Do you wish Ryan Seacrest would show up at your front door with your dream job? He surprised families with big checks on Tuesday night with the premiere of his new show “Knock Knock Live,” so anything is possible, right? However, just in case you want to be a little more proactive than waiting for Mr. Seacrest or a stork to arrive with your perfect opportunity, here are some strategies for finding your dream job.
1. Determine your dream job
This seems like the most basic advice in the world, but we constantly hear from candidates that they don’t know what they “want to be when they grow up.” If you don’t know what your career goal is, how do you know where you need to drive your career? You might be saying, I know what my dream job is, but it’s not realistic and it’s totally unrelated to what I’ve been doing for the last ten years. How am I supposed to transition out of my career where I’ve been established and earning a good living? Keep reading.
2. Ask yourself “Why?”
Can you answer the question, “Why is this my dream job?” What about it is so appealing that you would leave your current career if a stork or Ryan Seacrest showed up with a hiring contract for you to sign on the dotted line? For example, if you would rather be a private jet pilot than a staff accountant, theoretically you’re spending time out of the office flying. Do you love to fly and think this is your destiny? If the answer is yes, you are hopefully talking to other private jet pilots you encounter and asking them the tough questions like, “Have you always been a pilot, how did you make the transition to a full-time pilot, and how much do you think I could expect to earn in my first year as a private pilot?” If this is truly something you want to do, you owe it to yourself to explore it as a possibility in a conservative, yet meaningful and realistic way. Otherwise, your dream job will always remain a dream.
3. I’m scared to go after my dream job.
You can give yourself a goal every six months that helps you pursue your dream job. For instance, if you want to start your own fly-fishing tour business, make plans to take a fly-fishing tour and see if the owner would be willing to talk with you about their experience. You might find that instead of giving up your current career, that you have found your second career for retirement. Conversely, your conversation may leave you believing that going on a tour every other year will feed your desire to fish in a beautiful setting, and the pressures and issues with starting your own business are not attractive enough to leave your “day job.” The last scenario would be that you live in close proximity to a fly-fishing tour operation, and you volunteer to help the owner once a month. This would give you first-hand experience, and hopefully help you determine how you want to chase your dream.
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” –Anthony Robbins
If you’re concerned about chasing your dream job, that’s okay. This might not be the right time in your life to pursue a job that might not give you the ability to pay off the rest of your student loans, save for retirement in a meaningful way or move across the country to be in the best location to succeed in your chosen profession, but don’t give up.
4. What if I don’t know what my dream job is?
In some cases, that might mean you already have your dream job, even if you aren’t the President of the United States. You could have your dream job if you feel valued, fulfilled challenged and get to spend enough time out of the office pursuing hobbies in your current role. If you know you’re not already in your dream job, but feel no closer to knowing what that is, you might want to take a vacation. In last week’s blog (here), we explained how taking a vacation just might be the key to finding your career path.
If you do happen to answer your front door and your dream job is there, that is amazing, and the stuff that TV shows are made of. However, if you end up needing to put in the extra effort to identify and pursue your career goals, we hope these suggestions lead you to your ultimate opportunity.