We all want to find a job we’ll enjoy getting up everyday to get to, but that can be so hard to find. Where do you even start? We recommend identifying your skills and interests in your down time, to match those to any job descriptions you come across in job listings. We have five ways to identify those skills and interests during your job search.
Know Your Passions
What activities do you enjoy, that make you feel accomplished, or come naturally to you? These are your passions. So, what are you passionate about? Create a list and consider which of the items on the list that you wouldn’t mind spending an entire day doing. For example, some are passionate about copywriting for blogs or social media, others enjoy creating graphics with Photoshop, and many love podcasting at home. Find your thing and add that your list.
Consider Your Time
While we may love all the activities we put on our passions list, we do have to consider how time-consuming those activities can be. Doing them for eight hours daily, five days weekly can quickly turn a passion into a chore. You’ll want to choose something off your list that you want to do more of, so that it won’t lose its luster. Furthermore, consider that passions turn into skills from practice, and practice takes time. Choose an item off your list that you’ll want to nurture and improve, not something that will easily frustrate you after putting in hours of practice. Making that choice will determine your skills from your passions.
Learn Something New
How do you discover your skills and what you’re interested in? Try something new! New activities or hobbies become your interests, then become skills with practice. You don’t have to limit yourself to the activities on your list find what’s next for you. Instead of catering your existing skills to your dream job description, take an online course or earn a certification in a skillset that is required in the position or industry you’re passionate about.
Ask Friends & Family
Friends and family know you best. Ask them about what you’re good at, what they think makes you happy day-to-day, and what career choice they imagine you’ll do well in. Hearing their insights could spark something for you, something you never would have thought of doing yourself. Reaching out to friends or relatives who currently work in that industry could also help put you in touch with the proper connections; It’s easy networking.
Get Professional Feedback
You may not want to work in your current position or industry forever, but the skills and interests you glean from it could prove valuable to get you to what you do want to do forever. For example, you may not want to work in retail for life, but the customer service and communication skills learned on the job could help you go far in other career areas. And while you’re earning those skills, get feedback from coworkers and supervisors on your performance. This feedback will cover your strengths and areas of improvement that will highlight your skills you can take with you elsewhere. Feedback is invaluable!
Happy searching! Not just soul searching, but in your job search as well. For more job search and career assessment tips, follow our blog and catch new episodes of our podcast.
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