Get Your DREAM Job – Part 1 of 5 (Priorities)

This week I started a new video series on how to get your DREAM job. Watch it now!

VIDEO SUMMARY

This week for many people is the first week of college classes. So I wanted to make a series of videos for all you college students out there. And something that college students think a lot about is getting a job. So over the next couple of weeks, I am going to make a series of videos on “how to get your dream job.” When I think about my career to this point, I have been really lucky to have had a lot of jobs that I have really enjoyed. It has always been really important to me that I find my work meaningful. You spend so much time at work every day, why not spend that time doing something you are good at and you enjoy. So I was thinking about this the other day, and I realized my experience is not most people’s experience. Most people never find their dream job. And I have had a whole string of jobs I have really loved. So what is it that I have done differently? I have narrowed it down to three main concepts. And I am going to be telling you some stories of when I was first starting out in my career of how I put these concepts into practice. So these will be very practical videos. And if you are thinking of looking for a job or doing a career change, I think these three ideas will really help you get to where you want to be in your career.

First, I would like to define what we are talking about. I define a dream job as when you are excited, inspired, and look forward to going into work every day. That’s a dream job. It is about having a job you find meaningful. For me, that is being an accountant. But it is probably different for each one of you. So part of this is to personally discover for yourself the right dream job for you.

Now we have to be careful here. Because I am talking about a very specific thing. The key thing here is that you are very focused about what you want, because what I am going to tell you will not be easy. It requires a lot of sacrifice and hard work. I am not giving any quick and easy solutions to getting your dream job.

So let us start by talking about sacrifice. I think that life is really pretty simple. You figure out what you want out of life, and then you sacrifice in other areas that are not as important to you. Since we are talking about dream jobs, the obvious choice that comes up often deals with money. This is an important distinction. I am not making a video series on how to make the most money. I am talking about finding a meaningful job. These are two very different things. Because I guarantee you, at some point you are going to face a certain situation. You will be considering two different jobs: one makes a lot of money, but you do not find it interesting, while the other makes less money, but you really want the job. Which job do you take? That is the choice we are talking about. Getting a dream job is not everyone’s priority. Maybe you care more about the money. Maybe you care about something else. Maybe you care more about having a big family. Or traveling. Or having free time. Or living in a certain city. So you need to ask yourself, is this something you really want? You have to understand your priority, and whether you are willing to make the sacrifices necessary. Only then are you ready to move onto step 1.

So this is all we are doing in this first video, is you are deciding if you really even want a dream job. Not everyone is cut out to be a corporate warrior, and that is okay. You have to decide for yourself. Each of you has in your mind some idea of what you want to do with your life. You would not be watching this video if you did not already know. So here is what I want you to do. Take out a piece of paper. On one side, write down your dream job. On the other side of the paper, list out the following words: money, family, traveling, free time, location. Now look at this piece of paper and ask yourself, are you willing to sacrifice in these other areas, in order to get your dream job. The goal of this is to simply prioritize your life choices. Why do you really care about having a meaningful job? Why not take a job you do not like as much and focus on the other areas of your life? I can just talk about my experience as an accountant. I love being an accountant. But I have talked in other videos about some of the challenges of being an accountant. I talked before about the CPA exam and how hard it is. If you are going to pass that test, it is going to require you to make sacrifices in these other areas of your life. So before we go any farther, you need to think about what job interests you enough that you are willing to make it a priority.

To finish, let me share with you my perspective on why this is so important. I actually think it is important that people find their dream job. This is about people being happy and fulfilled at work. Gallup did a poll of America workers, and found that 71% were not engaged or actively disengaged in their work. People do not like their jobs. Just stop to think about that. We can do better than this. Society would be so much better off, if people were in jobs they were passionate about. When you are leading an organization, you want workers who are passionate about what they do. We all know that happy workers are more productive, and we would all make more money.

That is it for this first video. So spend some time thinking about this and come back next week where I am going to talk about step 1 of how you get your dream job. In step 1, we are going to talk about resume tips, and I am going to cover what I call the ultimate resume paradox.

Thank you for watching. Leave a comment down below letting me know what you think! The best way to supercharge your business is through accounting and corporate finance. I release a new video every week, so come back and check out next week’s video.

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Neither Zach De Gregorio or Wolves and Finance Inc. shall be liable for any damages related to information in this video. It is recommended you contact a CPA in your area for business advice.