Yes, you. And you are more complicated than, “what do you like to do?” to start a job search. Your interests are important, but even they can get complicated. You may be interested in music, but not want it as a career field. You have interests inside you that have not been explored yet, and will develop over the course of your life. Some of your biggest interests now, might very well taper off as you find new outlets to explore.
So what about, “you” then? The best place to start is with those innate abilities that you were born with and that you are just naturally good at.
Why?
Because when we do those tasks that we excel at, we tend to be more engaged. If you have a talent for organizing, then you would be great in jobs where you spend a majority of your time organizing projects, people, or things. You do it well, so you will excel at it, and this creates both confidence and satisfaction. If you were ok at organizing, you could still do these tasks. It might take more time to do well. and add some stress to them-even if you become proficient and do well. Two people can learn a song on the piano and both play it really well. The one with natural talent will do it quicker and it will feel good- a sense of engagement or “flow” occurs. The other individual will work hard to learn to play that piece just as well. That might even bring about a sense of satisfaction. “I worked really hard and look what I accomplished.” We definitely want a certain amount of that in our life, but you will enjoy a career that has more engaging tasks than tasks you must climb a mountain to conquer. You will not burn out or become stressed out as easily. Do what comes naturally to you, and start from there.
However, because you are more complicated than even your interests and natural abilities, there is even more you should think about before you start your career search: your personality. That’s right. Your personality characteristics should pay a large part in the roles you take on. I once worked with a client who was an excellent editor. This was her sweet spot. She had a natural ability for it and was engaged in her work. She was also alone in a room by herself most of the day doing this independent work. This client was an extroverted person, which means that she got energy from interacting with other people and she was not interacting much at all, even though she was engaged in her work. She began to feel depressed and didn’t know why. Once she knew more about her personality traits, she was able to add more interaction into her job to satisfy that extroverted personality trait.
There are many pieces to the puzzle that makes up YOU. You have had a lifetime(no matter what your age) of values and beliefs that you have acquired- from family, friends, community and life experience. Some may even come from social media and tv/movies. Knowing what these values and beliefs are in your life, and which ones are very strong, can play a big part in what roles are important to you. For example, what if you like the field of Nursing, but feel strongly that you do not want to work holidays or weekends, because you want to be with your family? This affects the type nursing jobs you would want to apply for and could possibly leave out hospital jobs.
Some people find out when they start looking inward at their beliefs, that they are not even their own- they are society driven-what they think is the right value, or they thought it was what their parents wanted, and that was important to them. Finding out what really drives you can be empowering.
Taking the extra time at the beginning of a career/job search to assess each of these puzzle pieces will give you a much bigger perspective on all the pieces that make up you. This will not only give you confidence that you are choosing the best routes for you, but enable you to convey more clearly what you can do for your future employer. Take the time and do the inner work. Get to know “you” a little better.
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