dislike Of My Current Job Led Me To Use Job Search Funnel To Change My Situation
Job search is a crazy process. But, there’s a method to this madness.
Don’t go below that.
Also, make sure you don’t sacrifice your non-negotiables.
Final Thoughts on How to find a job you love
Job search is painful. But you must be picky and careful so that you end up with a job that you’d love.
This article was first published on Medium.
