Five rules you must follow to nail your dream job
Dread Monday mornings? Discover the five steps you need to follow to a job you love – EVERY day of the week.
So you studied, worked hard all your life and have acquired letters after your names: MSC, MA, BA (hons), PHD. Yet for some reason, you dream job hasn’t landed yet. You feel underpaid, underachieved, unfulfilled. The only ‘over’ you can apply to your situation is overworked. This wasn’t the plan surely?
If it’s any comfort, you are not alone – 60% of UK workers feel the same. So what’s the answer? Many people say it’s the curse of the 9-5 and the solution is to work for yourself. While that option might work for some people, it’s not for everyone and certainly has its pitfalls.
Five rules you must follow to nail your dream job
To help you escape the drudgery of a job you loathe or simply endure until you can escape at the end of the day, transformational coach and counsellor Oby Bamidele has put together five rules you must follow to nail your dream job.
1) Do not choose pay over planning, purpose, passion and profit
Before you even begin your dream job search, it is important that you visualise and plan. Ask questions like “What do I want?” and “What does my dream job look like?”
Many struggle to answer these questions because most people have never really thought about what they want. Daily life routine gets in the way of taking the time to visualise the future.
“Not knowing what you want is the route to a wasted and frustrated life.”
The key message here is plan and know what you want. Make a dream job list, that includes everything you want in your dream job. List everything from the minute detail to the deal breakers:
- Travel time to and from work.
- Flexible working.
- 35 hour week or 40 hour week?
- Organisational structure and culture.
Do not be lured by money or prioritise the highest paid jobs without considering other factors in your life. Let’s face it, the novelty of a huge pay package will soon wear off and you could be left with an unfulfilling, draining job that does not excite you.
“No amount of money will make up for a job that you find deeply unsatisfying.”
2) Get self-knowledge – know your ‘Why’
Many people have never taken the time and investment to really understand themselves. A person who knows their purpose will chase after the things that will connect them to that very purpose.
The problem is that people actually run from self-discovery, believing that only a minority of the world’s population have a unique and higher calling. The rest of us just have to do the daily grind.
But that’s not true. We all have a special purpose on the inside of us. However, for many it is buried, hidden underneath layers of emotions: fear in all its forms, self-doubt, critical thinking, shame and no inner resilience.
These layers are a result of experiences going all the way back to our early years – how we were parented, loved, accepted and celebrated. Good experiences, bad and horrendous ones. They all play a part in how we see ourselves, and what we really believe about ourselves.
Once we begin to acknowledge the layers that act as defence barriers (erected to protect us) we can begin the process of unravelling, in order to unearth the core of who we are. There are mysteries hidden on the inside of us and if we are not afraid to dig deep, we will find answers, brilliance, gems waiting for us. All these link and lead us to our purpose.
“When you know your purpose, you will chase after the things that align to you to that purpose and that includes your dream job. Until then, it may be hit and miss.”
3) Know your SWOT
If you were asked, what are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), could you easily identify them?
Companies spend thousands of pounds to ensure their values, mission, objectives, strategies are all aligned. They undertake SWOT analysis, competitor analysis and resource audits of to ensure they are at the top of their game.
So why on earth do many individuals not practice this? When you set yourself the task of really working out your SWOT, you might gain invaluable insights into why you thrived in one job and disliked another. If you are in a role where you are not utilising your strengths, but operating more in your weak areas, your performance might be at average levels. How soul defying and demoralising is that!
Your strengths are usually linked to your passions and your purpose. Working at that level will leave you pumped up, inspired, driven. You will be a problem solver, invaluable to your employers, able to negotiate a higher salary and leverage your opportunities.
Strangely, many tend to do the opposite. They work ten times harder to improve their weaknesses, with minimal results to show for it. Leaving them feeling like failures, inadequate and not good enough. Basically they become their own threats.
4) Do not work all the hours, with no time to chase after things that inspire you
We call it the 9-5 rut. When you think about it, as working adults we spend most of our awake time in the workplace. We spend more time with our work colleagues than our families. Yet for many it is the one place they detest going to, particularly on Mondays.
When you work in a role that uses your strengths and passions, Monday will feel like Friday. Actually, you really won’t know the difference because you’ll be too busy enjoying what you do.
5) Be authentic
Think about what makes a person stand out? Confidence, enthusiasm, problem solving, risk taking and outside the box thinking. These things are tied to your strengths. Apply these in your CV and job applications to make recruiters interested.
If you have followed the above steps, this will help you to you know who you are, what your unique selling point is, what you bring to the table and soon there will be a demand for you.
If you find that you dislike job applications and cringe or shudder when asked to complete an application form, start with this: What is the thing that sets you apart? When you hurriedly complete an application form that doesn’t tell much about you, hoping that luck will shine on you this time, you miss out on an opportunity to make a good impression, one that will lead to an interview.
For the interview stage, the same rules above apply. Then add the following points:
- Do your research on the company.
- Know the job description inside out. Write down examples of when, where and how you meet the job requirements.
- If you don’t have experience in a particular area, do your research as much as possible to show the interviewer that you are keen and willing to learn.
- If it is possible to speak to the hiring manager, to discuss the role, do so as this will build a rapport and allow you to ask questions.
- If the vacancy is being handled by a recruiter, find out the hiring manager’s name and and check them out on linkedin to find out a bit more about their background.
- Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date and verifies your CV. Many recruiters these days will check your profile against your CV.
Oby Bamidele is a registered counsellor, transformational coach, trainer, writer and speaker. Get powerful tools and techniques on how to get your dream job here.
