5 Steps to Figuring out What Job Is Best for Me

It's not hard to find job advertisements, the internet is full of it. There are thousands of job search sites with various job opportunities. But what to actually look for? What position? What company? How to even read the description?

1. Decide what kind of company you want to work in.

This one is pretty easy. Where can you imagine yourself? Would it be a large corporation or a small start-up?

Large corporations look really good on your resume, and it almost instantly gives you a credibility. Also, you will most probably be exposed to a lot of learning, so you can quickly catch up with the company's standard. A disadvantage might be sort of a rigidness of the firm, since it usually tightens up with many processes and it gives you just little room to be creative. Still, there are many various corporations. There will be huge differences between a traditional bank and Google. Just research and see what would work for you.

Smaller companies and startups give more opportunities to prove yourself and try various tasks. Things are moving quickly so you have to be flexible but no days are same and you always have fun. According to Forbes, 90 percent of new business fail so just make sure that you believe in the product and it has a future.

There is still a possibility to start a business on your own but I'll talk about it in a different post.

2. Industry

This is a very important decision. It's quite easy to change positions, divisions, teams, companies. Usually, it's all the same job just in a little different context. But changing an industry is a big deal!

If you master your industry, you are the king/queen. Often there is a small bubble of the same people who run it and who are gurus in it. You can see it, especially in the event industry. There are just a few people who know each other well and kind of rule the whole industry. Once you get to know them, you become known too. Then you can flow in the industry sea. It doesn't really matter where you work at a certain moment but who you are and what you know.

Make sure that you have a passion for the industry. Do you like planes? Go for aviation. Are you passionate about finances? Go for banking or trading. This decision is long-term and often lifelong so try to choose something you believe in.

3. Choose a department.

This should be easy for people who studied a subject at school which they want to pursue in their career. However, according to Federal Reserve Bank of NY, only 27% of people work in a field of their major. So if you are 73%, you got a lot to decide about.

For accounting, IT, legal etc. you should already know you s#$t (or you can attend a postgraduate course) but stuff like project management, operations, marketing etc. are more of a practice. (At least according to my experience, it never helped me to run a successful marketing campaign by knowing the history of marketing).

Choosing a department is just a start because there are various roles there too. So unless you know exactly what team is right for you, don't get too distracted by that and focus on...

4. The Position

This is the real bummer!

Not only there are millions of positions but often one same position has various names. In the past, it was super clear knowing person's role just by knowing his position. An accountant? A doctor? A sales rep? Marketing manager? Clear as vodka!

But today? Open LinkedIn and search. Do you have any idea how a normal day of a Portfolio Manager or Service Fulfillment Officer looks like? What is the role of an Insight Manager? Or who is hell is an Audience Interaction consultant? (Those are actual positions. Actually, the last one is mine).

My suggestion, in this case, would be this. Be as concrete about your role as much as you can however who you are searching for a job, use more general keywords. For instance, I'd like to take care of large clients (Account Manager) who I'm going to help by offering them our product (Sales) but I don't want to cold call them but wait for them to find us (Inbound sales). So while searching for the ideal position, I'm going to use all those keywords and adjust them according to the outcome. Like I can delete "sales" because I was getting too many "hard sales" positions. Or I can get rid of the "inbound sales" because it was too limiting.

5. Know where to search.

There are many websites where you can find job offers. There are specialized websites for certain locations, types of jobs etc. For instance, LinkedIn has one of the biggest pool of jobs. But as well as the pool of candidates aka competition.

My recommendation here would be BE FOCUSED. Don't send your CV to 2,000 job offers a day. Be different. And I'm not saying that you have to send them your resume as a video. Or you know what? Do! Find 2-3 perfect jobs. Read the description. Is that exactly what you were looking for? Awesome! Read the wanted qualifications. Is it exactly who you are now? Excellent! Reach out to them with a personalized approach. Explain to them why they need you and how you can help them. Even better if you know someone from that company so he can give you a reference. For ideas of the videos, check out Youtube for Mindvalley Cover Letter such as this one from Eric or this one of Diletta.

It doesn't have to be necessarily a video. Be creative! ESPECIALLY if creativity is a part of the job. Are you applying for a website designer? Create a website with your resume in it for them. Are you applying for a strategic position? Mention a few strategies you'd apply at the company. When I was applying for a tour guide position, I attached a few interesting facts about the place I would be talking about (and I got the job). When I was applying for a regional manager position of a company which didn't come to that region yet, I did my research for the opportunities they'd be missing (and I got that job too).

Do your research about them. Companies love proactive people.

Just to Wrap It Up

Finding an ideal job is like finding an ideal partner. It's super hard. It's possible but it can take a long time finding it. And even if you find it, you have to work on it. Well, that sounds obvious but seriously, people evolve and the job you love now might be boring or not fitting in the future. I see it on myself. I love my job already for all the 4 years. But I also changed the job 4 times (within the same company). I changed regions and slightly shifted the role.

I used to love being in business development. Getting fast results. It was awesome for my ego seeing the numbers and being praised by my managers. But I changed. It's too superficial for me. I like to build relationships with my clients, take care of them for a longer time and what makes me happy now is when the client calls me and says "Anna, I'd just like to discuss with you my case."

What I wanted to say is that the job you are looking for might not be forever but it's still very important. Don't waste your time at a job which pays your bills. Look for something that you're passionate about.