Sunday, January 6, 2008

Finding the best jobs for your personality type

How can you find the perfect job for you? I did, and you can, too! All you need to do is spend a little time doing some self-examination and introspection. Take a close look at yourself, your likes and dislikes, your talents, and your dreams and eventually you can embark on a road towards the career you’ve always wanted, but didn’t necessarily realize.

During my thirties, I left a career I had worked in for fifteen years. Generally, I had been unhappy and unfulfilled in my job for a very long time. When I resigned, I knew I needed to find a better career for me, one that would fit both my personality and my skills. The following is a list of the steps I took to find my ultimate job:

- The first step in the self-examination process is brainstorming. That is, writing down whatever comes to mind during the process. There’s no need to contemplate the items on your list. Just put them down. Take out some paper and a pen and take a few minutes or so to create three separate lists:

o Careers I’d Like to Have - Jot down any type of dream job you can think of for yourself, without regard to how attainable you think it may be. The key here is, think big! Don’t try and convince yourself that this or that career would be an impossible goal. You may be surprised to find out that you may encounter a related occupation that may just be feasible for you.

o Thing I Like to Do – On this list, jot down all of the activities and hobbies you can think of that you enjoy doing. Include activities or duties from other jobs you’ve had that you enjoyed performing. This is important when considering possible career choice that will hopefully last a long time.

o My Talents - Finally, and this is the most difficult task of the three, write down your fortes. What are you good at doing? Everybody’s got some sort of talent. It’s not always easy to realize the strengths inherent in you, but they’re there. Discovering your hidden abilities will take a lot of contemplation, but it is critical to the process.

- It is not necessary to create all of the lists at the same time, or even on the same day. Anything worthwhile needn’t be rushed. Once you’ve compiled your lists, plan on revisiting them on a regular basis. Once or twice a week would be optimal. The one you need to focus on the most is the career list. Peruse the listings side by side, trying to figure out where your interests and talents match your career choices. At first, it will be easy to cross out career preferences, as this record should have been a long one.

- During the process, it would be beneficial to collect any resource materials that could give you any information on the jobs on your list. News items, course and college catalogs, and trade web sites can provide valuable information that can help you later on in the final decision-making process.

- After a few weeks, you should have narrowed the list down to no more than five choices. It’s decision time! At this point, you should have spent a good amount of time considering all the factors that go into achieving a true ‘dream job’. Such factors include: educational requirements, length of time needed to complete such training, as well as other steps needed to be taken, such as resume or portfolio building, finding and joining trade networks, and searching want ads to see what’s out there. Make your choice and go for it!

A dream job, to me, is one that a person loves doing. A career is a big part of a person’s life and choosing the right one shouldn’t be taken lightly. Though the earning potential of a job can be enticing, it is not the right choice if it doesn’t fit who you are as a person. Far too many people work a job because of the financial stability it offers, yet for many something is missing. If you’re one of those people who fit this description, give this process a try. Perform some deep introspection and evidently it will lead you to your dream job.

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