Career decisions: The perfect job fantasy

Who says there’s one perfect job or one ideal client out there for you? In reality, there are many great roles out there for everyone. In this article I explain why it is important to have a realistic approach when making career decisions.

The concept of a job today is vastly different from that of 20 years ago. The pace of change in organisations, in technology and in access to global markets is forcing every business to re-examine what they do and how they do it.

How does this affect those who are making career decisions in this changing world?

Over the last 10 years I have had contact with many individuals searching for their place in the working world. For many, a growing sense of dissatisfaction with their work, or a general feeling that things aren't as they should be, has left them with two questions to answer - Why am I here? and What would I really love to do for a job?

The biggest obstacle to answering these questions is tied up in the concept of ’my perfect job’. This goes closely with other unhelpful concepts such as ‘my perfect partner’ and ’my perfect life’.

There is plenty of mystique around the perfect job or ideal client. Time and again I’ve heard people say that it will just “come to them” or they will “know it when they see it”. If you are hanging out for the perfect job or client, there’s a pretty good chance you are closing your mind to several fruitful opportunities. We set ourselves up for failure with expectations that the answer will come to us, or that a job needs to be perfect.

The truth is there is rarely a single outcome in the search for ideal work. A career is only a part of a lifestyle and a lifestyle encompasses all aspects of our life. Those who consider their career in isolation from the rest of their lives can end up making career decisions that don’t work out.

How to make career decisions that work for you

A clearly structured process will help you to define the parameters of work that are important for you, rather than specific jobs.

For example:

preferred industries
work type (full or part time etc)
working hours
travel
level of autonomy or team work
desired income
responsibility
skills you want to use
location.

Once you are clear on your parameters, perhaps you have even prioitised them based on their importance to you, you can then evaluate your career options against them.

With this approach, the weight of expectation is lifted and the burden of finding the one and only right answer is gone. You have the freedom to consider a large number of roles knowing that you will make a choice based on your personal criteria.

At the end of the day, career decisions are about making choices and not about finding right and wrong answers. Embrace the un-perfectness of the process, give yourself parameters, and put the power of choice firmly in your hands.

Megan Tough runs Complete Potential, a company that helps businesses solve their strategy and people problems. She loves being a solopreneur, and when she doesn't have her nose to the grindstone, is fulfilling her other passion of fitness and health.

30 Jan 08

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5 comments | Add your own

Today many of us have jobs, that even are parents don't understand. You do what? People pay for that? Open your mind to the many possibilities and the niches out there. Heather Smith from Brisbane | Read my articles
All great advice, but it still comes down to the cold hard fact of accepting personal responsibility for our own lives.
If you don't agree that "if it's to be, it's up to me" then you're only relying on luck! Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
I totally agree with Megan. I used to say i only wanted to be a journalist- but now i'm looking at all the other career options that allow me to write. There's so many avenues I didn't know existed! Leanne Belle from sydney
i believe that the parenthesis in the second chapter of the triginomical reviewe prove that the quadratic formula for elimination, eliminates the possibility that; x=4!, therefore there are inly 213 options for the review using pythagoras theorum, thus proving that he second stage of the dixon calculus implex is incorrect, soinstead more parentesis shall be requires thustomake what is good quientesentially australian, thus making us the best in the world. Go the tigers. Peter Ian Staker from bangladesh, honolulu
This article is like a breath of fresh air!!! There is no "perfect job" per say.....only a career of choice that fits in with your lifestyle. Michelle Castaneda from Australia

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