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Reaching your dream job is tough. What do you think it means to reach your dream job, and why is it so rewarding?

We all have an image of a dream job, yet was makes it a dream? Is it the hard work and persistence that makes the job rewarding. Or maybe even today it's considered a dream job because the odds of you receiving the job as a female is small. I would love to hear peoples perspectives on what they consider a dream job and why? #dream #jobs #employment #passion #motivation #success #career-advising

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Ken’s Answer

Reaching your dream job starts with getting to know yourself. Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Piyush’s Answer

Hi Grace,

I will begin this by saying, "The purpose of the life is to find the purpose in life".

With over 60% of our life time that we spend in working, your question is one of the most important one that spans in anyone's life.

Some of the other questions that are analogous to the above question:
Have I got my dream job? Is this something what I always wanted to do? I don't know, this is not what I wanted out of my life? I think I am made to do something bigger.

If you look at these above questions you would understand that there is a pattern to it. Generally, in such cases people are usually following their mind than following their heart as well. Dream Job, according to me, is one where both your mind and heart are aligned 100%.
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Evan’s Answer

I would avoid thinking about a single "dream job" and focus on broader categories like industries, skills you want to use, impact that you want to have etc. Career changes are more and more common (3-5 times on average over the course of your life right now) so the younger you are, the more likely you are to change careers and the more times you are likely to change careers. Not just changing jobs, but changing what you do for a living entirely. This is because people change, but the job market and skills demanded also change. So, today's "dream job" might not be what you want to or are able to do tomorrow and you don't want to develop too narrow of a skillset.

In addition, without work experience, it's tough to know what your dream job really is. Here is what I would do:

1) Think about the type of work you want to do: Do you want to work with other people a lot? Work independently? What type of work-life balance do you want (there are trade-offs so think about this critically without defaulting to "I want to work as little as possible")? Do you want to work with your hands or with a computer? Travel, or go to the same office every day? Any particular industry/ subject matter that you want to work with? Etc.

2) Think about what types of careers match with the above. Make a long list! Not just one.

3) As a young employee or student, focus on jobs that will teach you the skills to stay relevant in many of the jobs on your list as possible. Don't focus on making your first job, or even first career, your "dream". Understand that the job that you have when you are older and are likely to hold for many years is more important than your first job, which you might only have for a matter of months or a few years. Pick a job that will help you get to the next job, and the one after that.

4) Keep repeating this process and reevaluating where you want to do. Always have a 1 year plan, a 3 year plan, and a 5 year plan. Understand that they will change, and that's ok, but have a plan all the same. As long as you are always working towards something with intention, happy accidents will happen along the way.

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