Common Job Hunting Mistake: Are You Guilty?

Extracted from an article in QuintZine:

Todd Bermont, author of 10 Insider Secrets to a Winning Job Search: Everything You Need to Get the Job You Want in 24 hours or Less, Career Press, and 10 Insider Secrets Career Transition Workshop: Your Complete Guide to Discovering Your Ideal Self, 10 Step Publications, says the No. 1 mistake he sees is that people do not know what they really want to do for a living. "That comes across loud and clear in job interviews," Bermont said. "The competition is fierce, and job-hunters will be competing against people that know exactly what they want and are passionate about it."

"Before embarking on a job hunt, you must determine your ideal job and go for it," Bermont explained. "Otherwise it is like going on a vacation without deciding where you want to go before you start driving. If you don't know your destination, how can you map out a route?"

Debra Davenport, PhD, CEO of Davenport/Folio, a career consulting firm based in Los Angeles and Phoenix, AZ, agreed. Davenport said that the No. 1 job-hunting mistake that she sees is people who are "pursuing jobs for which the applicant has no interest or passion. Most people I counsel have never really taken the time to discover their right livelihood, and that is the most critically important thing that everyone should do. You really should love your work."

So what are all these experts saying?

That many of us flip through the job classifieds hoping to find something - anything - that looks doable. Instead, we should be approaching the job hunt as the hunter. First determining what we most love doing and what we're great at doing, and then going out to hunt for a job that meets those criteria.

How do we avoid the lack of clarity that can sink an interview?

Or put another way, how can we persuade the interviewer that we're the right fit for the vacancy?

And finally, is it possible to find a job that's the right match for us?

Clarity Comes From Passion
We need to be passionate about wanting the job. This means we must want the job with a fierce intensity that is immediately noticeable. To do that, we need clarity. We need to be clear and certain that we want THIS job.

Would you be passionate about a community welfare worker position if you don't have a heart for helping disadvantaged persons?
Would you be passionate about being a customer service officer if you hate dealing with people?

Even if you could somehow fake the enthusiasm and get the job, how long would you last before throwing in the towel?

So interviewing success depends on passion, and passion flows from doing something that feels right for you. That is you.

Wanting The Job For The Right Reasons
I would venture to add that passion is critical, but it is not all. Your reasons for wanting the job must also be sound.

What is a sound reason?

If your primary reason for applying is because the job pays well, or that it will look good on your CV down the road, or that it was the best you could find, it may not be a compelling enough reason. The interviewer can tell right away that you're a taker, not a giver.

Remember: it's not about you.

It's about what you can do for the company.

It's about the company having a problem that needs fixing.

Are you The One, and are you absolutely confident that you're The One? You have to be able to do more and be more than your competitors. You have to convince the interviewer that you can contribute more value to the company than your competitors. And deliver all this with strong self-belief and conviction. If you can't, why would you expect to be offered the job?

The Starting Point: Self-Awareness
Above all, you must know what you love and what you are good at. The ideal job is one that enables you to channel your best talents into what you best love doing. While that seems like a simple and obvious truth, it's not easy to implement. It requires work. Perhaps that is why most of us prefer to compromise and settle for something that is halfway acceptable, rather than take the less trodden path to find out what kind of job would most make us happy, where our passions and strengths lie, and then strategizing the best way to find a job that meets all these criteria.

Remember: Nothing worth doing is ever easy. If you want 50% job satisfaction, you don't need this info. But if you're tired of mediocrity and want more, there's no shortcut. You have to invest the time and effort to get to know yourself. Self-awareness is the first step to finding a job you can love and enjoy doing for a long long time.

Action Exercise
Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What do I most love doing and what are my strengths?
Is my current career choice allowing me to express my passion and to use my strengths?
If not, what can I do about it?