The Roadmap to the Career of your Dreams...

The Roadmap to the Career of your Dreams

by Raza Abbas

If you could get 01 day or 01 month off from your routine life, what would you do with your time? Did you know that professionals excel when they combine attitude and skills with their personal passions. Sounds like luxury doesn’t it but why not just for a few minutes think about what your dream job is.  Start with yourself first. What do you like to do? What are you personally drawn to?

Based on my global and local experience there are 08 steps to achieve your career passion:

1. Identify your passion or what could be your passion- that’s your nucleus. List down one area that you really enjoy, even if you aren’t paid for it.

2. Identify the kinds of organizations that support your passion- those are your electrons. Aim for at least 05 organizations that cater to your interests.

3. Research what those kind of organizations do.  How do they function, who do they recruit?

4. Deliberate on each kind of organization which feels the best for you. Look at their values, mission statement, leadership team, annual reports, etc. 

5. Expand your existing social and professional network to find people that work in those organizations. If you don’t have one start building it: For example create a profile on Linkedin.com where 120 million professionals are on it! Start a blog, create your Facebook page, or launch your twitter profile. For those of you who are introverts this might seem like a daunting task, but don’t worry there are plenty of tutorials online. You can also get help from a career counselor.

6. When you find some of the people who are a part of these organizations, send them an email, a LinkedIn request or a Facebook message to find out about their reasons for choosing the organizations they are in. 

7. Set up informational interviews with the professionals you‘ve contacted. Make it clear to them that you are not asking for a job interview.

8. Start your job search after your informational interview, not before. Start drafting a plan on how you are going to work on your skills and tailor your expertise so that you can become an ideal candidate for the organization of your choice.

And with these eight steps Excellence begins!  People believe that once they are part of an organization, the passion for their work will just appear; often it’s the other way around. Follow your passion, even if it takes a while, never give up on the pursuit of your dream job. After life is too short for the wrong job.

About the Author: Mr. Raza Abbas, a dual degree graduate from The University of Arizona, USA and trained in Career Counseling from its Career Services Dept is a pioneer in the field of career counseling in Pakistan. This article was first published in the 12th Issue - Print Edition - of the TimeTrax HR Professionals NewsBeat in January 2012.