Dubin & Lee Blog

The Secret to Finding Your Dream Job

  

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Have you ever set out looking for your dream job? Most of us have at least thought about it at one time or another.  I must admit, when I have painted this ideal day in my mind, it usually does not even sound like a job. 

As a Headhunter, I asked this question quite a bit to executives and many times, people are at a loss of words for a few seconds because the dream job concept has been pushed back to the far corners of their mind.

Would you know the ideal job if you saw it? Figuring it out can be most of the battle.  Sometimes we are not satisfied with our job but not sure why.  Is it the responsibilities (or lack thereof), the environment or a bad boss?

Don’t worry. You don’t have to know what your ideal job is to find it.

Real life situation

Several years ago, I met with a CFO to see what our firm could do to help her find a Controller to handle the day to day accounting and reporting. I could not help but have one particular woman, Jane, come to mind because of how well I felt she would connect with the CFO.  The role would be a step up for her but I knew she could handle it. Well, the job was in Boston and Jane did not want anything to do with working in town.  After doing my best to convince her that it was at least worth meeting with the CFO, I finally had to bribe her with lunch if she did not want the job.

Yes, she loved the job, got the offer at a 40% increase to her salary at the time and a step up. After Jane started, she said it was her IDEAL job and even liked taking the train into town.  A few years later, the CFO moved on to a bigger company and took Jane with her.

Sometimes we don’t know what we want until we see it. 

Here is how it works

1.  Clarify!  Really analyze the types of things that drive you and make your creativity run wild. Think about it as much as you can so it is constantly in the forefront of your mind.

2.  Do stuff!  Try and see as much as you can much as you can with NO prejudgment.

Where can you see it?

• Get involved with committees at work and in your community. Getting to know people in other departments at work can lead to many opportunities.
• Talk to people about what they do. Conduct Career Interviews for a more active career search.
• Take most any interview you get, view it as a networking opportunity!

3.  When opportunity knocks, open the door!  The best opportunities in life seem to present themselves when we are not planning for them.  I have witnessed that the only difference between those that are in their dream career and those that are not is those that are, just made the leap when they had the chance, not when it was convenient.

Life has wonderful surprises in store for us if we keep our mind and our eyes open to see them.

To find out how to conduct a "career interview" with those that are in a field of your interest, download the Career Interview Guidelines.  This will also include career research tips and resources.