Written by: Marianne Beck, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Are you considering where you want to go next in your work life? Maybe you spend your days spinning your wheels feeling like you’re wasting your talents and not accomplishing as much as you would like to. Or perhaps you keep saying yes to opportunities without really considering if those opportunities are the right ones for you. Being caught up in a loop where you’re not happy and fulfilled at work can be very frustrating. But thankfully, there are a number of questions you can ask to steer yourself in the right direction.
Working as a career coach, a lot of people who reach out to me for help and guidance to enjoy more rewarding careers find it difficult to explain what their ideal job scenario is. Many have never allowed themselves to really think about it. Others are afraid of failure or even the consequences of success. Hesitant.Gravitating towards the status quo.
And I FULLY understand. Staring into the unknown with no sense of direction can be quite scary. Because how can you find your ideal job, if you don’t know what it is?
If you don’t know where you’re headed, you’re not going to get there
You have to know what you’re looking for in order to find it. It’s really as simple as that. If you want to reach your full potential and have a career and a life at work that excites you, you’ll need to do some inner work. This means blocking out the noise from external sources and defining success on YOUR terms.
You've got to SLOW DOWN before you speed up. It seems counterintuitive, I know, but trust me on this. You can't go full steam ahead when you haven't worked out what your 'destination dream job' looks like.
You need to slow down and do the inner work needed to understand who you are, and what success in a successful purpose-built career life looks like for you.
What is your ideal job?
There are as many concepts and definitions of what an ideal job is as there are people on the planet. No two people are the same. Moreover, the pandemic has changed our general perception of where we work. Pre-2020, a job very often took place in a building with a company name on the front where we would spend 8+ hours a day before returning to our homes. Today, an in-the-office-based job is no longer a given.
For some, a prestigious office-based high-paying job is still ideal. Yet, for others, it’s working fully remote 25 hours a week with plenty of time to spend with the family and/or an energy-giving hobby. Or being a digital nomad working from a cafe, a campervan, or the beach somewhere before going hiking, surfing, bird watching, or whatever takes your fancy. Or something completely different.
Many would say that their dream job gives them meaning, purpose, fulfillment, freedom, a decent salary, a supportive line manager, a collaborative and respectful working environment and sociable hours.
No matter how you define your perfect fit role, it's important to know what matters to you, what your top priorities are and build a job around that.
The point is, there are no right or wrong answers...only what makes sense to YOU, how you define success and would like to work now and in the future. So, if you haven't started thinking about it, today is a perfect place to start.
Exercise: Defining your ideal job
If you have no idea what your dream job looks like, the following exercise is for you. Below, you will find a list of factors worth considering to help you gain clarity on what your ideal job situation looks like.
Important Job Factors exercise
I strongly recommend that you write your answers down as opposed to just thinking about them. That way, you’ll document your thoughts and reflections. Your thought process is likely to be iterative and having it on paper allows you to track your progress and to go back and amend and update as well as share it with mentors and thought partners of your choice.
1. Development/growth potential:
What and how would you like to develop and grow – personally and professionally?
2. Compensation & benefits:
What are your expectations in terms of base salary, bonuses, pension scheme, health insurance, car allowance and other benefits?
3. Company size:
What company size would suit you and why?
4. Location:
What is your ideal work location?
And how many days of travel are you prepared to accept, if any?
5. Company culture:
What characterizes the company culture that you would like to work in?
6. Working conditions:
How many hours per week would you like to work?
Would you prefer to work from an office or from home or both?
Would you prefer to have your own office, or are you happy to work in an open plan?
How many weeks’ paid holiday do you expect to have? What are your expectations in terms of training and development?
Any other conditions that are important to you?
7. Boss:
How would you describe your ideal boss?
What do you expect from him/her in terms of motivation, support, development, etc
8. Team:
What would be your ideal team setup?
What role(s) do you tend to play in a team?
9. Job content:
What would be your ideal job(s)?
Which areas of responsibility and tasks would you like to/prefer to have? Please list everything relevant or of interest to you and where you believe your talents can be best put to use.
I truly hope you’ll enjoy this exercise and find it rewarding. I’m passionate about helping women be more of who they truly are, so they can have more joy, enthusiasm and fulfillment in their work.
If you are serious about taking your work life to the next level, I would like to gift you my guide, which gives you 5 effective steps to elevate your career and transition to the calling that you're truly passionate about.
Do you want to learn more about having a purpose-built career and finding the work you love? Partnering with me gives you the framework, community and professional support to reach a greater understanding of the beliefs you have about yourself, your habits and behaviors and how it impacts your results. I’ll support and challenge you respectfully to make sure you come away from each session with clarity, certainty and confidence in what you’re looking for and the steps you need to take in order to achieve what you truly want.
It's time to design your career life the way YOU want it 👊🏼
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, for more motivation, inspiration and education on this topic and visit my website for more info!
Marianne Beck, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Marianne Beck is an Executive Career Coach who helps women in Leadership and Specialist positions find the job that they love, so that they can be more of who they truly are and work in alignment with the lifestyle they want. In 2014, Marianne began to notice signs of burnout and decided to leave the corporate world after a long career in leading HR roles. Driven by her passion for helping others discover their ideal work scenario and how to achieve it, she created her signature programme the Dream Career Method. Marianne now works with private and corporate clients in Europe and the US and is the founder and CEO of Marianne Beck Executive Career Coaching.
