Everyone wants to land their dream job. But what exactly is a dream job?
To dream means to be asleep, but to truly discover what you want means being alert to your strengths and spending time searching within. It also means using realistic goal-setting techniques to achieve your dreams and sustain constant betterment, which is what the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) is about.
Pairing Passion and Work
If you don't end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame or on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, you can still find work that brings value to you beyond just a paycheck.
Reconfiguring what society deems a “dream job” is step one. Instead, start by being cognizant and awake to your strengths, which will lead you to your deepest passions.
Entrepreneur and influencer Gary Vaynerchuk, an inspiring voice on the subject of doing what you love by doubling down on your strengths, understands this well. Having a realistic outlook and a deep understanding of your authentic self is what leads to personal success and fulfillment.
He advises: “The key to loving your job is to ask yourself one simple question: ‘What is my biggest strength?’”
By nailing down your strengths, you’ll be able to excel and bring your skills to an organization with a mission you can get behind. For many, a dream job is simply finding a role where you can be your best at an organization whose values align with yours.
To discover those strengths, be sure to ask for feedback from others and be open to the process; it's all leading to that job that will be fulfilling day in and day out.
Don't Delay Developing Interpersonal Skills
Landing a dream job, no matter what field, means you will have to go through an interview process and work closely with others.
A range of skills are needed to succeed in any sector, including teamwork, whether you're running that bakery you always wanted to start or working for a Fortune 500 company.
Once you define your strengths that will lead you to a career you can be passionate about, fine tuning essential soft skills in the workplace will be extremely important.
Ensure you’re maximizing your potential on these soft skills through leadership development:
- Communication
- Time management
- Decision making
- Teamwork
- Conflict resolution
- Patience
- Emotional intelligence
Once you discover your strengths and improve your soft skills, setting attainable goals will be the key to eventually loving what you do.
How to Accomplish Your Career Goals
Dreaming doesn't generate real results but goal-setting techniques do.
Setting SMART goals is the best way to create a plan of attack for the future. Meaning Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely, this goal-setting technique leans on taking a pragmatic step-by-step approach to achieving your goals.
Similarly, PACT (Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable), provides an outline for success. Utilizing the PACT technique can be particularly useful for long-term goals, like discovering a career you truly love, because it puts the focus on continuous growth.
This will allow you to continually track your progress, so you can create new habits and adjust based on results. Being able to pivot in your career or job search, even if that means diverting from the original plan, is important to finding that perfect role.
How the NSLS Can Help You Land Your Dream Job
There is sometimes a disconnect between what you're learning in your major and what will set you apart from your peers in the workplace. At the NSLS, we strive to fill those gaps and set members up for success in multiple ways.
To become inducted, members complete a skill-building leadership program that is designed to sharpen the skills hiring managers seek while also teaching members to lean into their true passions.
How do we accomplish this?
Our Steps to Induction include Leadership Training Day, which helps you identify goals and work on a plan of action to achieve them. During this virtual session, members learn various leadership skills, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and create a path for overcoming obstacles.
During Success Networking Team meetings, members fast-track their success by meeting with peers to discuss their goals while also holding each other accountable to ensure they are progressing.
Besides developing leadership skills and creating a roadmap for the future, members also gain access to a range of benefits that make pursuing that perfect job easier, such as:
- An exclusive online job board
- Networking opportunities with industry leaders
- Personalized letters of recommendation
- Digital badges to verify credentials
- Over $400,000 in scholarships and awards each year
- Opportunities to earn college credit through leadership development
In addition, Speaker Broadcasts are exclusive to NSLS members and directly connect them to the most influential figures of our time, providing insights into their own success and inspiring members to continue to work toward their goals.
Past speakers include:
- Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton
- Activists Dr. Bernice King, Anita Hill, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- Celebrities Matthew McConaughey, Jamie Foxx, and Gabrielle Union
- Entrepreneurs Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, and Bill Gates
Above all, when you join the NSLS, you’ll join a network of more than 1.5 million people at over 700 chapters nationwide; a network dedicated to growing as individuals and building a better world.
Dream Less, Do More
NSLS members continue to make headlines for all their achievements using the tools the NSLS gives them to drive their success.
None of them achieved their goals by chasing a “dream.” Instead, a theme that continually reappears is that they’re all incredibly present—setting goals, planning each step, and building upon their strengths.
One member said that receiving a major accolade was simply the cherry on top to all the hard work she put in along the way. It wasn't something she expected or set out to achieve. What mattered to her was the day-to-day joy of hard work as she pursued her goals.
So, trust the process and don’t try to skip steps. First, find your passion by finding your top strengths. As the saying goes, “If you’re at a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life.”
Learn which skill is more important than tactical competence in the workplace. Without it, no amount of passion will get you to where you're going. Read our Science of Leadership article, Friendliness Outweighs Competence When it Comes to Teamwork.
