Everyone has their dreams and goals.
When it comes to work, the ultimate situation is doing what you’re passionate about. Finding your dream job can seem hard sometimes, but it’s not impossible.
We’ve all got to start somewhere. You don’t just decide what you want to do for a career and get your dream job the next day.
You have to work through a series of calculated choices that will lead you to the right door. Let’s take a look at these choices and how they can help you find a job.
Self-Assessment for Finding a Job
Knowing yourself inside and out is crucial to understanding how to find your dream job. You don’t want to put lots of hard work into looking for a job, only to get it and see that it's not suited to your strengths.
Medium says that your self-knowledge should be the cornerstone of any career decisions that you make. Knowing your personal goals, strengths, weaknesses, and motivations will help you to make career choices that truly line up with who you are.
As a result, you will be more likely to love what you do when you do it. Another reason why knowing yourself well is essential when it comes to applying for a job is that it can help you stand out from other candidates.
More often than not, the most qualified employee isn’t the candidate with the most experience. It’s the individual who has proved to their prospective employer that they know themselves, inside and out.
This type of self-knowledge reflects confidence. Confidence in a potential employee tells employers that they can be relied upon to do the job and do it well. Specific skills around your chosen position can be taught – confidence, however, is up to you.
The more you know about yourself, the more hirable you’ll come across.
Finding a Job: Getting Organized
Finding a job can be tiring, and stressful. Nobody wants to jump into the job search pool and stay there for as long as it takes. However, most of us have to do so at some point in our lives.
Staying organized is key to making this whole process run smoothly. Cezary Pietrzak says that being organized can make a long, drawn-out process quicker, and more manageable.
They are many online resources these days around finding a job. Instead of benefiting you, this can serve to be overwhelming. Ideally, you want everything in the same place and easily accessible to cut down on how much time you have to spend.
Prioritizing your job seeking tasks is a great place to start. What's the first step in this job finding process? Is it creating an account on Indeed, or talking to your friend who already has your dream job? Work out what you need to do first and do it.
Creating a routine is another great way to stay organized. If you’re going to spend a bit of time looking for work, you don’t want it to bleed into the rest of your life. Put a little bit of time aside each day to do so, then step away from it.
Learning How to Network
When looking at how to find a job, you need to remember that no man is an island. If you're at the beginning of your dream career and out of your depth, networking with people already in your field of interest could be the difference between finding that job.
Alison Doyle says that the purpose of networking is so that you can learn more about the field you’d eventually like to have a job in. You’ll also be getting your name out there and establishing solid, professional relationships that could span the length of your career.
Networking can have a significant impact on whether you get hired or not. In 2016, over seventy percent of people who were hired got the job with a company that they had a connection with. You can’t argue with the statistics.
Remember when looking at how to find a job, you need to be networking with the right people. Are the people you’re contacting going to help with your job search? They all need to, in some way, assist in pushing you forward in the right direction.
Knowing the Importance of a Cover Letter
To use a cover letter, or not? That is the question. Some people don’t seem to place too much emphasis on using a cover letter, while others believe that a cover letter is just as important as the resume itself.
Career One is in the latter boat. Here is why:
A cover letter splits your resume up a little bit, providing the interviewer with something explicitly relating to the job you're applying for. While you cover letter can focus on the details of your potential position, your resume can worry about your skills and qualifications.
Your resume will then need less tweaking each time you apply for a job. This is because your cover letter, which will be different each time, does this automatically.
When learning how to find a job, remember that a cover letter isn’t just a copy of your resume. It’s almost like a pre-interview – it tells your prospective employer what you find attractive about the position and why you want to work with them.
Additionally, you’ll want to include the unique qualities and skills that you’ll be bringing to the company, based on the details of the job on offer.
Getting Your Resume up to Scratch
You've learned organization skills, and you've got your cover letter. Now, you need to focus on polishing that resume.
Career Miner says that your resume is one of the first impressions you give to your employer about who you are as a professional. Often, prospective employers are inundated with resumes, which means that they're going to skim through each one.
They’ll be trying to find what they’re looking for. If your resume doesn’t stand out enough, you’ll be quickly brushed to the side.
Using a chronological resume is the traditional way. It works for people who have an established career already, and need to indicate their experience clearly.
If you’re not there yet, try using a functional resume. This type of resume focuses almost exclusively on your skills and achievements, rather than any past job titles you may have. Your prospective employer will be looking for the skills they need, so having these clearly printed will give you a better chance of an interview.
Always remember that honesty is the number one rule when it comes to writing a resume. Resume fraud is illegal, and there is a chance they will check dates for verification. If there are any inconsistencies, you can forget about getting the job.
How to Dress for the Job You Want
Now, you may already be at the interview stage, which is pretty exciting. You’ve made it through the first initial stages when looking at how to find a job, and you’ve landed a face to face meeting.
It all hangs in the balance of this interview. Believe it or not, the moment you walk through that door is when the first impression is made. Before you say anything to your interviewer, they’ve sized you up. This is primarily based on what you’re wearing.
Career Network says that it’s essential you make an effort when dressing for an interview. While every company has a different dress code, it’s hard to go wrong with smart, and professional. You’ll earn extra brownie points with the interviewer if you can show you take pride in your appearance.
While it may be more appropriate to dress a little more casual if you get called back for a second interview, remember always to keep it professional. You can tell a lot about someone by how they dress.
The more likable your appearance, the better you'll do in the interview. As humans, we are visual creatures, so what we see has a significant influence on the decisions we make.
Learning How to Find a Job
Learning how to find a job in an increasingly competitive job market isn’t easy. Learning how to find your dream job is even harder.
The catch 22 is, employers want you to have experience already. However, you can't gain experience if nobody hires you. Putting your best foot forward and doing everything you can to increase your chances of being hired is your best bet.
It’s possible to land your dream job and keep it. Remember, though, that the work starts long before you finally sit down at your desk in that new position. You’ve got to stay consistent and work hard on yourself and your credentials.
All these steps can culminate in bagging a job interview and possibly a job. Before you walk into that interview, you need to be confident, organized and professional. If you follow these steps, there’s no reason why you can’t eventually find the job you’ve been looking for.