It’s something we all want! A dream job. A job that gets us so excited we can’t wait to get out of bed on Monday morning and dive right in. A job that makes us feel engaged, energized and enthused. They do exist! You can find your dream job!

What is “your dream job”?

A dream job aligns with your personal brand. The position leverages your experiences and your accomplishments. Your boss and you see eye-to-eye on what it takes to be successful. The company recognizes and rewards your efforts.

Dream jobs are hard to find. They don’t happen by accident. Perhaps in an employee market as we experienced in 2018 and 2019, but in the market brought about by the global pandemic, a dream job will be impossible to find without a plan! In my book, Amplify Your Job Search – Strategies for Finding Your Dream Job, I describe a plan you can use to find your dream job.

What a dream job is not, is your last job. You may have many dream jobs during your career. Use this plan to find them all!

Find Jeff Ton’s latest book on his website, at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.

It starts with you

Before you can find a job that aligns with your personal brand, you have to know your personal brand. We all have a brand, what’s yours? What impression do people have when they read your LinkedIn profile? That’s your brand (at least part of it). Your personal brand is made of four essential elements: your strengths, your values, your passions, and your purpose. Take some time to write down those elements.

Telling stories

We all have stories to tell. Think about your career, what have you accomplished? Of those accomplishments, which ones get you excited when you tell others about them? Which ones do others get excited about when you tell them? Take some time to hone your stories. Chances are the accomplishments that get you most excited are the ones that align with your personal brand. They also indicate the type of work you love to do.

Let’s do coffee…virtually

In this age of COVID and social distancing, you might not be ready for face-to-face networking, however, you can and should continue to network. Now is a great time to expand your network. Reach out to your connections, ask them what connections they can make for you. While you are at it, it is a great time to diversify your network. If your network connections all look like you, sound like you, or think like you it will dramatically decrease your reach.

Rock your resume

The average resume is read for SIX seconds on its first pass. If that six-seconds gets your resume in the reject stack you are toast. Your resume has to tell the reader what you can do for them in six seconds. They have a problem. You are the answer. Be sure your resume gives them that answer!

Time to learn marketing

You are now in sales and marketing. You are selling…you! You want to find your dream job. Begin by identifying your target market. Create your three top ten lists: the top ten things you want in your next role; the top ten things you want in your next boss; the top ten things you want in your next company. Force rank the lists from 1 to 10. Those lists become your search criteria (and later your evaluation criteria!) Use keywords from your top ten lists to compile a list of companies and roles that match. Those companies and jobs are your target market!

Network your way to success

Using your target market, begin to focus your networking (remember those coffee meetings I mentioned earlier) on those companies and those roles. With social media, that whole “Kevin Bacon and six degrees of separation” thing are probably two or three degrees today. That’s two or three degrees (or less) of separation between you and your dream job!

Land that dream job

As you begin to get interviews and job offers, use your top ten lists to evaluate the offers. Which job at which company checks more of the boxes? If you want to get nerdy (and who doesn’t want to get nerdy) assign weighted scores to your top ten lists (eg. a #1 one criteria is worth 10 points). Now, which job stands out from the rest?