Find Your Dream Job: Insider Tips for Finding Work, Advancing your Career, and Loving Your Job

Choosing the industry you want to pursue in your career is one of the most important decisions you will make, but it can also be one of the toughest. How do you narrow your choices if you aren’t sure what you want to do? One of the most helpful ways, says Find Your Dream Job guest Meg Gerry, is trial and error.

Does imposter syndrome hold you back from pursuing your dream job? It’s a common issue that affects approximately 75% of us at least once in our careers. If you feel like a fraud when discussing your job skills, there are concrete ways to overcome it, says Find Your Dream Job guest Lisa Orbe-Austin.

Long-distance job searching can present unique challenges, from figuring out what your new city has to offer to meeting the people who can potentially help you in your search. On this bonus episode of Find Your Dream Job, Elizabeth Lattanner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-shappell/) and I discuss her move from Washington DC to Portland, and how she leveraged her network in DC to begin building a network 2,000  miles away.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we look for work. But how long will those changes last, and what do they mean for the future of job search? According to Find Your Dream Job guest John Sullivan, the changes are permanent and you need to be prepared to adjust your strategy.

If you’ve stopped looking for work because of the current pandemic, you might be surprised to learn that many employers are still hiring. There is, however, a lot of uncertainty in the economy, says Find Your Dream Job guest Biron Clark, so you need to go into a job search focusing on the here and now rather than the long-term.

Conducting a job search in a stay-at-home world requires a vastly different skill set than many of us are accustomed to, says Find Your Dream Job guest Toni Patterson. Video interviews have replaced face-to-face meetings, and technology know-how is now a requirement, not just an added benefit.

When you’re looking for that perfect job fit, you need more than just a network. You need a group of people who know you, your needs, and your personal values. Find Your Dream Job guest Soumary Vongrassamy says you need friends who will remind you of what’s really important and who will help you ask tough questions about the job.

If you’ve moved to a new city, you might expect it to take a while to find a job that you love. But on this bonus episode of Find Your Dream Job, Jackie Starr (http://linkedin.com/in/jackiestarr) shares how she found her dream job in a new city in just two months.

If you’ve been looking for your next position for quite some time, you may feel discouraged. It’s normal to experience depression during an extended job search. It’s also normal to not want to talk about it, says Find Your Dream Job guest Ashley Watkins.

Using a job board may seem like a productive way to spend your time, but is it? According to Find Your Dream Job guest Susan Joyce, the answer is “maybe.” Susan says job boards work best when you identify your target employers and customize your resume for those employers.

The likelihood of an applicant tracking system reviewing your application rather than a human is steadily increasing. How can you ensure that your resume rises to the top and doesn’t end up in the circular file? First, you need to pay attention to the job posting, says Find Your Dream Job guest Brandon Laws.

Are you ready for a career that allows you to impact your community and the world, outside the nonprofit sector? No matter which field your expertise is in, B Corps offer you an opportunity to make that impact. B Corps are companies that are dedicated to transparency and reshaping the workplace, according to Find Your Dream Job guest Kathleen Everett.

Are you scoring interviews but no job offers? If so, it’s time to figure out what you need to do differently in order to move from candidate to new employee. It all begins with the first 5 minutes of the interview, says Find Your Dream Job guest Sarah Johnston. How you answer the, “Tell me about yourself,” question gives the hiring manager the chance to evaluate many things about you.

Sometimes, the hardest part of finding your next job is getting started. If you’re currently in a stable, well-paying position, it can feel scary and uncomfortable to think about leaving that safety for something new. On this bonus episode of Find Your Dream Job, Maddy Abulencia and I dig deep into what it takes to begin a job search, as well as how to use your network to help you find your next position.

Looking for a job without clearly job search defined goals typically leads to frustration and unhappiness. A job search is not a research project, says Find Your Dream Job guest Brandy Richardson.