Focus

        You need two types of focus to conduct an effective job search—career focus and job focus. First, you need a definite career direction. You need to identify a career field which will utilize your strengths, skills, and temperament, and will match your values. It should be a field that you can envision yourself enjoying and growing in for 15 years or more. Once you achieve clarity on your career direction, you need job focus. This focus centers on knowing specifically what you need in a job and organization to keep you satisfied and motivated to do your best.

        Throughout this section I will be referring to jobs and careers. By job I mean a specific position held; by career I mean a set of jobs which take place in one career field. Some people go through life having a series of unrelated jobs and thus never establish a career.

        To select a field to pursue you must know yourself well. Without adequate self-knowledge you will likely fall into your next job. If you’re lucky, you’ll like it and remain in it for many years. If you’re like most people, however, you’ll fall into a job which is not well-suited to you. If you’re typical, you’ll stay in the job until you get your first raise, then until you get your first vacation, and before you know it, ten years will have passed. You’ll still be complaining about your job, but not doing anything about it.

        Others respond differently to a dissatisfying job. As soon as they realize the job is not right for them, they quit and move on to something else. Ten years later, they’ve had five to ten jobs, but with virtually no promotions or career growth.

        Still others step back to examine what they really want and need in a job. Once they’re clear, they proceed with determination to obtain the right job.

Career Focus

        Self-knowledge is the key to long-term career success. The type of self-knowledge required to gain career focus is exactly the same as for job focus. Thus, by being knowledgeable about yourself you can achieve both career focus and job focus.

        Some people have career focus, but lack job focus. They may have chosen the right career field, and have the talent and personality to pursue it, but they keep ending up in the wrong jobs. While they may gain promotions, they are always frustrated.

        Choosing the right career field requires a great deal of personal insight. As helpful as career and personality inventories can be, it is the degree of self-knowledge which you possess which will enable you to select the right career field. The exercises you’ll complete will help you attain the personal insight necessary to choose the right career field and to become totally clear on what you need in your next job.

        As you increase your self-knowledge, begin reading about occupations which interest you. As you narrow your choices down, begin talking to people who are already in occupations that interest you. As you do your reading and talking, a light will flash on. You’ll get excited about a particular field. It may be difficult to explain why you’re excited, but you’ll find yourself becoming enthusiastic as you gather more information. You will have an internal confirmation that this is the right field for you. You’ll sense that you will not get tired of doing this type of work and will continually want to learn more about it.

        It’s important to find the right career and the right job. Most people recognize that their health and energy level are directly related to their satisfaction with work. If you enjoy what you do and are good at it, you will work harder and smarter. This will result in promotions and greater responsibility and challenges in your work. Your income will rise accordingly.

        Since no one cares as much about your career as you do, you must take responsibility for achieving the things you want to achieve. To achieve those goals, you must be clear what those goals are.

        I believe virtually everyone can be great at something. Not everyone can be a great artist, composer, or architect, but everyone can be great at something. Your task is to find out what that thing is and become it. When you’re great at something and you love doing it, you will gain the financial and psychic rewards you need.

        Occupational Books. Before you can make a decision about which occupations to pursue, you need to know a lot about each occupation. Ask your librarian for help. All libraries have occupational books with titles such as Your Career In The Airline Industry or Opportunities In Medicine. Whatever resources your library or school has, read everything you can get your hands on. Sometimes an entire book is devoted to a single occupation. In a comprehensive book such as the Public Relations Career Directory, you will find several occupations described. It contains such chapters as A Career In Public Relations, The Growing World of Public Relations, Ten Myths About Public Relations Firms, Working For The Federal Government, Breaking Into Media Relations, Event Creation and Management, and A Career In Public Affairs.

          It takes this kind of reading and research to determine if a field is really for you. You want to reach a point where you are absolutely sure that a particular occupation will provide a great fit. You don't want to invest hours of self-study or taking courses only to discover once you are in your job search, or worse yet, on your first job, that there are major drawbacks that you did not know about.

          I met a young man who completed a one-year program at a community college in medical photography, only to discover that it paid only slightly better than minimum wage. He went through an entire program and never bothered to find out how much he could make. He had to look at other fields because he could not afford to live on those wages. Don't let that happen to you.

          Textbooks. Once you’ve narrowed your career choices to two or three fields, it’s time go to the next level. A good textbook is the place to start. One of my clients had been in sales for three years but was interested in purchasing. He had dealt with purchasing agents, but he knew relatively little about the technical aspects of the job. He found an introductory college textbook extremely helpful; it was organized well and gave him a good grasp of all the basic concepts. Since he wasn't studying for a grade, he read it fairly quickly with the goal of getting the main ideas. Next he visited the library and found they had a trade journal for purchasing agents, which discussed the latest trends in the field. This research played a key role in enabling him to break into purchasing.

          Trade Journals. Trade journals are simply magazines designed for specialists. Virtually every industry and occupation has a trade journal. Their main advantage for job seekers is that their articles cover current practices as well as new ideas being tested. They'll give you a sense of what the field is really like, because the articles are written not by theoreticians or academics but by people who are out in the field practicing that profession. You'll also pick up the jargon; when you start interviewing you'll be able to converse intelligently with the employer. Since it is common for employers to ask you what you think about a particular issue, it helps to be familiar with it.

          Several sources can help you locate appropriate trade journals and other useful periodicals. Each of the resources identifies thousands of magazines, newsletters, newspapers, journals, or other periodicals you should read to understand the industry or field better. The guides list periodicals by subject. Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, for example, lists 108,000 periodicals in 554 subject areas. Other resources frequently found in libraries include Gale Directory of Publications, Standard Periodical Directory, Newsletters in Print, and Oxbridge Directory of Newsletters.

Job Focus

        If you have already established a career focus, the ideal job description that you’ll create will become the primary tool for obtaining the right job. The ideal job description should provide you with a vision that will guide you as you proceed with your job search. When people have such a vision, they are able to withstand many hardships and setbacks, and they usually reach their goals.

        It seems that most people who have accomplished great things were people of vision. For that reason I have always valued this quote from T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia):

All people dream, but not equally. They who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it is vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible.

We need more of these “dangerous” people who have dreams and visions and the energy to make them happen.

        You need such a vision. If you can visualize yourself actually doing what you’ve described in your ideal job description, and if that vision offers you something important and rewarding, then declare to yourself that you are willing to do anything to make it happen. With concerted effort and drive you will make it happen. There will be roadblocks, but you will find ways to go through, over, under, or around them. You may be blocked for a time, but by continuing your efforts, you will reach the goal. You can make it happen.

        Even if you’ve selected the right career field and you know what you want in a job, that next position may not be your ideal job the day you start. Over time, however, you can alter it for a better fit. Also, as you receive promotions, it should become closer to what you want.

            You must always maintain the vision of your ideal job. If it becomes clear that your progress toward your ideal job is stymied, you may need to try different approaches. Sometimes it means leaving your present organization for another that values more highly the skills and experience you offer.