When you’re starting your job search, you don’t always know exactly what you’re looking for.
You may have had a vague idea about where you would like your career to go, but not necessarily an accurate idea about the kind of role that you believe would suit you.
There are a few things to consider when you begin your job hunt, to assess what kind of job will best suit you. Wiley have put together a list of questions to ask yourself when you start your job search and an exercise that can help you to answer them.
Where to start?
- When you were younger, people probably asked what you wanted to be when you were older. No doubt you had extravagant dreams.
- Do these match up with what you want to do now?!
- Think realistically about what you would like to be doing on a day to day basis at work.
- What is your ideal job and what kind of environment do you want to be working in?
What factors should you consider?
- Do you want to work for a big or small company? Or maybe even start up your own business?
- Would you like to work in an office, on the road or outside?
- Can you envisage yourself working with animals or children?
- Are you choosing your job based on financial motivation or emotional?
To help you to answer these questions do the following…
- Make a list of activities that you have been involved in over the years. These can be professional experiences or leisure activities, on your own time or with work.
- Rate each of these activities based on how much you enjoyed them. Use a scaled of -10 to +10 (enjoyable activities get a 9 or 10, unenjoyable ones get a -9 or -10).
- Analyse your list, asking yourself why you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy some of the activities you rated at each end of the spectrum.
- Look for patterns in the kinds of things you enjoyed or didn’t enjoy doing. If the common threads suggest that you enjoyed activities that involved people you are probably an extrovert, whereas if you enjoy helping people you may be suited to a service-based job.
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