Things to Do Before You Take the Wrong Job

A Labor Department Report in April stated that the number of jobs available is outgrowing the number of available job candidates. This puts you in the driver’s seat on getting better pay and benefits and having more possible positions to seek. In short, starting your creative career may be more comfortable than it was. There are plenty of jobs out there. But will the job you take be the right job? Will it be the job that you need most to put your career on a trajectory to achieve your goals?

The increase in jobs available is an opportunity to more carefully consider what job you need for your career versus getting one for a paycheck. Here’s how to know if taking a job is going to further your career or be a misstep that can put you on a path to misery.

Do some “Me” Research

You need to know what you really want in life before you know what you want in your career. By understanding what really fulfills you, you can plan your future more specifically. That plan will include the path to your fulfillment and the type of companies you should work to succeed. When Job Propulsion Lab works with our proteges, the first thing we do is “Me” research. Using that self-awareness when determining where to work is why our proteges succeed early in their careers.

Bulls-eye target potential employers

Do you have a list of companies for which you want to work? If you don’t have a half-dozen, you’re hurting your chances to succeed. Do some research, reading industry pubs will help you learn who is doing the best work and who is leading that work. Find them on social media and quietly “stalk them.” Get inside the head of the people of the companies where you want to be, and you’ll find yourself inside the company. Make a list of targeted employers and keep it updated. Things change.

Prepare to be those employers’ best candidate

If you want to work for the best companies, you need to be in the top five percent of candidates. You want to be remembered for more than your work. The employer needs to see you as the perfect fit. You talk, think, and work as they do. Everything about you says you’re going to make a  positive contribution from day one.

Don’t become distracted by the wrong opportunities

There are going to be opportunities that come in view that do not match your goals. Many rationalize the wrong position into the perfect one when the ideal job is just over the horizon. Don’t be anxious about getting the job. Don’t worry if you’re friends land job while you’re still looking. Take the wrong, and you could miss the opportunity that turbo charges your career.

Be patient

Have you ever bought something expensive, like a car, and that night when you put your  head on your pillow you thought, “Why did I buy that!” The excitement of a potential job is like that, and it’s a dangerous thing for your career. When amid an opportunity, slow your thinking down. Take more time to consider everything. Don’t get in a hurry to make it happen. Allow it to happen because it’s right.

Thanks to the economy there are more jobs to choose from. If you prepare correctly, you will know when the right one comes into view.