As a business and career coach, I have helped many people discover and succeed at finding a job that is satisfying, a job that could become a career, and a lifestyle. There is a lot of information out there on how to dress, how to do your resume effectively, how to interview successfully, etc. All those skills are very important to finding a job. Assuming you have mastered at least a few of these areas, let me add another aspect. I want you to design a “template” of work that would take advantage of all your unique skills, talents and gifts so you can find a place that really fits you.

When you go through this process, you learn what is unique about you and how to find work that you’ll enjoy and that gives you success. You may think you must have a job description or job title in mind to successfully find work. My approach is a bit different. The work place today is changing with blinding speed. A job that is “hot” today, maybe overfilled tomorrow. What I am advocating is taking the time to put together the characteristics of the work you want and then start the search for a position that has most of those characteristics. Develop a pattern of what a great job would be for you and compare opportunities to it.

Here’s one tool to try:
I want you to take an inventory of what is most important to you and about you. Start by looking back over your life and remembering those times you felt most sure of yourself, when you felt everything was just “clicking” perfectly. Look for at least three of these events. They can be in your childhood, school, sports, or in a working environment. Now, write out the scenario, including the event, what worked so well, how you felt about it, and what actions you took to achieve this outcome. Do this with no judgments or modesty, no one else needs to ever see this. Let yourself go, enjoy this belated self-endorsement!


When you have completed this, I want you to look for what values you were honoring during the events you described. Look at what skills and talents you used to succeed. If your memory was of pitching a perfect game in little league, you might think, “I can’t make a living as a little league pitcher”. That is probably true (although I believe there is someone in the world making a good living at almost anything you can imagine!). This experience gives clues to the things you deeply enjoy and succeed at, in this case; leadership, teamwork, persistence, individual contribution, achievement, and physical mastery. If your success memory was winning an essay contest, you might find you were motivated by the values of; independent work, attention to detail, excellent communication skills, creativity, and focus. For every success memory you will find a list of values and talents that made this success possible. You job is to assemble a list of all of these and determine the “common threads” of activities, behaviors and values that equal success and satisfaction for you.

Satisfying work comes from the expression of your values and utilizing what is unique about you. I want you to start listing those values you hold, and looking at your own special talents. When you know yourself well, you will be able to see what kind of work will let you use many of them. Start to assemble the characteristics of a job you’d love to do 24 hours a day. I am not telling you that you’ll find exactly your dream job (although many people I’ve worked with have, plus a few more benefits!), I’m saying you need to know what a great job would look like so you have something to compare to opportunities that come to you.

It is common for job searchers to become desperate and settle for a job, just to have one. I totally understand that panic, but when you allow yourself to do this, you are likely to find yourself looking for another job six months from now with still another entry on your resume.

Looking at opportunities you find and comparing them to your “ideal job template” gives you a chance to see if you will really fit well in this position, whether it will challenge you over time, and if it honors those values that are important to you.

Remember, the interviewer is looking for what is good for his/her company; it is your job to be sure to determine what is good for you.

Yes, this takes time and effort, but it will keep you from making desperate decisions, trying to “fit into” a position that just isn’t right for you and give the world the gifts you were sent here to give. When you are being everything you can be, there is no competition, because no one can touch you!