4 Steps to Get Your Ideal Job

How do you get your Ideal job?

When I ask my clients what their job requirements are, they often give an answer related to earnings and the sort of work they’ll be doing. They tell me about their qualifications and, based on this, what they can and cannot do.

For most people, these are not the most important things for getting your ideal job.

Your working life is so much more than the job you’re doing and your earnings (by which I include salary, pension, company car, profit sharing, bonus etc). People often focus on what the job description requires of them and largely ignore what they require from their working life!

If you want to find your ideal work (career and job), you first need to know about who you are.

1. Know your Core Values

The kind of work you do and the organization you work for should be aligned with your core values. If you don’t know what they are, you cannot have clear requirements of what your ideal job and organisation should be.

There are many available resources for discovering what your core values are, but they are based on what you find most important in your life. You should whittle all your values down to the top 5 most important values. If your work and organisation are aligned with your top 5, you’ll be feeling good about your working life.

Once you’re clear about your core values, you also tend to get an ‘’intuitive feel” whether the job and organisation are aligned or not.

Awareness of your core values brings you closer to your ideal working life.

2. Imagine your Ideal Working Life

The things that make you happy are not only related to earnings and the work you do. You need to have a clear idea what an ideal working life looks like for you.

This exercise requires you to use your imagination. Try not to think in terms of restrictions and qualifications when you do this.

The type of questions you could ask in this exercise are:

What is your relationship with your colleagues? Do you mix with them outside of work or not?

How important is self-development for you? Do you love to learn and develop via courses and trainings or on the job learning only?

What is your manager like? Supportive, hands on, at a distance, strict, open, allowing errors, guiding you, having your back?

What does the organisation culture look like? Is it hierarchical or flat? What are their values?

Must there be opportunities to advance your career within the organisation?

Do you prefer following instructions or being free to make decisions?

Do you see yourself working alone or in a team?

What are you doing/ what’s happening around you that makes you excited and energised?

What does an ideal working day look and feel like?

You also need to identify your absolute showstoppers. What is totally unacceptable to you?

When you have clarity on your ideal requirements, you can test how the job and the organisation fit your requirements. The more requirements they comply with, the closer you’re getting to your ideal working life.

3. Work-Life Balance

This is important to consider before accepting a job. Most people discover the disbalance once they’re working and don’t know how to regain their balance.

Prevention is always better than cure, so it’s wise to consider how you deal with stress and overwhelm. This has a relationship with your values, but is also about what makes you happy and fulfilled in your life.

How should your working life fit into your total life?

What do you love to do?

How much time do you want to spend with family and friends?

What are your regular social activities that make you feel happy and fulfilled?

How much down time do you need to regenerate and reenergize yourself?

How well do you cope with stress? How resilient are you?

It can be hard to be honest about these questions, but it can really help you to find your ideal working life!

4. Discovering Energy Givers and Energy Drainers

This last step should largely come out of the exercises 1-3.

Write a list of your energy givers and energy drainers.

What things and type of people make you feel energized and what things and people drain you of your energy? For example, If complaining people drain you of energy, you probably shouldn’t work at a call centre for customer complaints.

It’s important that your energy givers are more than your energy drainers. For this reason, your working life should supply a good number of your energy givers!

Once you have your list, you can check on your energy balance at the end of each day and refine this list.

Knowing what your energy givers and energy drainers are, helps you find your ideal working life and maintain your work-life balance.

Conclusion:

Getting your ideal working life is all about getting to know yourself and what you need and love in your life.

Once your core values are clear and you know what you’re looking for in your working life, you’ll be able to appraise job descriptions and interviews with much more clarity. Asking questions regarding your work-life balance items and your energy givers, gives you a much clearer picture of whether the job is a good fit or not.

Finding your ideal working life starts with finding yourself.

Good luck, enjoy the journey!