Many people come to coaching
in the search for a better job. Some want help in
locating the perfect job, others want help in writing
their selection criteria and application and still
others want to build their skills in interviews.
All of these are perfectly valid steps but they all are
missing the most important beginning steps. YOU! When
looking for the perfect job, don't start by looking
outwards at others and what they have to offer, the best
place to start is inwards and who you are.
If you start with what jobs are available, you have
given all your power and control away to other people,
you are reacting rather than creating what you need to
be fulfilled and happy. The possibility of a perfect
match between you and your job falls dramatically, and
you may end up yet another passenger in a corporation.
It is like looking for a love partner just in one place
looking around a room, asking who is available and then
moving in with the first person who puts their hand up.
You wouldn't do it with love, so why would you do it
with something that you will spend a lot of time and
passion on?
If you want to be in the perfect job, the first place to
start is with your key values. Your values will
determine where you spend your time, energy and money.
When you know what is important to you, you have started
to write your own selection criteria for a job. For
example if showing care and appreciation for other
people is important to you, you will not be happy or
fulfilled in a job that provides no recognition towards
its staff or allows limited interaction between staff
members.
If you value honesty highly, then selling a product you
do not believe in will not work for you in the long
term. Once you have your top 10 values, you can use this
list to talk with potential employers when you ring for
further information, ask about what the work team is
like, what are the key challenges of the company and the
role in the coming months, ask the person what the
organizational culture is like.
These will help you know whether you want to work there
or not, as you can compare what they say with what is
important to you.
Next write out two position or job descriptions (thanks
Barbara Sher for this idea). Start by writing out the
most horrible job that you can think of - the hours of
work, location, people you would work with, tasks you
would be asked to do, type of boss, pay.
Think back and add in all the bits you have hated from
other jobs or jobs you have heard about. Really have fun
designing the most horrible job in the world. Read it
through and then totally swap everything 180 degrees for
the second description. This will help you design the
perfect job you are looking for.
