Finding The Right Job For You

If you are going to find the right job, one that makes you happy, the first thing you need to do is ignite your imagination. One of the most common mistakes that a person makes is looking for the wrong job. You'd think that doesn't make sense but the fact is that people don't understand the requirements necessary for determining the "right" job.

The scholar Joseph Campbell often spoke about finding one's passion and living within one's happiness. A lot of people might not think that's important when it comes to a job but the truth of the matter is that the more your job makes you happy, the more content you're going to be with your entire life.

You've probably grown up hating the jobs that you have to do and you've never even thought about whether or not a job out there could possibly make you happy.

The truth is, plenty of people have jobs that make them happy. In fact, two young college students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked with computers because it was something they loved to do. The two of them wanted to find a way to retrieve information from the massive data pile known as the internet. The work they did was exhausting and tiring but because it was something they loved to do, it didn't even seem like work.

Eventually, they unlocked the secret they had been looking for and started up a little company known as Google.

Who knows? If you find the job that makes you happy, you might find yourself with the next multibillion dollar company on your plate.

Now, you're looking for something that's going to make you happy -- and that means that you're going to have to use your imagination and your creativity. Think about the various occupations out there that might most easily be able to incorporate your own happiness into them and work on finding a way to land a job in those fields.

One secret to finding out what makes you happy is to really notice yourself -- and notice what it is that makes you happy. Think about the activities that you do that give you pleasure and find ways that you can use to find out what really gives you pleasure. Remember that the more that you enjoy what you're doing, the less it's going to seem like work -- and the more successful you are going to become.

Now, one of the common problems is that the jobs that might make someone happy might require skills they don’t have. In that case, there are some options open. The first, naturally, is to go to school and get the training. Or you might consider volunteering in some capacity to get your foot in the door. You can even go to the company and speak with someone in Human Resources, making sure you let them see the passion that you have for the job that you're going for. In many cases, a hiring manager will want someone who has a genuine love and enjoyment for the field rather than experience. Yet another useful method is to find someone who is working in the field that you want to get into and set up a meeting so that you can pick their brains. Many people are more than happy to share whatever knowledge they can -- especially if they sense a kindred spirit in you.

Lastly, make sure that you think "outside the box." You might think that the things that make you happy might not be marketable skills but in today's marketplace, there are few things that are written in stone. The current crop of millionaires out there will be the first to admit that they went and did something they loved doing, not even caring whether or not they were going to get paid, and in the end, they wound up making more money than they had ever dreamt possible.

The same can happen with you.

The time has come when you need to look at yourself, find out whatever it is that truly makes you happy, and you need to find a way to incorporate the passion you feel for that with a way to make money. It probably won't happen overnight, of course, but if you keep your eyes open, if you stay focused, and if you keep thinking outside the box, the chances are very good that you'll find the happiness and the success that you're looking for.

Once you know the direction you want to go in, a great way to get your job search started is by posting your resume on the key job sites. ResumeDirector.com is a service that can do this for you. Using their site, you can enter your resume once and have it posted instantly on over 90 job sites, including Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder, Jobwerx, etc.

Career Decision Making Guide

Career decision making is a dynamic and ongoing process where your knowledge of self, your values, interests, temperament, financial needs, physical work requirements or limitations, etc., the effects of past experiences, new information, and changes in your life situation and environment all intertwine. It requires constant review of decisions already made and consideration of decisions yet to be made. Good career decision making requires you to engage in a process that requires you to:

1. Examine and recognize personal values

2. Identify, gather, and use relevant information.

3. Understand and use an effective strategy for converting information into action.

Each career decision is limited by what you are capable of now or in the future, by your ability to identify alternatives, and by what you are willing to do. Skillful career decision making requires you to be focused, flexible and open to new learning. The following guidelines and questions to keep in mind to help you with decision making.

1. Define the problem. State the real problem, not the surface problem. State the problem in specific terms, as a question.

2. State the goal clearly. What outcome do you want from this decision?

3. List the initial alternative solutions. Which are the safe ones? Which require risk? What are the outcomes of each solution?

4. Collect information and expand the list of alternatives. What kind of information do need? Where can you obtain it? Is it relevant to the problem? list additional solutions or options.

5. Compare several alternatives with what you know about yourself, your values, your commitments to others, your resources, and your constraints.

6. Take action on your choice. How can you implement your choice? What action can you take now? What action can you take later?

7. Review your choice periodically.

8. Take a new decision based on new situations.

SUMMARY OF CAREER DECISION MAKING STEPS:

1. Define the problem

2. State the goal clearly

3. List the initial alternative solutions

4. Collect information and expand the list of alternatives

5. Compare several alternatives

6. Choose one alternative

7. Take action on your choice

8. Review

9. Make a new decision

Probably the most beneficial outcome of learning effective career decision making skills is that it gives you a feeling of control over what you can do. Careful planning decision making will help you make informed, responsible, and wise choices that will lead to greater career satisfaction.

Once you have made a career decision and a choice of an occupation, then develop an Action Plan. An action plan begins with the identification of short-term and long-term goals. Before you set short-term and long-term career goals, you should have taken informal or formal assessments.

Using the results from these assessments, as well as labor market information, identify careers that will match your abilities, interests, values, personality, development stage, financial needs, transportation and family needs.

An effective career decision plan broadens your horizons and make the achievement of your dreams far more likely. An effective career plan requires you to set both long-term and short-term goals and they are equally important.

Long-term goals give you a more clear idea of the things to accomplish in the long run as they are usually big and central to your life. The steps taken to reach long-term goals are short-term goals.

Short term goals are achievable within a relatively short period of time (six months to a year). Short-term goals may also be accomplished daily or attained within a month.

For example, your short term goal may be taking a minimum wage job while simultaneously pursuing post secondary education in preparation for a career, or your short-term goal might be taking several part-time jobs until you find a stable full-time job.

A long term goal takes much more time to reach. For example, if your long-term goal is to become a doctor, then you need to set aside eight years out of your life to pursue a medical career.