Dream Job..in 90 days or less ?

Get your dream job

In 90 days or less

Guaranteed!

Have you come across such promises from mailers and promotions? Have you been excited at such words and dreamt of lifelong fulfillment with least effort in the fastest time?

?As a career coach, I get very annoyed when I come across such words and promises.

I was in the midst of preparing for my upcoming workshop when I came across a barrage of ads online, mailers as well as articles in linkedin, and I HAD to share my 2cents worth

Why am I annoyed? Well its because of the following

• It implies the process is easy and planned. For those who already have notion of what their dream job or career is, well done! But for the vast majority, its not so clear. The other word I get annoyed about is “self actualization”. It gets tossed about too easily and that gives the impression is that this is easy to find. The reality is that this more likely comes about when we undergo a variety of life and career experiences to sieve out what is not suitable for us. Yes there are personality assessments that can help us understand who we are and what drives us. But is this enough for us to nail down our “passion”? Most people need experimentation and time to identify what this passion is. In fact, I would point out its easier and meaningful to identify our purpose first. Some assessments will list down what jobs can match our interests and personality, but this cannot be seen as the end point in identifying our “dream job”. Rather it’s a starting point to find out more and try it out if possible

• It implies that once we achieve our “dream job”, we are set for life. The reality is that our dreams and hopes change over time and with our experiences we go through. What can be our “dream job” in our 30s may turn out to be our “horror job” in our 40s. What we saw as important in our careers will most definitely change as we gain more experiences and more insights that come with LIFE.?

• It implies that the nature of our “dream job” will be constant and will never change. Are you kidding me?? We’ve all seen how jobs have changed or even disappeared over time. I’m not even going to talk about how AI has and will impact on all of us. Will that “dream job” still be your dream job when you become redundant, or that you need to learn new skills or new ways in order to hang onto that “dream job”? Would it be better for us to be mindful of what is important to us, what we enjoy doing, and then be conscious of what we need to do to be able to continue doing what we love – instead of being fixated about a specific “dream job”?

• It implies that having a dream job in mind becomes our career goal or target, forget everything else. But what happens when “life gets in the way”? Will it still be your dream job when events such as a pandemic or the rise of AI intrudes into our comfort zone? What happens to our dreams when a family gets torn apart in the pursuit of that dream job? What happens when our so call dream gets interrupted by retrenchment? As the saying goes, “Sh_t happens”. We need to be able to cope with changes, and many will be massive enough to derail what hopes we have. But does this mean we abandon all hope of our “dream job”? Would it be better to be adept in the process of finding a career or job that suits us at the point in time of our lives, but being flexible and resourceful to be able to cope and react positively to whatever changes we come across?

• It implies that there are short cuts (90 day guarantee) to finding our “dream job”. I know it’s human nature to find short cuts – lord knows I’ve been guilty of this. But to promise a job seeker this guarantee is exploitative and sales-speak (aka guaranteed lose 30kg in 30 days diet). I apologise if you feel these words are too strong, but I’ve had to mitigate the disappointment and anger of so many job seekers who felt aggrieved by such over-promises from many advertised packages where they happily spent large sums of money to only find disappointment and hurt. Such negative experiences spill over to them being able to work effectively with coaches and advisors who are genuine in their efforts to guide and help. In fact, in my training for budding career coaches, a key tenement is that a career coach cannot guarantee a job for the job seeker, but he can certainly exponentially increase the job seeker’s chances of securing a job if both parties work closely together. I know this is not what many job seekers want to hear, but being able to fish for yourself is a much more powerful life tool than relying on someone else to catch the fish for you

• It implies there are a set of steps that applies to everyone regardless of their background and expectations. There is no magic box where you can open up and immediately find a solution. Finding a suitable job is a very personal pursuit. Yes there are universal techniques and methods that can be applied. But the job seeker needs to tailor these to suit their specific needs and goals. Its not as simple as A-B-C, but rather it could be (A-B)+C = D. In my webinars and workshops to groups of job seekers, I take pains to emphasize that the techniques I share must take into consideration the context of the job seeker. There is no “one-size-fits-all”.

I guess you can sense from my words how strongly I feel about this. The only guarantee in life is that we live and we die, and change will be constant. Everything else in between takes effort, takes care, and takes collaboration.

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Some thoughts for career coaches

• Don’t guarantee a job. Doing this will shift the focus of the job seeker to you for delivering his outcome, at the least effort of the job seeker. This is a disservice to the job seeker and is short term.
• Make priority to focus on helping the job seeker be adept to the process of finding a suitable career or job. Jobs change, people change. A dream job is transient and temporary. The goal in working with a job seeker should be to get him or her to understand how he can adapt and change along with the changes in his dreams and aspirations
• Customize your approach to help the job seeker. There is no “template” that fits all. Coaches also need to be adaptable for each job seeker they work with

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For Job seekers, a few thoughts

• A dream job or career is a job that suits you at that point in time. Be prepared for change, and be able to change
• There are no short cuts. If you want this badly, you need to put in the effort.
• While the outcome is important for you, what is more important is getting to grips with the process of achieving the outcome. You WILL need to go through this again.
• The only guarantee you should accept, is that change will come. Be wary of those who promise the sky and tell you that you only need a ladder.?