How To Land Your Dream Job

Welcome to the Cutting Room Floor, a newsletter where I round up all my personal finance articles, put out exclusive content and interviews, and flag my favorite job listings from around LinkedIn.

You, yes you -- are you working in your dream job right now?

Well, let's get real for a minute -- probably not. One survey found that only one in 10 of us are working at a gig we're really passionate about. Meanwhile 70% say they're not on track to get there, and 53% say it's just not realistic in this economy.

Depressing!

It may be a challenge, but it's not impossible to pay your bills doing something you really love. For my Reuters column I talked to Priyanka Naik , the celebrity vegan chef who has not only pulled off an impressive career pivot, but always looks like she's having a blast doing it. (One day I will try her food!)

For more dream-job tips I also talked to Adam Anderson, who has taken his childhood passion for comics and built an enormous business as one of the top sellers on eBay . (Thanks Davina N. Ramnarine for telling me about his very cool story!)

We aren't here for a long time, so you might as well do something you love. Keep your true passion alive, however flickering, and check out my new piece here:

Life Lessons with Stevie Van Zandt

You might have seen Stevie Van Zandt all over the news recently, because of a big 60 MINUTES feature CBS just did on him. Of course you all know SVZ as a big part of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, as well as Tony's consigliere Silvio Dante on The Sopranos. (Two pop culture phenomenons in one lifetime -- not bad!)

It reminded me of the nice chat I had with him as part of our "Life Lessons" series at Reuters. We had arranged it after he put out his book "Unrequited Infatuations," which is really quite extraordinary -- everyone who is anyone in music or pop culture over the last half century, SVZ has probably crossed paths with at one point or another.

Here's what we talked about:

Introvert's Guide to the Holidays

Somehow December is upon us -- not sure how that happened, exactly -- which means a full slate of parties and networking functions. For introverts it's not the easiest time of year with all this small talk, so I thought I would ask Matthew Pollard , author of "The Introvert's Edge To Networking," for some exclusive survival tips to get us through the rest of 2023. (You can even get a free chapter of that book, here.)

Matt was kind enough to send along a few thoughts:

“I like to let people know that I’m introverted. I don’t hide that. Because when you say you’re going to leave an event, people say ‘Oh no, you should stay.’ But if you’re honest about your energy levels, then all of a sudden, people are so much more accepting. Because then they don’t feel like it’s a judgment on them.

“Be honest with your hosts, and let them know that if you’ve got an early morning meeting at 9 a.m., you have to be able to recharge and wind down. That way they know that it’s not because you’re not enjoying yourself, it’s for that reason alone – that you’ve got other meetings as well, and you want to make sure you provide your best version of yourself at every point.

“That really is an important thing, being honest with yourself about your energy levels. Otherwise you’ll go home and ruminate about doing something silly or saying something silly, just because you were stressed out or tired.

“From a networking perspective, I will say that mentioning that I’m an introvert in conversation, people will often say ‘Me too!’ Then we can remove the pretense, and really get to know each other.”

Jobs of the Week

Since this week's newsletter theme is "dream jobs" ... one of these listings from around LinkedIn may appeal to my dear readers! Happy hunting!

WSJ Business News Internship, Singapore

Director, Special Events, US Soccer Federation

Reporter, Marketing Brew

Media Manager, Asian American Foundation

Manager, Social Media, Major League Soccer

Senior PR Manager, Holland America Line

Social Media Manager, Yale University

Breaking News Writer, Front Office Sports

Senior Editor, Seattle, The Infatuation

Social Media Associate, The Athletic

Lead Editor, Credit Cards, Forbes Advisor

SEO Editor, WSJ

Director, Executive Comms, Geico

Director of Comms, NYT

Comms Manager, JPMorgan Chase

Commentary & Engagement Editor, Star Tribune

Managing Editor, CBS Boston

Deputy Managing Editor, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

As always, feel free to get in touch via Twitter (here), or email ([email protected]) -- to suggest story ideas, or hire me as a freelancer, or broadcast your job opening.

Or maybe even to appear in this newsletter, if you've got something interesting to say! Feel free to share and subscribe!

-CT