Finding a job you love may seem irrelevant when considering the difficulties of landing a job in the first place. However, the enjoyment you receive from your occupation will affect not only your professional performance but also your quality of life.
- Look into past experience
What would you really like to pursue? It’s probably right in front of you, in your resume. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when job-searching. Your true passion is something you repeatedly enjoy doing, be it in your professional career or even experience acquired by volunteering for causes. Develop your self-awareness, make a list and set priorities. - Research
Now it’s time to see how you can turn into something tangible, what you have set your mind to. Is your desired occupation relevant to current job trends? Are you up-to-date with current job-searching techniques? A helpful tip would be to connect to LinkedIn to see how professionals with similar skills and aspirations present themselves and what kind of enterprise they’re working for. - Network
Networking can help you, not only with increasing your chances of finding a job, but also with realising if what you set your mind on is actually what you’re looking for. Connect with other professionals and ask the right questions: How’s a day working in the desired position? What tasks does it actually entail? What are the pros and cons? How flexible or structured is the nature of the job? - Be proactive
It would be great if you could stay at home and wait for your dream job to fall into your lap, but it clearly doesn’t work like that. Now that you’ve found out what kind of position you would like to have, pursue it in a determined and consistent manner. For example, when writing a cover letter, instead of closing with the dull “I may be contacted at your earliest convenience” line, show the recruiters that you’re eager to keep in touch. Tell them that you will contact them to learn about the status of your application. If rejected, ask them to provide an answer if possible, on why you didn’t get the job. This way allows for you to learn from your mistakes, develop the needed skills and ultimately raise the probability of landing your dream job next time. - Stay positive and keep your options open
Success comes to those who are persistent and welcome challenges. Don’t let yourself be intimidated by antagonism! Instead, focus on what your strengths are and not what skills you may lack.
Andromachi Kokkinou