Your Dream Job

I don't know if you think about these things, but I have certainly always been a dreamer, who believes that life is more enjoyable when you do what you are passionate about.

How I went from being a cook to working in digital marketing and how to get your dream job without having a college degree

Hi, reader!

How having several passions is a life opportunity that makes you grow personally and professionally?

The truth is that I panic, like every time someone asks me what I do for a living and I have to decide in record time which of my professions to say, marketing or cooking.

Whenever I have the confidence to tell my life in detail, the next question is always: how did you go from cooking to marketing?

So in this article I want to tell you how I got a job from something I didn't have a degree in, and most importantly, how I came to the conclusion that this was my dream job.

Why did I decide to study cooking?

Let's start at the beginning.

I had passed the entrance exams to the University with good marks, but I didn't like any of the courses. Or at least, not enough to spend 4 years studying the same thing.

On top of that, a plan had been put in place and class attendance had been made compulsory, making it difficult to combine my studies with a job that offered the necessary flexibility.

Staying at home with my parents for four more years was not an option for me and working "just to do something" did not seem like an attractive plan either.

When you discover that what you want is not what you expected

And what happens when you find out you've made a mistake with your dream job?

I loved the cooking classes even though I saw from the first day that it was a hard profession. You work long hours, suffer a lot of stress and have few days off.

Come on, what everyone had told me before I signed up and I didn't want to listen

Still, I decided to continue with the training cycle. I liked the idea of "having a trade" or "knowing how to do something better than the average".

At the same time, I started to get a certificate in blended learning to teach English to foreigners. I had taught in France and the idea of being able to do this also appealed to me.

It was while I was doing my week's practice as an English teacher that I met a guy who told me about a blog.

A boy who was travelling around the world thanks to the profits from his blog. This boy took a course to show the method he had followed, I didn't think twice and I signed up: I wanted a life like his.

That's when I had to think about the theme of my project. I decided on healthy cooking as I found it interesting enough to spend years on it and after all: it was what I knew how to do!

So what now? Is your dream job done or found?

I finished the course and opened a blog that I was too embarrassed to show. It was far from perfect but it was the best I could be with the experience I had.

At that time I also finished cooking, I decided to end the stage in the reception of the restaurant to work exclusively on my new page until the savings lasted.

That's when I understood that to be successful with a blog you need a lot more than just writing articles.

Among many other skills, you need to know how to sell. And that's when I started training in digital marketing.

I finally knew what was the life I wanted and it was clear to me that a project in the cloud would bring me much closer to it than working as a cook for the world.

But, just as with cooking, I had to train.

So I did it with people who taught what they themselves had applied to achieve success with a 100% practical approach. Something difficult to find in most universities.

It was time to go back to work

When you create your first digital project, your wish is that you do well as soon as possible, but the reality is that you either learn a lot of new skills, or you hire someone to do it for you and you focus on the content.

I chose to acquire all those skills, apply them and learn from my mistakes.

If I were to start over now, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to hire a mentor or join a community where I could find support and guidance.

The fact is, the day came when my savings ended and that meant I had to find a job to support myself.

I didn't want to work in a restaurant, and even though customer service was something I liked, it was so far from my life goal that it didn't seem like an option.

Could I find a marketing job without having a formal education?

Surfing the internet, I came across an offer that I found interesting. An agency was looking for its first intern. The position seemed convenient to me, considering that I had no demonstrable experience, so I applied.

But I didn't do it like the other people who filled out the survey and sent in their CV. I did it by showing them everything I knew how to do.

If there was one thing I had learned in the blogging world, it was that one way to sell is by creating a letter or sales page.

When you work on what you dream of but it's still not what you want

It's worth saying that the sales page worked and in total, I was working for a year and a half in that startup.

Until I realized, again, that although I liked the sector, that was not the kind of marketing work I was looking for, much less the conditions I wanted.

The hours were much better than in the hotel business and I had every weekend free, but spending 8 hours sitting on a chair and not going out, I was deeply overwhelmed.

So did the little flexibility and the feeling that everything I did from there, I could be doing from my home.

What did I take away from the experience?

Even though I went in to work in marketing, most of the projects were WordPress and programming, so I perfected my interface skills a lot.

As I mentioned above, it's how you build the place you're going to, or as Steve Jobs would say:

You can't connect the dots by looking forward; you can only do it by looking back

Steve Jobs

The step by step way to get your dream job

1. Travel alone and try new professions

I always say that when we travel, we are alone with ourselves and we are responsible for ourselves.

There is no one to blame for our state of mind, nor is there anyone who expects us to act in a certain way.

This is why if you feel you don't know yourself well, traveling will help.

2. Ask people who already do what you want to do

Do you want to work in X company? Do you want to work in one of the new professions?

Enter Linkedin and look for someone who is already working there or in the profession you are interested in.

Send them a private message and tell them that you would like to ask them a few questions - this will help you a lot!

There are companies that seem nice on the outside and once you get in you realize the horrible conditions in which they treat their workers. And the same goes for the professions. I wish I'd sat down with a cook to talk about the pros and cons of his trade.

3. Be realistic (you can't be a doctor without a career)

The experience I am telling you about above is not valid for all professions.

If you want to be a surgeon, doctor, dentist, lawyer... You'll need an official degree.

However, once you get it, you can use the advice in point 5 to be hired faster 😉

4. Pay attention to your Transferable Skills

For me, transferable skills are those skills that you have developed by participating in other jobs, volunteering, sports, student organizations, and even your hobbies.

They seem irrelevant to you but you can use them to add value when looking for a different job.

For example, let's say you've been a telephone surveyor so far and want to change your career to assistant hotel manager. In your cover letter, you could put the following:

"My job as a telephone surveyor required me to communicate with many different people, some of whom were challenging.

Through this experience, I perfected my communication skills to the point where I was able to solve any kind of problem and get even the most difficult customers satisfied.

These skills are vital to the effective management of a hotel, and I am eager to apply my talents to yours.

Interesting, isn't it?

We often focus so much on titles that we forget to mention skills that would make you stand out in your dream job.

5. Run for office by attracting attention. Be memorable.

By this I don't mean that in your next offer you create a sales page to sell yourself like I did.

Instead, make them understand that you are super interested in the position, and therefore, you must show how much you like their company or how well you know how to do your job before you arrive at the interview.