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7 Turns To Take On The Road To Your Dream Job

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Written By: Mary Isabale

“What do you want to be when you will grow up?”- a famous question we all have faced and had to answer in our childhood days. With starry eyes full of ambition and heart full of high hopes you may have answered that you want to be an actor or a doctor or teacher, lawyer, astronaut, firefighter. You may have also dreamed of a job that would give you rich mansions with butlers and maids, cars. But when you really grow up, things may have changed. The reality around you might have reshaped that it has diverted your vision of your dream job. In a  situation like this it is may be difficult for you to chase or choose your dream job but it is never impossible. These 7 tips will help you to find your dream job.

Analyze your ambition

A good analysis of your ambition will help you to find your dream job. You have to know what is your dream job. What suits you the best as a job? The British born philosopher Alan Watts said that to know what job is the best fit for a person can be found out by asking a simple question. ‘What would you do if money were no object?’. What would you do if you won a lottery and don’t need to do anything for a living? The answers of these questions will lead one to understand his or her ambition.

Know your greatest talent and purpose

In this step you have to be completely objective about yourself. You need to point out your skills and strengths. You can take others advice or opinion into account. You also have to know about your weak points. Once you get the clear indications about your skills, strengths or weaknesses, then you can clearly connect them to choose your path. On the other hand the purpose of your life should be made clear to you. You must know for which reasons you are chasing your dream job. It will help you to not leave the dreams behind.

Being realistic

Not all the jobs full of money are the one of your dreams and not all the dream jobs are currency maker.  You have to take that into account. Your dream job might not be that much financially rich. If you want to earn money, then you have to sort out those types of jobs which will accomplish your needs. But those who are willing to follow your passion should keep in mind that when you follow your passion money often comes too.

Keep calm and patient

You need to keep calm and patient in finding your dream job. The more nervous or anxious we become in finding our dream job, the more prone we become to take actions that won’t help. Happy endings are often obstacles for not being patient. It might take years to achieve success on dream job, but you need to follow the path you have chosen from the heart.

Commit to find your job or create it

It is very important to be committed to the path towards your dream job. An audacious goal is never achieved without proper commitment. Either you have to find the job that fits you the most with all your potentials or you must be that much devoted to make a way to create it for yourself.

Consider the ups and downs of your dream job

This one is one of the most important to find your dream job. There must be some difficulties in your job besides the positive side. You have to be well aware about them. You must have to research the positivity and negativity of your dream job. The more you will be aware about them,  the more you will be certain to find what is your dream job.

Buckling up yourself

Doing some volunteer works or other jobs related to your dream jobs will certainly make you sure about if you have found your dream job yet or not. Besides, it will help to boost your confidence and enrich your CV. It will also help you to get experience which is a crucial factor for getting your dream job.

The famous Chinese philosopher Confucius said that ‘Find a job you enjoy and you will never work a day in your life.’ Finding a dream job will make your life easier to move on. But dream jobs can be also hard in nature too. But life is certainly easier when you are working with something you love. So never stop believing in yourself and always look for what suits you the most.

(About the Author: Mary Isabale is a career expert and experienced hiring manager.)

To discuss World of Work topics like this with the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events each Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter and G+ conversation anytime. Learn more…

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Careers: Better Choices Mean Better Business #TChat Preview

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(Editor’s Note: Are you looking for full Storify highlights + resource links from this week’s #TChat Events? Read the #TChat Recap: “Bring Your ‘Genius’ to Work.“)

Happiness at work. Passion for your profession. Finding your bliss.

These days, we hear a lot about the importance of being emotionally connected with our careers.

Sounds like a nice idea — but it’s much more than that. Research shows that it’s a key driver of professional performance. It’s also an essential aspect of employee engagement. Yet statistics show that, for most of us, it remains an elusive goal.

Bucking the Trend

This week at #TChat Events, we’ll look at how each of us can defy those statistics by gaining better understanding of our individual strengths and motivations — and by putting those insights to work through better career choices.

We’ll also look at why it’s smart for business to encourage this kind of investigation and discovery.

And who better to help lead this discussion than career management expert, Maggie Mistal? Before establishing herself as the personality behind the long-running SiriusXM radio show, “Making A Living,” Maggie was Director of Learning & Development at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Also joining us is Laura Rolands, a former HR executive at Chrysler, who, with Maggie’s guidance, launched a rewarding practice as an ADHD coach.

Sneak Peek: Finding Your “Career Core”

To frame this week’s events, I spoke briefly with both Maggie and Laura about how and why it pays for all of us to pursue careers that leverage our strengths. Watch the hangout now:

This discussion has potential to help each of us find more fulfilling work lives, while helping organizations develop more effective talent strategies. So join the #TChat crowd this week to share your ideas and opinions with other “world of work” professionals!

#TChat Events: Claiming Your “Core” Career

#TChat Radio — Wed, Feb 5 — 6:30pmET / 3:30pmPT

TChatRadio_logo_020813Tune-in to the #TChat Radio show

Our hosts, Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman talk with Maggie Mistal and Laura Rolands critical about how to find and claim your core career “genius.” Tune-in LIVE online this Wednesday!

#TChat Twitter — Wed, Feb 5 — 7pmET / 4pmPT

Immediately following the radio show, Meghan, Kevin and our guests will move to the #TChat Twitter stream, where we’ll continue the discussion with the entire TalentCulture community, in a live chat moderated by Dr. Nancy Rubin.

Everyone with a Twitter account is invited to participate, as we address these 5 related questions:

Q1: How can we align our career aspirations with our strengths?
Q2: When a job isn’t fulfilling, what can we do to take charge of our career?
Q3: How can we continually identify and develop skills and talents?
Q4: What value does business gain from encouraging “career genius” in employees?
Q5: How can new technology help us redirect and manage our careers?

Throughout the week, we’ll keep the discussion going on the #TChat Twitter feed, and on our new G+ community. So feel free to drop by anytime and share your questions, ideas and opinions.

We’ll see you on the stream!

For Millions, A Dream Job Means Having One: #TChat Recap

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I love this Dairy Queen commercial:

“We don’t just blow bubbles — we blow bubbles with kittens inside them.”

Brilliant. There’s my dream job. No, make that two dream jobs. One, blowing bubbles with kittens inside them, and two, writing such funny and memorable commercials.

Right on. Absolutely mint.

“Because at Dairy Queen, good isn’t good enough.”

And that’s the rub of the proverbial dream job. The unfortunate fact is that for over half of us, bad dreams are only what’s good enough for now. Consider this from a recent TLNT post titled Survey: Half of Employees Want to Leave or Have Checked Out on the Job:

“Mercer, the global HR consulting firm, just released the results of its new What’s Working survey, conducted over the past two quarters among nearly 30,000 workers in 17 countries, including 2,400 workers in the U.S. It found that nearly a third (32 percent ) of American workers are seriously considering leaving their organization at the present time, up sharply from 23 percent in 2005.

As bad as that sounds, another 21 percent of workers say they are not necessarily looking to leave but view their employers unfavorably and have rock-bottom scores on key measures of engagement, meaning that when you combine the two, more than half of all employees (53 percent) are either looking to leave for a new job or have mentally checked out of their old one.”

53 percent are either looking to leave for a new job or have mentally checked out of their old one. So much for bubbles with kittens in them. Dreams jobs are highly subjective and even if there are universals to them — good money and benefits, family flexibility, guaranteed promotion and success, ample vacation time, constant managerial and collegial support, philanthropic niceties, hugs and kisses (strictly platonic of course) — the believe in them, all of which are intertwined with the great American dream, sets us up for failure early in most of our careers.

I don’t disparage working Dairy Queen; I’ve worked at a few fast food establishments in my past. And although working the grill wasn’t my dream job, I’m sure it’s had the semblance of one for a rehabilitated ex-con, or someone in drug or alcohol recovery, or a physically or mentally challenged individual excited to be making their own money, or simply a struggling mother or father in and out of work just trying to provide for their hungry families.

Again, I’m not making fun of it. One man’s dream job means another man’s checked out of his.

In the world of work, not everyone wins a trophy for having the coolest and highest paying job. Instead, if we get to know thyself by doing and failing and doing and failing and doing and learning and maybe succeeding, we create our own trophies displayed on our desks at work and at home. We’ve been mentored and we pay it forward by mentoring.

But for millions today, a dream job means having a job, any job, in order to provide for family and loved ones. Here’s to bubbles with kittens in them.

Here’s the #TChat preview from @MonsterCareers and Charles Purdy titled Dream Job or Pipe Dream: Are Dream Jobs A Reality?, and here are last night’s questions:

  • Q1: Some elements of “dream jobs” are universal (like pay). What are some of your personal/unique elements?
  • Q2: Do you think the idea of “dream jobs” is good or bad for job seekers – does it encourage or discourage them?
  • Q3: A first step to finding a dream job is defining that term. What are your self-assessment tips?
  • Q4: How much of the responsibility for creating “dream jobs” is the employer’s, company’s, or boss’s?
  • Q5: How does one’s conception of a “dream job” change or effect career decisions?
  • Q6: Finally: do dream jobs really exist?  If not, what’s the reality?

Don’t forget, #TChat Radio starts next Tuesday, July 26. Explanatory post coming soon…

Are Dream Jobs A Reality? #TChat Preview

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Originally posted by Charles Purdy, one of #TChat’s moderators, on MonsterThinking Blog

The term “dream job” means different things to each of us — and for many job seekers right now, a dream job would be any job.

But when most people talk about their dream job, they’re talking about the elusive position that engages their passions and interests, is well suited to their skills, challenges their intellect (but isn’t too challenging), and integrates well into their life.

In our dream jobs, our bosses are wise mentors who recognize our unique brilliance. Our coworkers are competent and witty. And our paychecks are … at least decent (in study after study, salary is a surprisingly minor factor in career or job satisfaction).

The question is whether we should hold out for our dream jobs, or simply settle for the job that’s good enough. Is it wise to settle into a job that, say, pays well but doesn’t engage your creativity in the way you’d like?

Scores upon scores of self-help authors say that perfection can be achieved in a career — but that just isn’t the reality most of us live in. Who’s right? And if dream jobs really are possible, for all of us, how do we go out and get them?

We’ll be exploring these questions, and their implications for the evolving world of work, in tonight’s #TChat: “Dream Job or Pipe Dream: Are Dream Jobs A Reality?”

Join moderator Charles Purdy (Twitter: @monstercareers), Monster’s career advice and job search expert along with #TChat co-hosts @meghanmbiro @kevinwgrossman @monster_works and @focus tonight on Twitter at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT and let us know: are dream jobs a reality?

#TChat Questions and Recommended Reading (07.19.11)

To help prepare, and inform, your participation in tonight’s conversation (or even if you can’t make it), here are the questions we’ll be discussing, along with some recommended reading designed to give you background – and perspective – on dream jobs and how they fit into the larger picture of job search, career planning and talent acquisition.

Q1. Some elements of “dream jobs” are universal (like pay). What are some of your personal/unique elements?

Read: Six Tips for Landing Your Dream Job by Alexandra Levit

Q2. Do you think the idea of “dream jobs” is good or bad for job seekers – does it encourage or discourage them?

Read: How to Get the Job You Really Want by John Sumser

Q3. A first step to finding a dream job is defining that term. What are your self-assessment tips?

Read: Making Sure Your Next Job Is the Best Fit by Caroline M.L. Potter

Q4. How much of the responsibility for creating “dream jobs” is the employer’s, company’s, or boss’s?

Read: Use Company Culture To Attract and Retain Candidates by Dr. Steven Hunt

Q5.  How does one’s conception of a “dream job” change or effect career decisions?

Read: Cool Jobs: 10 Interesting Jobs & Their Average Salaries by Dona DeZube

Q6. Finally: do dream jobs really exist?  If not, what’s the reality?

Read:Your Dream Job is Out There by Charles Purdy

Visit www.talentculture.com for more great information on #TChat, as well as other great resources on careers and hiring.

As a partner in #TChat, Monster’s social media team supports #TChat’s mission of sharing “ideas to help your business and your career accelerate — the right people, the right ideas, at the right time.”