Act on New Career Ideas to Find Jobs You Really Want

By Rhonda Campbell

New career ideas could signal a need for change. New career ideas could also lead you to greater happiness, a more balanced lifestyle and a larger income. Bottom line. If you’ve spent the last several months, or, worse, the last several years working a job that you despise, this might be a great time to start finding a new job, a job you really love.

Taking a Closer Look at New Career Goals

As with other goals, to achieve your career goals, you need to get clear about what you really want. The more clear your vision, the more refined the ideas you receive may be. First, you may need to find out why you want to find a new job. To do this, you can ask yourself a series of questions, like:

• What are the top five things I dislike about my current job?
• What are the top five things I like about my current job?
• What specific steps have I taken to try to change what I dislike about the job? (If you’ve done nothing to improve your current job, taking steps in that direction might find you helping your current job evolve into a new job.)
• How have my sleeping, eating and exercise habits changed since I’ve been working at my current job?
• Am I satisfied with relationships I have with my supervisors and colleagues? If not, how might I have contributed to the dissatisfaction?
• What are the top three priorities for me when it comes to finding a job I love (i.e. a short commute, ability to work from home)?
• How important is pay and benefits (i.e. bonuses, health benefits, retirement savings, pension) to me when looking for work?

Answers to these and similar questions could help you become clear on the type of job you want. Before you start to find a new job, think about your talents, abilities, prior work experience and educational background, the same types of qualities employers seek. It’s important that you consider your talents and abilities because finding a new job that allows you to regularly use your inborn talents and abilities could make work significantly easier for you. It could also make you more passionate about your new job.


Points to Consider as You Start Looking for Work

After you get clear about the type of new job you want as well as the reasons you want to start finding a new job, it’s time to start looking for work. Who you know still packs a wallop when it comes to getting the job you really want. This doesn’t mean you need to know wealthy business owners. It does mean that you may need to network your way to a new job.

Networking tips you can take advantage of include:

• Contact former colleagues, supervisors you have rewarding relationships with, family, friends, etc. and let them know you are looking for a new job. Also, tell these people the specific type of job (i.e. computer technician, freelancing writing, hospital administrator, coaching, chemical engineer) you want.
• Reach out to these members of your network once a week, following up to see if they’ve heard about new job opportunities you could take advantage of
• Join online and offline professional associations in fields you most want to find new jobs in
• Attend events these professional association organize (introduce yourself and start developing rewarding relationships with attendees)

While you’re looking for work, take time to search career websites like CareerBuilder, Indeed, Monster, LinkedIn and Simply Hired. As a tip, you can also use social media networks like Facebook and Twitter to find a new job. Also, visit career websites of companies you’re passionate about working for. Some companies post jobs at their websites that you won’t find posted on mainstream career websites.

To implement your new career ideas, you might have to consider searching for a job as your job. Commit to the work. Be consistent to help push your goal down into your subconscious mind. This, in turn, could help more new career ideas to surface.

Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Expect setbacks (they appear to be a part of life in this world). Stay committed to your new career goals. Keep going. You spend too much time at work to spend 40+ hours a week working a job you despise, a job that could be making you ill with stress and mounting frustration. If you stay committed and clear about the type of new job you want and you continue to take effective action to land the job that’s perfect for you, you can yield rewarding results.