Simple Instructions for How to do What You Love

Discovering what you love to do is difficult. But that’s because the answer is usually right in front of your nose and you can’t see it.

I recently met a woman who said, “I know it sounds frivolous, but I just want a job that I love doing.”

There’s nothing frivolous about this.

You can have a job you love doing — or at least a job you like a lot if you use talents you enjoy, or work with people you enjoy, or do work that aligns with your purpose.

There are nay-sayers out there who believe a job is a job and love has nothing to do with it. Or those that say a job is what you do to pay the bills. I’m not disagreeing. You may not LOVE every job you hold, but wouldn’t it be nice to find one?

Identifying what will allow you to love your job seems harder than it actually is. The truth is, the answers are right in front of your nose and you can’t see them.

The secret to uncovering what’s next is taking action. Don’t just think about it, do something.

How To Find A Job You Love

Here are some things you can do to get closer to figuring out what’s next.

Make A List

Think about the times in your life you felt happy. What were you doing? Keep thinking and write them all down.

Recalling moments you were happy (at work or outside of work) will help you identify what you enjoy doing. You were probably using skills that come so naturally to you, you’ll overlook them.

“If you can’t think about what you want to do, start a list of what you aren’t interested in and don’t like to do,” says career coach Shelley Piedmont. “That can be a jumping-off point when you are stuck.”

Be True To Your Values

Your values play an important role in how much you love your job. You don’t often think about these things and they can change based on the point of life you are in or recent changes.

Your values also help you make hard decisions.

Author and storyteller, Brene Brown, created a values worksheet to help you identify your top values and the behaviors to support them. You can find it here.

Rewards

Do you know what makes you feel fulfilled? And do you know how you like to be rewarded?

Ed Han, a recruiter and job seeker advocate says “I would say that it''s essential to understand what is it that makes you feel rewarded for accomplishing something at work.”

To get to the heart of this, think about times at work you felt rewarded or fulfilled. What were you doing? And did you receive recognition?

Look For Recurring Themes

Wait a day or so and then review the list and look for re-occurring patterns or themes.

Think about: What skills were you using? What problems were you solving? What types of people were you helping? What types of people were you working with? Why were these moments fulfilling?

When you see some of these patterns, write down your findings. Writing it down helps make it real and helps remind you of what you are looking for.

Enlist Help From Others

Reach out to past colleagues you worked with, volunteered with or went to school with and ask them what they think your strengths are.

These people can easily identify your best qualities. All you need to do is ask.

While you are having these conversations, go ahead and ask them for their ideas about what they see you doing next (jobs or organizations).

Take An Career Assessment

There are many assessments out there to help you match your skills, personality, and interests with occupations.

One free assessment that aligns with your interests is O*NET Interest Profiler; Because this ties back to the occupation data in O*Net, it’s easy to review the results and detailed information for occupations that interest you the most.

Gina Riley and other career coaches recommend a paid assessment, such as YouMapA®.

Riley says “There are all kinds of coaches using this tool. Leadership, careers, nutrition, business … you name it. The tool is super adaptable.”

YouMapA® costs $129. Though this includes valuable insights and actions, I highly recommend working with a coach to debrief your results so you truly understand what they mean and how they apply to your job search options. Consult this list of certified YouMap coaches.

One more resource is Alison Doyle’s Career Tool Belt which has a list of Free Tests For Career Changers.

Research

Conduct research on the occupations and jobs you may love. You can use O*Net to research alternative job titles, tasks, technology, wages and growth information, for occupations.

For example, if you were interested in Training and Development, O*Net lists these sample job titles: Computer Training Specialist, Corporate Trainer, Job Training Specialist, Leadership Development Specialist, Learning and Development Consultant, Learning and Development Specialist (L and D Specialist), Management Development Specialist, Trainer, Training and Development Consultant, Training Specialist

Next, use a job board like Indeed to see what jobs really sound like.

“Another step to advance towards finding a satisfying role,” according to Debra Feldman, “is talking to individuals who currently work or used to work in one of the positions identified.

Brainstorm With A Trusted Colleague

One way to help you make sense of your findings is to talk with someone you trust. Ask them what they see you doing next or review your list of findings.

You could even enlist the help of someone you trust and ask them how you could make money doing these things. Forging a new career path may involve starting your own business.

Start Your Job List

Make a new list of the job titles you’ve identified and been supplied with that seem most promising.

As Debra Feldman, a career coach, recommends “Another step to advance towards finding a satisfying role is talking to individuals who currently work or used to work in one of the positions identified.”

Look for people in your network who hold those roles or used to be in those positions and have an informational meeting with them.

This Is A Process of Self Discovery

This is about the journey mostly, not the destination. What will you learn about yourself in the process of trying to discover a job you love?

Now, more than ever, you want to find a fulfilling job, maybe even one you love. And that starts by understanding what you need.

The post Simple Instructions for How to do What You Love appeared first on Career Sherpa.

Published March 22, 2023

Top 6 Tips For Resume Formatting

Resumes are still the main âcalling card” used by job seekers and there are various schools of thought about the formatting of this document.

Here are a few tips for formatting your resume that may help you beat the blank screen blues if you’re creating a new resume from scratch (or updating one you haven’t touched in years):

1. White Space Is Important

Man on laptop thinking about how to format his resume

Most resumes have at least a half-inch margin, but a full inch is preferable. If your margins are smaller, you risk losing content if the document is printed by the hiring manager. Plus, a resume that lacks a one-inch margin is harder for the reader to peruse and may look cluttered or chaoticâtwo qualities that are not often sought by employers.

Readability is key when formatting your resume. Keep this in mind if you’re using a resume template, or adding bullet after bullet of new information to your already-existing resume. It’s a delicate balance between too much and too little information. Never underestimate the power of white space in your resume.

2. Don’t Leave Empty Fields

Woman on laptop correctly formats her resume for a job opening

If you’re going to use a resume template, ensure all of the fields are completed with your personal information. Nothing looks worse than seeing “insert job information here” on a candidate’s resume. A glaring resume mistake like this may tell the hiring manager you lack attention to detail or other basic skills needed for the job.

The better choice may be to look at a variety of resume formats and combine styles based on your level of experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.

3. Use Spellcheck & Have A Human Edit Your Resume

Man helps his friend format her resume

Spellcheck is great, but it doesn’t catch all grammatical and typographical errors. It’s helpful to have someone else review your resume. Ask for that person’s feedback on the style of your resume and the resume’s readability and content.

Where do their eyes look first? Did you quantify your work experience? Are your skills relevant to the position you’re applying for? Does the resume prompt them to want to learn more about you and your qualifications?

A good resume format doesn’t mean a thing if you have spelling and grammatical mistakes. Having another person review your resume could save you from some embarrassing job search fails. It’s definitely worth the extra time and energy.

4. Cut The Fluff

Woman on laptop cuts the fluff while formatting her resume

Your resume should be clear and concise. Almost all people applying to jobs nowadays know how to use Microsoft Office programs and email, so there’s no need to have a technical skills section on your resume unless you have skills that set you apart from the competition.

There’s also no need to list “references available upon request.” If employers want to check your references, they will ask for them.

Resume fluff only hurts your chances of getting the job. Nowadays, it’s about quality, not quantity. A one-page resume with quantifiable accomplishments and work experience is always better than a two-page resume with irrelevant information.

So, cut the fluff and get clear on the value you bring to the table.

5. Be Consistent With Your Style

Man on laptop follows resume formatting tips

Keep fonts and font sizes the same throughout your resume. You should also consider using a similar heading on all pages of the document if your resume is more than one page. This is a good precaution in case the pages become separated.

Any inconsistencies will be distracting for the hiring manager. Choose a clean font, pick a font size, and keep the same style in each section of your resume, including section titles.

6. Determine If Your Page Length Is Appropriate

Most resumes are one to two pages. However, if you have more than 20 years of experience and/or a number of academic or professional publications, your resume may be longer.

Keep in mind that a longer resume doesn’t equal more review time by the recruiter or hiring manager. Your most important information should still be at the top of page one. This is where all your hard skills (and transferable skills) should be, as well as your most relevant work experience.

When in doubt, ask yourself if the information you want to include on your resume makes you a better candidate for the job. If not, it’s probably not relevant to the position and can be removed.

Resumes are not static documents, so even if you think you’re finished with crafting a great one, you will want to revise it slightly for each job you are applying for and add to it as you obtain more experience. Since more and more recruiters are using social media, you will also want to update your LinkedIn profile to match your new resume.

With the right resume format, you’ll catch the eye of hiring managers everywhere. We hope you use these resume formatting tips during your next job search. You’ll be surprised by how much of a difference it makes.

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.