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As you reflect on your journey, take a moment to appreciate the progress you've made. From recognizing your strengths to defining your values and crafting your career plan (CAP), you've shown dedication to self-improvement by taking that sacred time for yourself. Besides, you have refined your insights through mentorship, you are therefore now poised to move forward.

In this article, I will guide you in shaping your ideal next role through straightforward steps, envisioning your dream job as if there're no barriers or limitations for you to fiznd that job. My own journey led me to discover these steps that transformed my career path. Don't get me wrong, a dream job, as I see it, isn't necessarily that single same lifelong job in a corporate setting. Instead, I see it more as a role where tasks feel like play, time flies by effortlessly, your strengths are maximized, and purpose drives your work beyond just a paycheck. And because we all evolve, each new role has to be a reflection of our evolutions, updated aspirations and new purpose.

Once you reach this level that I call the "perfect equilibrium", you start to feel an exceptional harmony. You enjoy your work, you therefore give it your best self, and because you give it your best self, your work will give it back to you by making you perform highly and thrive. And because you're highly performing and thriving, you will gain more confidence and enjoy it even more, and there continues this virtuous cycle.

Imagine during this exercise, that you will be given all the means and possibilities to have that dream job. But if asked you right now, could you clearly articulate your ideal job? Many struggle with this, especially in today's rapidly changing landscape. According to a study by Dell Technologies and the IFTF (Institute For The Future), by 2030, 85% of jobs that will exist have yet to be invented. This shift challenges the conventional job search based solely on titles, opening up a realm of possibilities to tailor roles to individual aspirations. And I find fascinating.

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So, let's get started, let me take you through the simple steps I designed, which I hope will help you as much as they helped me:

 

1- Think tasks over title:

 

Shift your perspective from fixating on job titles to analyzing tasks. When you focus on titles, you miss out on so many other opportunities which you wouldn’t even know they exist. Just because you were taught this way, doesn't mean that you can't do things differently. And here's how it works:

  • Go back to your career aspirations plan (CAP) that you just completed, extract essential keywords reflecting your aspirations and purpose.
  • Use these key words to search and explore on line as many jobs' descriptions as you can, not titles but job descriptions. Look for peoples' profiles and experiences which jobs' descriptions contain or cover some or all of your key words.
  • Leverage digital tools such as LinkedIn, Indeed, JobSeek, Monster, Remotive and many more to complete this search phrase. Look for tasks that resonate with you, emphasize and highlight those you find engaging and fulfilling, or those that you would love to do in a perfect world. Reflect if your strengths will be used to the fullest if you had to do these tasks for real.

To help you on this step, let's use the same fictional person (Rubie) that I shared in my previous article about the CAP. In Rubie's cap, it became evident that her key words seem to all converge towards "innovation, inventing and research". Rubie has therefore performed her on-line search focusing only on job descriptions and peoples' profiles containing anything related to "innovation, inventing and research". There you go, you can now get started and apply this step the same way as Rubie did.

 

2 - Consolidate your dream tasks:

 

During your search process, start by creating a dedicated document to compile all the tasks and responsibilities that resonate with your aspirations. Name this document "my dream tasks collection". Ultimately, your collection should encompass every inspiring job responsibility and task without limitations. Embrace each phrase you come across that aligns with your purpose and aspirations as per your CAP key words. Reiterate the search as much as necessary until you get to a stage where you sense a level of repetition indicating a mature thought process. I observed that this repetition signifies that you are ready for the next step after weeks of exploration.

By diligently completing this phase, you will uncover insightful outcomes, gaining profound self-awareness that elevates your career journey to a transformative experience beyond a mere job pursuit. Remember to always refer back to your trusted mentor(s), to talk through your collection of dream tasks, to vocalize out the reasons why certain responsibilities captivate you more than others and how do they connect to your purpose, strengths and values.

 

3- Identify your common themes:

 

After compiling your dream tasks, take time to observe and pinpoint common themes among them. These themes represent recurring subjects or topics where you can categorize your selection of tasks. To illustrate more this step, let's refer back to Rubie's example. By analyzing her dream tasks, Rubie identified three prominent themes: a passion for driving change, a love for research and data analysis, and a desire to share knowledge with others. See below how Rubie assigned each dream task under one theme.

Remember that this example below is fully finished, bear in mind that when you'll get started, it'll be messier than that, and this is fine. Give yourself all the time you need until you reach some maturation and eventually a final version. It usually takes a good 2 to 3 months to get to this nice and clear version.

 

Apply the same method to your own scenario to unveil your 2 to 3 common themes. By defining these clearly, you can structure your narrative effectively. This process equips you to articulate your aspirations concisely and impactfully and also to enhancing your storytelling approach moving on. This work will preciously help you rebuild your resumé and get started for job interviews later on.

As you complete this exercise, bring back your top 3 strengths and write them down clearly. Consider these strengths as the foundation for your tasks collection, enabling you to effortlessly tackle tasks aligned with your own common themes. Additionally, list your core values to remind yourself of the environment where you thrive best at work. Lastly, prioritize your purpose at the top, envisioning it as the destination. Each dream task you selected should bring you closer to your purpose. Visualizing these 4 pillars (strengths, dream tasks, values, and purpose) all in one document holds a significant power.

Avoid the common trap of rushing into a job change without structured intention. Taking time to uncover your true aspirations and aligning them with deliberate actions will lead to a more purposeful career transition even if it will take you some extra time. Rushing without intentional effort often results in setbacks, disappointments and losing sight of why did you even want to change at the first instance.

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With this, you would have completed this big step. I do recognize it demands some digging, time and patience but the clues this method will give you will be absolutely powerful. This will help you put your focus in the right effort, in connecting with the right people later on, and keep you serene throughout the whole journey as you're clear on where you want to go.

Stay tuned for my next article, as we will push this method a little bit extra and stretch the effort even more to help you reach more maturation of your outcomes.

Some books which inspired me (even though not directly related this article):