How to get your dream job
Struggling to land your dream job? Don't know what your dream job would be? Direct Line for Business could help. We've put together some tips to help you find and land the right role for you. Read on to find out more.
To many, a dream job is just that - something that can only be imagined.
But the process of working out how to land your dream job is best started when you’re young.
Some of us feel we’re born to be carpenters, electricians or builders from a the moment we could first wield a building brick, toy screwdriver or plastic hammer. While others spend most of their careers wondering what they should be doing, or worse, disliking what they are doing.
If you’re a school leaver, or if you’ve just completed your qualifications, then you’re in a good position to focus your energies on pursuing the direction of your choice.
Here are some ideas for helping you to discover the job you want.
Completing your dream job application
Your dream job deserves a dream job application. That is, your application needs to be the shiniest, most impressive it can be, featuring the most compelling, persuasive and accurate information you can supply.
The personal statement
The personal statement is a concise introduction at the top of your CV.
Make sure it communicates the personal qualities that you can bring to the role.
Remember, employers want to hear about how bringing you onto the team will benefit them, so this is the opportunity for you to show them what your personality can bring.
Be sure to back up your points with evidence, for example, if you are hoping for a role in construction, then you’ll want to demonstrate your reliability and back it up with evidence.
Work experience
List details of relevant work experience to date relating to your apprenticeship, but also any voluntary or additional work you have done.
For example, if you’re applying for a job as an electrician, it would benefit you to list how you’ve helped rewire a local charity headquarters.
Don’t forget to include voluntary work details too, and make sure the dates are clear. There are plenty of personal statement writing tips online that you can investigate.
List your skills
Outline the skills you have gathered, both physical (e.g. plastering, landscaping, tiling) as well as intangible (e.g. dealing with the public, problem solving).
There’s ample information online to help you to write the perfect CV. The National Careers Service is a useful first port of call.
Tips for your dream job interview
So, having impressed your prospective employer with a high-quality CV, you’ve now secured your dream job interview.
Even if you’ve not had a great deal of experience beyond your initial training, it’s important that you draw on the experience you have had to answer any questions that you’re asked.
For example, if you’re applying for a role as a tiler and your interviewer asks you about how you would deal with a difficult customer, you might decide to draw upon an example that shows how well you remain calm under pressure.
Again, the National Careers Service has some valuable advice about what to do and what not to do in a dream job interview situation.
From an ideal job to a dream career
An ideal job is great and no doubt you will rightly feel pleased at having overcome the application and interview hurdles to secure it. But it doesn’t stop there. As you gather new skills, experience and learning, no doubt you’ll be on the lookout for new challenges and to progress in your chosen field.
Your dream job at 18 might well be to be an electrician’s mate, but once you’ve had some experience in that role you might even decide to go solo eventually.
Management is another alternative route that can propel you up the career ladder and improve your salary too.
If you work for a big construction company for example, you might go from an apprentice position and work your way up to a buildings project manager.
It’s important to ask yourself at intervals, ‘What is the ideal job for me?’ and you could find those moments of reflection help you along your path to your dream career.
If your dream career is to be self employed
Setting up as self-employed is a direction that enables you to forge your own dream career.
Although this path allows you to have complete creative control over the shape and direction of your business, it’s not without hard work.
Self-employment doesn’t suit everyone, but for some the chance to be their own boss is the perfect way to have the autonomy over a dream career.
Whatever career path you choose, make sure you have public liability insurance to keep yourself and your business covered.
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