Perhaps you are about to graduate, or have just graduated from school. It could be that since you left school, you have been struggling to land a decent job, or maybe you are already working but you feel unfulfilled in your current job. For someone right now, it could be a case of career stagnation – your friends, peers and colleagues have all moved on to bigger things, but you are still wallowing in the murky waters of a job that brings you little to no satisfaction.
Every time you see a job advert, you read through the job description and tell yourself, “yes, this is my job”, then you send your application, get a confirmation of receipt and a promise that you will be contacted should you qualify for the next stage. One day passes, two, three days, one week, then two and one month, nothing happens. Do you find yourself in any of these categories? Are you at the point of desperation and about to give up? If your answer to any of these is yes, then read on. In this series, I will share some tips which I hope you will find helpful.
I have been in a similar situation in the past, it took years of research, study, makimg mistakes, failures and frustrations to get to the point I am now. The greatest lessons I learnt were from my failures and mistakes. You see, everything in life is governed by laws. There are laws of gravity, attraction, mechanics, sowing and reaping, success, and so on. What I recommend is to find someone who has accomplished what you are looking to achieve, discover what principles worked for them and apply the same. Chances are that you might likely succeed. If all you have tried failed, why not try theirs?
You probably know Warren Buffet, perhaps the smartest stock investor and one of the richest men in the world, who has made a fortune from the stock market over several decades. Warren is worth billions of dollars. Let’s say you meet him today and he tells you he has invested several millions into a stock and advises you to sink all the cash you have in the bank into the same investment. What will you do? Some people will shirk and rather want to ask their pastor, or see what the newspapers, or majority of others are saying or thinking.
In landing your dream job, there are 3 broad steps you need to consider. I will attempt to break down the job search process into smaller manageable steps.
1. Self-Assessment
2. Self-Improvement
3. Strategies for Landing the Job
Let’s explore the first step.
Self – Assessment.
1. Identify your dream job.
Perhaps your current job doesn’t give you that sense of happiness and fulfilment. The first thing you need to do is to really ask yourself what makes you fulfilled? We have two options, either we wake and chase our dreams or continue to sleep with them. There was a lady who used to work in a financial institution but never really had any sense of satisfaction, because according to her, deep inside, she felt she was in the wrong profession. Her passion was with kids – she loved working and playing with kids. Ultimately, she left the banking job after a series of events and today, she runs a successful Montessori.
She is positively impacting the lives of these children, earning more money, has more time for herself and above all she is fulfilled. What more could she ask for? The best feeling in the world is getting paid for what you love. My definition of stress is working hard for something we don’t care about. However, passion is working hard for something we love. “If you don’t wake up in the morning excited to pick where you left your work yesterday, you haven’t found the right calling yet”– quote
2. Draw up a list of your personal and career goals.
You cannot hit a target you do not see. It is essential you clearly outline what you want to achieve, based on your personal values and principles. Take time to list out everything you want in your life and career. Put it where you can see them all or most of the time. You can also carry a 3×5 card in your pocket with a list of all your goals. Take it our several times during the day and look at them. Visualise yourself already achieving those goals. This is powerful, trust me.
3. Evaluate your skill sets.
A lot of people are afraid to do this. Some people live under a false estimation of their true value or worth in the market place. They keep wondering why several opportunities pass them by; they always find someone or something to blame out there, but never themselves. There are several sites which offer skills assessment and you can find some of them below –
https://www.careerfitter.com/free_test/careerbuilder?afid=491 ; http://www.assessment.com; https://www.careerkey.org/career-tests/take-career-test-career-assessment.html?rfsn=1689460.000053; http://www.testingroom.com; http://www.eskill.com; amongst others.
4. Identify Gaps
An objective self assessment will reveal what is lacking and what needs to be done to shore up those skills. Perhaps there might be certifications, trainings or education you need to acquire. You now need to develop a strategy to address them quickly. It might require some form of financial investment or time. Make a commitment to whatever needs to be done. Don’t rely on luck. Do your part, sow the seeds and expect a good harvest.
I will explore the other two categories in my next blog. In the meantime, please send in your comments, questions and any other ideas you have on the topic. I willl be glad to hear from you. I recommend the books below if you want to do a deeper study.
Empowering You to Optimize Your Potential 
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“visualise yourself already achieving the set goals” I have actually heard that before,but haven’t actually practiced it. I will practice now. Thanks for this article.
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Yes Esther. Visualization is a very powerful performance enhancement technique. I first learnt about it from a famous athlete, Sergei Bubka, a renowned pole vault champion.
He was asked how he managed to always achieve the seemingly impossible in his career. His answer got me thinking deeply. He said “I throw my mind over the bar, then my body comes after”. He went to describe how he practically visualized or saw every success he had even before attempting the contest.
I also want to liken it to faith – Hebrews 12:1-2.
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When you have tried all, visualization, identifying what need to be done – certification, education or skills but there is no wherewithal to actualize your dream job, is it not better to still be managing the available while the desirable is kept in view, until the resources to bring the visualization to manifestation are acquired?
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Ephraim, can you clarify a bit more? If I get you clearly, my advice would be – don’t leave your current job in search of what you don’t have. Success is a progressive realization of your goal. Rather keep working on what you have, developing yourself and moving gradually towards the ideal. Never give up because the moment you do, then you’ve lost out. Hope this clarifies. I’d like to know what you think.
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Pingback: How to Increase Your Chances of Getting Hired: Self Improvement – Empowering Individuals to Optimize Their Potential
For anyone without a University degree and already middle aged and married, how would you advise such a person to proceed with building a career and skillset? Would Cousera, EDX,Udemy etc address those needs?
Interesting blog and quite illuminating
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A very good question. First, I will start by saying you do not need a university degree to be successful. There are examples of successful and wealthy people today who didn’t get a University degree. Bill Gates is a typical example. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba was rejected several times by Harvard. He practically taught himself to speak English.
Education in my opinion is the ability to get the information you need to achieve whatever goal you have set for yourself.
So if for example, your goal is to become a writer, data analyst, business person or whatever it is you want to do, there are tons of information on the internet to help you get started.
Why I recommend sites like Coursera, Edx or Udemy is because they contain thousands of information on practically any subject of interest. Also, you can study at your own pace in the comfort of your home. There are increasingly more and more work-from-home or remote job opportunities today you can take up depending on your skillset. In addition, the cost of acquiring these skills or knowledge is also significantly less than a typical university setting. With Coursera for example, you can get a verified certificate for as low as $49 from a reputable university.
So in summary, I’d say decide what you want, identify what skillset or knowledge you need to acquire, determine the price you have to pay, set a timeframe to achieve your goal and then get started. Might be helpful too find someone who had toed a similar path as a mentor.
I hope you find this useful. Let me know if you need a more personalised advice and I’ll be glad to help.
Best wishes.
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Thank you Austin, I am really encouraged by your response. I would like to know if verified certificates like Cousera offers are acceptable across the globe. Would one perhaps be able to use them to earn further qualifications or they are simply unique tools for upgrading knowledge (which is admirable too)?
Personally, I love being on the internet and I love writing, could you advise me on skillsets that would be most useful or a career part that would be profitable. I will be 4o next month but I would honestly love to build a career and reputation for myself. Thank you for your help
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Sorry, I came back a bit late on this. Verified certificates from Universities on Coursera are recognized as it has been certified by the awarding school or body. Again, there are courses where you can earn credits towards a diploma or degree as well, apart from just upgrading your knowledge.
In terms of career path, there are several options you can consider, and I’ll suggest you send me an email, so we can better do a deep dive. Hope this helps.
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Thank you for your response sir. I would love to do you an email but I don’t have access to your email address. Mine is donchakabelli at g mail dot com
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Ok. I wil send you an email
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Thank you sir, I appreciate this
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Hello sir,
You still owe me that email!! Please, I am looking forward to one when you have the time to spare.
Thank you
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Responded earlier today. Let me know if you got my email
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No sir, I didn’t get your email. donchakabelli@gmail.com is my address
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One of the most comprehensive lists I’ve come across! Well done 👍
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