Most people haven’t done the self-evaluation that is really required before jumping into their career after college. Many job searchers are submitting resumes over and over again online without having a targeted direction of a career they know they would be truly happy in. You must find that perfect career fit for you instead of the first job that just comes your way. Understanding yourself better is the #1 way that you will be able to be more successful and confident while job searching.

Not only that, but you will actually perform better at your job if you are in a career that you love and are passionate about. It’s like finding that career that you were born to do instead of what just came along after you graduated and you got stuck in.

You may know someone (or you might be that someone) who just applies online to any old job and not jobs that they are passionate about. This is a great way to get stuck in another job that you hate. You will be unhappy if you just move into another job that is just like the one you hate now. It’s a repetitive cycle and you will always hate your job unless you do something about it.

Instead, you need to have a plan and a goal.

You need to find what that perfect job is for you BEFORE you start looking at future career opportunities. So how do you evaluate what type of job fits you best? Here is my 7-step Get Unstuck system that has helped hundreds of women transition into careers the love and avoid the risks to job searching.
The Risks of Job Searching Without a Focused Plan

Step 1: Understand You Before Job Searching

This is really important and why you don’t want to keep submitting resumes over and over again online. But instead, you want to understand yourself first. Why? When you apply to any old job on the internet, it’s far too time intensive, makes you overwhelmed, drained, and feel like you aren’t good enough. This often creates a “block” that stops you from identifying the career you were born to do.

To solve these problems, you need to move away from an unfocused online job search and focus on understanding yourself better instead. This is done by determining what you enjoyed and did not enjoy in your previous jobs and by understanding your personality. This is why I always do a personality assessment with all of my clients, because not every type of career is the right fit for every type of personality.

Step 2: Nail Your Mission

Having a mission is why you get out of bed and go to work. If I didn’t know that my purpose was to help women find work they love, I would never leave my sweet little daughter and get out of bed. So, what is your purpose and mission in life and why should you get out of bed in the morning? If you hate your job, this is definitely something you want to think about.

Step 3: Self-Reflect

The only way to find a career that you’re happy with is to make sure you find a career that matches your interests. You want to find a career that motivates you because you’re going to be more successful in your career when you’re motivated. You also have to determine what your ideal workday is and what your favorite skills are. We want you to use your favorite skills, not the skills you are just good at. We also want you to find a job that matches the work environment that fits you best.

Something else that needs some self-reflection is determining if being an entrepreneur is right for you. I always give an entrepreneur assessment to all of my clients because I never knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur until I took this assessment. Our world is changing, and starting a business is so much easier than ever before, so if you have ever thought about it, I would highly recommend doing some reflection about this question as well.

Step 4: Target Your Job Search

Hiring managers can tell when you are not passionate about a job you are interviewing for, so that’s why you need to be very targeted and focused. An unfocused and unorganized job search is not going to get you the results you want.

Too many choices means you don’t know where to start first. And you won’t find a career you were born to do, you’ll just take that first one that comes your way. So I teach creating a long list of career targets and strategically narrowing them down so you have some solid targets to start investigating and working towards. If you are thinking about starting a business, this list of targets might be possible businesses to start instead.

Step 5: Uncover Potential Issues

You need to determine if your dream career could even be a reality. Have you thought about all the issues that could come up with your potential career choices? I want to make sure that we’ve gone through all those issues and you make the best decision.

So for instance, how is the industry doing and the company you are targeting doing financially? You want to check these things out before you get into that target career. And if you are starting a business, obviously this is where you want to assess any issues that could come up with that business before you start it.

Step 6: Create Your Ideal Career Outline & Personal Brand Strategy

Your ideal career outline is a one-page document that has all the steps you just completed before it – your interests, purpose, career targets and motivations, etc. You put that document front and center on your desk, and look at it when you are applying for jobs, networking, and interviewing. This makes sure you don’t apply for jobs that are not your ideal career. It helps you focus. You need an ideal career outline so you know how to network, how to update your resume, and so you can knock their socks off in an interview. You’re going to be so much prepared than other candidates by creating this ideal career outline.

Once you know where you are headed, THEN you can create your personal branding strategy. Your personal brand needs to be consistent in person and online. It really is an extension of your resume and helps you sell yourself and brag about yourself online and offline. You will know how you want to be perceived by other people and it will be clear and focused.  If you are an entrepreneur, same thing, you need an ideal business roadmap, which I teach, and then you need a branding strategy for your business online and offline.

Step 7: Kick It Into High Gear With Networking

This isn’t about just going to any old networking event. I teach a strategic networking action plan so you are networking with the right people to help you get the results you want and meet the people you need to meet to get your dream job.

I know you have limited time, so your job search and networking plan needs to be efficient and strategic. And if you are starting a business, your networking action plan is also super important to attract and gather your ideal target client as well. But, not networking with your ideal clients is a waste of time so that’s why you need to put together a solid networking action plan for your business.