In this video we cover Step 1 of getting your dream job! Watch now!
VIDEO SUMMARY
So last week, I made part 1 on this video series on how to get your dream job. And a dream job is simply a job where you are excited, inspired, and look forward to going into work every day. And I think it is important that everyone aspire to be in a job they love.
So I thought a very practical place to start is your resume. When you sit down to write out your resume, everyone runs into the same problem. I call this the Resume Paradox. The Resume Paradox is this: You need a job to get experience, but you need experience to get a job. I am sure many of you have already come across this problem. You may be currently in a job you do not like, and you might want to apply for a job that requires five years of experience already doing that job. So how do you make that career jump to your desired job that needs experience?
Let’s look at an example of this. Imagine you are a secretary. You got this secretary job after high school. What you really want to do is become an interior decorator. So you have experience as a secretary, but how do you apply for a job as an interior decorator, without any experience?
The good thing is, there is a very simple way to solve the resume paradox that very few people implement. The solution is to do free work. So let us use the example of the interior decorator job. You could work as a secretary during the day, and then use your time off to do free work. There are so many ways you could build a portfolio as an interior decorator by doing free work. I want to look at six examples.
- Related Studies. You can spend time studying everything about interior decorating and new trends.
- Successful Projects. You can do free design work.
- Work experience with major companies. Do a free internship with a well-known design company.
- Positive reviews. You can get customer reviews.
- Submit your work for awards.
- Industry groups. You can build a network with the local industry.
The idea here is very simple. The person who spends their nights and weekends working towards their dream job is likely to get it. It is as simple as that. If you want a certain job, just spend your time off working towards it.
This idea really makes your resume stand out. Just compare the person willing to do free work with someone who spends their nights and weekends going to parties and playing video games. Looking at those two people, who do you think is going to get their dream job? This is not a really complicated idea. It is the person who is willing to put in the work. Most people refuse to do it. We are talking about hard work that you might have to do for a decade. People hate to put in all this effort without getting paid. But I am telling you, a job opportunity will pop up and you will have all this resume experience. You will be able to walk into that interview room, and it will be obvious that you know what you are talking about and that you love what you do. And the other people you are competing with for that job will not have that experience. Because so few people put in the work.
Let me give you a story from when I started out. I am from Los Angeles, and I started my career working in the movie industry. And for many people, working in movies is a dream job, and I got the opportunity to work for some incredible companies. But just like everyone else, I started out with no experience on my resume. I did not have money. I did not have connections. So how did I land those jobs? A big part of landing the jobs I wanted was that I had an incredible resume from doing free work in the industry.
I’ll give you an example. My first internship, and I’ve talked about this before in other videos, was with a film production company called Live Planet, which was Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company. This all happened a long time ago, and I do not know if “Live Planet” is still around, but at the time it was a really great company. They just finished the reality TV show “Project Greenlight” that was a big success. This was the type of company I needed on my resume to get the jobs I wanted in the movie business. That was a summer internship I did while I was in college, that I did for free. Here’s what happened. Summer was approaching, and I wanted to build out my resume before I graduated. I did not have a car at the time. So I hopped on the bus and headed for their offices in Santa Monica.
Los Angeles is like every city. They have really confusing bus routes. And I remember, riding on the bus and I am standing at the front of the bus hanging on asking the bus driver questions. “What bus route should I transfer to? What bus stop should I get off at?” And I remember, there was this old lady who was sitting in the front seat. And she turns to me and criticizes me. She says “Don’t go, where you don’t know. That’s what I always say.” I will remember that moment forever, because that comment was such a contrast to my mindset. I was determined to go places with my life, and I was not going to be on that bus route forever. And that lady is probably still sitting there on that same bus route.
So I finally get to Santa Monica, and I hop off the bus and I walk into the offices at Live Planet. And I tell them, “I am Zach De Gregorio, and I want to work for you for free.” And they say, “Who are you? Get out of here.” But before I left, I convinced the secretary to give me the phone number for one of the managers. So the next day, I called the manager up, and the secretary had actually passed along the message, so he already knew who I was. And he was really nice, and said “Hey, we can’t just have random people walk off the street and work for us. If this was part of a formal internship program with a University, maybe we could work something out.” Now my university had internship classes, but they were super expensive. I did not have money for that. So I hopped back on the bus. I drove down to the local community college, paid them $100 and signed up for their internship class. I hopped back on the bus, went back to Live Planet, handed them my paperwork, and said “I am a student. I am good to go. Let’s do this.” The following week, I was working for the company.
It was great timing for them, because they were just starting to shoot a new movie. I had so much fun on this film, and it was a lot of hard work. And do not get the wrong idea here. It is not like I was hanging around with celebrities all day. I was not. I was an intern. And most of the job was going to be me driving around Los Angeles running errands. Now this was a big problem for me, because I did not own a car. But I knew this day was coming, so I had been saving for two years for this moment. I pulled out my entire savings and bought a beat up car, because that was all I could afford. So I used up my savings. I worked at Live Planet two days a week. I worked at my paying job the rest of the time so I could eat.
The point of this story was I did a lot of free work. And that went right on my resume. And that job help me get the next job, and the next job. And ultimately helped me land some really cool jobs in Hollywood.
Let me get back to the resume, because that is the point here. Your resume is a reflection to whoever reads it, of who has put in the work. Let me be very specific. A dream job is not a normal job. You need an outstanding resume to land that job. So on your resume, you are going to put six things:
- Related Studies.
- Successful Projects.
- Work experience with major companies.
- Positive reviews from customers.
- Awards
- Industry groups.
You can do all these six things for free in your spare time, and you will end up with an incredible resume. It is not easy. It is going to take a lot of time and effort. But you need to start working toward your dream, and then when that job opportunity pops up, you will be ready.
One of my goals with this video series is I want to change people’s mindset on what their job could be like. Your career is an adventure. It is an exploration of whatever it is you want to explore. You are going to have something like 40 years working in a career. What do you want to explore in that time? What do you want to have fun doing in that time? If you approach your career planning from that perspective, you are going to be satisfied with your choices.
This was step 1 of how to get your dream job. Next week I am going to release step 2 which is on Job Descriptions. I have lots of great insights on this so come back and check out that video.
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.