dream jobs « Blog

According to a data, college graduates are at risk of underemployment or unemployment. “Unemployment and underutilisation of human capital suffered by college graduates who began their careers during and following the great recession if unprecedented,” as mentioned in the data. It implies that as a job seeker, unfortunately, you might have to face challenges in finding your dream job.

While job market might not seem really good these days, LinkedIn data shows there are some promising jobs you can get in 2019. Many recruiters are looking for talented individuals to fill in these positions. Based on the data, these positions come with high salaries, significant number of jobs openings in year following, and more likely to lead to a promotion.

So, without further ado, here are the most demanded jobs of 2019, see if your dream job is amongst them.

Site reliability engineer

Median base salary: ±$200,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 72 percent

Skill(s) needed: Linus Software Development, Python, Cloud Computing, and SQL (standard query language)

Machine learning engineer

Median base salary: ±$182,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 96 percent

Skill(s) needed: Machine Learning, Python, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Science

Enterprise account executive

Median base salary: ±$182,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 62 percent

Skill(s) needed: Salesforce, Cloud Computing, Solution Selling, Software-as-a-Service, and Sales Management

Cloud architect

Median base salary: ±$155,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 88 percent

Skill(s) needed: Cloud Computing, Software Development, Amazon Web Services, Solution Architecture, and Linux

Product marketing manager

Median base salary: ±$134,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 30 percent

Skill(s) needed: Product Marketing, Product Management, Digital Marketing, Cross-functional Team Leadership, and Product Development

Solutions architect

Median base salary: ±$139,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 47 percent

Skill(s) needed: Solutions Architecture, Cloud Computing, Software Development, SQL, and Software Development Lifecycle

Data scientist

Median base salary: ±$130,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 56 percent

Skill(s) needed: Data Science, Data Mining, Data Analysis, Python, and Machine Learning

Engagement manager

Median base salary: ±$130,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 43 percent

Skill(s) needed: Program Management, Business Analysis, Business Process Improvement, Analytics, and Customer Relationship Management

Product designer

Median base salary: ±$121,500

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 86 percent

Skill(s) needed: Product Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface Design, Graphic Design, and Adobe Photoshop

Information technology lead

Median base salary: ±$121,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 141 percent

Skill(s) needed: Information Technology, Technical Support, Business Process Improvement, Business Analysis, and Troubleshooting

Product manager

Median base salary: ±$121,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 29 percent

Skill(s) needed: Product Management, Product Development, Cross-Functional Team Leadership, Engineering, and Product Marketing

Solutions consultant

Median base salary: ±$110,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 73 percent

Skill(s) needed: Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Customer Relationship Management, Software-as-a-Service, and Business Analysis

Scrum master

Median base salary: ±$103,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 67 percent

Skill(s) needed: Scrum, Agile Methodologies, Software Development, Business Analysis, and Software Development Lifecycle

Product owner

Median base salary: ±$101,000

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 87 percent

Skill(s) needed: Business analytics, agile methodologies, Business Process Improvement, Scrum

Customer success manager

Median base salary: ±$88,500

Year-to-year growth of job opening: 80 percent

Skill(s) needed: Customer Relationship Management, Salesforce, Software-as-a-Service, Customer Satisfaction, and Cloud Computing

Most people are seeking convenience and security when looking for a job. In today’s digitised era, more and more people prefer to be in a job that requires them sit around all day and work on their laptop instead. However, if you want to stand out from the crowd and love to challenge yourself, here are 22 odd jobs, taken from Addicted to Success, you might want to consider as alternative career choices:

Embalmer – This is a dead-body sanitizer job. Not many people are willing to do this job but average salary of this job range from $45.000 upwards per annum.

TV watcher – You might never heard of it before. This job requires you to watch TV to provide viewer ratings or write subtitles. This profession is catching-up fast today. You can earn money starting from $25.000 for this job.

Elevator mechanic – Who would think this job can give you great salary? This job earn more than $70.000 per year. An elevator mechanic does not need to have professional qualifications but it might be a risky job.

Toy creator – Toy creator can make loads of money based on their creativity. Staring with $53.000, you can also get rid from stress by relieving your childhood memory.

Crab fisherman – Fishing for crabs can make you richer by more than $60.000 within a few months. Usually, college students take this job to clear up their education loans.

Live mannequin – This is the latest rage in high-end stores. They employ people to parade down with a dress of your choice. If you like modelling then you can earn about $50 per hour.

Mystery shopper – Do you like shopping? Then you must love this job. Anonymous shoppers and service evaluators are employed by companies to assess their merchandise, quality, cleanliness and behaviour of employees at workplace. You can easily make $100 per week doing a single assignment.

Focus group participant – This is like a survey participant job. Being a part of such group will pay you $40 to $100 an hour and you will be required to give your opinion on products, ideas, or service.

Human statue – An age-old job requires you to dress like a cartoon or idol. After that, you should appear in promotional events or theme parks. Human status make about $25 to $200 per hour.

Voice-over work – This skilled work can give you $325 maybe more per 5 minutes. Even a novice can make up to $80.000 per year. What you need to do is to dub audio for cartoons and commercials.

Airplane repo man – If you are born to be a salesman then consider selling airplanes for a change. Plane costs run in millions of dollars and 10 percent commission means a lot of money. You can earn up to $900.000 per plane. Reselling just one plane can help you set aside a fortune for life.

Oil and gas driver – If diving is your passion then you can combine it with some odd job like inspecting oil rigs, laying pipes and welding under the waters. You could easily earn $80.000 per year.

Submarine cook – Working as a senior submarine cook in Australia could fetch you $200.000 per year. If you have about 6 years of experience as a cook on the sea, then this job is for you.

Lipstick reader – This job is like a fortune teller. You need to be able to read lip prints of women in high teas and parties and earn anywhere from $25 to $50 per hour. The reader tells about personality and future prospects of the person.

Bounty hunter – This one is really an odd job to be doing. Bounty hunter helps in getting a criminal who has skipped out on bail, back to jail. They can earn anywhere between 10 to 45 percent of the bail amount. Higher the risk, higher the money you make.

Sperm or egg donor – If you are young and in good health then this is an easy way to earn your second income. While men earn only maximum of $200 per donation, women can demand up to $8.000.

Body advertiser – painting your face in logos or etching tattoos on your skin are the best way for live ads for companies. You can earn from $100 to $5000 based on the size and importance of the tattoo.

Movie or television extra – Becoming an extra for a movie or TV cannot only give you quick money but also a chance to feature with your favourite star. A weekend on the sets can get you up to $200 per day.

Crime scene cleaner – Not everyone want to do this job and also the reason why it is a high paying odd job. Starting at $35.000, you can end up earning 6 figure salaries in no time.

Luxury house-sitter – Taking care of luxury houses while its owner are on vacation is a cushy job. You get paid for lazing around in a palatial house with food and other amenities for free and a $200 per week allowance. Great if you need a paid quite time in luxury.

Trash collector – A job as garbage collector might be looked down upon, but not any more if you know that it earns him $60.000 or more per annum.

Waterslide tester – This involves testing water slides in theme parks and luxury pools for quality, safety, speed, and more. A professional waterslide tester not only gets a great salary but also experience of travelling to exciting places.

The internet has been proven useful in helping jobseekers find and land a job more quickly and more efficiently. However, with thousands of openings available on the net, it makes the process of finding the right ones that match your criteria becomes challenging. You might have found a job with excellent employee benefits, but the office is located abroad. Too far to go, but too tempting to miss. When looking for further detail about whether the company has option to remote work or not, you find that they only allow telecommute workers who reside in the same area.

But wait, aren’t remote and telecommuting job the same? Well, the truth is, NO. While the two terms are synonymous, there is a slight difference in both. Here is the difference.

Remote work

Being a remote employee means that you can do the job from anywhere with no restriction of timezone, state, or country. You are able to do remote video call for a meeting without having to come to office or meet local clients. Your colleagues might be located all over the globe as well.

For example: Credible Company based in New York sets their job ad as remote with clarification that no location restriction and almost all the whole team is remote. This is a great sign that Credible Company really looks for remote worker from all over the globe.

Telecommuting work

On the other hand, being a telecommuter means you can work from home or anywhere but your employer would like to meet you in person at the office sometimes. You might need to reside in a certain state, region, or country for a meeting or discussion with local clients. That being said, the company wants you to be closeby to reduce shipping costs for office equipments as well as to avoid paying sales taxes in states where their work based.

For example: CommunicationCo Company based in Paris Ris labelled their job ad as remote but they clarify that the applicants must reside within Singapore area. They cited in their ad as ‘Home based with travel to Paris Ris, Singapore’. In this case, instead of label their work as ‘remote work’, they should label their ad as telecommuting.

In the end, either remote and telecommuting job will let you work from the comfort of your home. The only difference is that one with certain area and the other is completely free. To decide whether you want to work completely remote from any place you are living now, or work flexibly with an option to come to the workplace, you need to guide yourself accordingly based on your necessities and preferences. In this case, creating a matrix job search would help you make better decision.

We are now living in the fourth phase of industrial revolution. Unlike the first three industrial revolution, the fourth is expected to see the most influence in terms of technology advancements. It has changed many businesses to higher level of innovations and marketings. Global Economic Forum released that industry 4.0 has a potential in digital connect networks and dramatically improved the efficiency of organisations. Not to mention, many believe that new technology advancements will increase the demand of talents with IT expertise.

Highly on demand, no wonder there are many companies that are willing to pay more for those who have tech skills. Not only high salary, you will likely to get a vast reward and employee benefits. Thus, making advancements on your technical skills will give you a big plus when applying for a job. Here, we list top 7 most popular tech jobs that pay the highest, according to Glassdoor.

1 Software engineer manager ± $163,500 / year

Being a software engineer manager requires you to be able to manage and oversee design and development of software applications. You will also lead a team tasked with developing, researching, and testing company’s software. Another job is that you should direct the work of engineers to ensure the best practice, report to a senior manager, and manage a day-to-day performance of your jobs and other employees.

Skill requirements – Knowledge of software technologies, familiar with coding and computer language, management skills, agile management experience, deep understanding in company’s engineering processes, products, and visions.

2 Data warehouse architect ± $154,800 / year

A data warehouse architect is responsible for designing data warehouse and working with conventional data warehouse that support a business. They also often take client needs and work in developing a specific architecture for a specific purposes.

Skills requirements – Data modelling, ELT* development, data cleansing, online analytical processing (OLAP) design, application development, production automation, general system and database administration

*ELT refers to extraction of data from source systems into staging, transformations necessary to recast source data for analysis, and loading of transformed data into the presentation repository.

3 Software development manager ± $153,300 / year

Being a software development manager means you should be able to develop, manage, and prepare software development team, provide project management and technical leadership. Guiding, coaching, and mentoring are also your responsibilities. In other words, you will lead a team for developing and testing certain system within the company.

Skills requirements – Strong technical and analytical skills, expert knowledge of computer software languages, platforms, and methodologies, strong leadership, budgeting, and managerial skills, excellent in written and verbal communication.

4 Infrastructure architect ± $153,000 / year

If you want to be an infrastructure architect, it means you will be in charge of underlying IT system in company including servers, data centres, or cloud computing system. You will ensure that all system are working optimally and support the development of new technologies and system requirements.

Skills requirements – Project management experience, web technologies and enterprise architecture roadmaps, familiar with web server and application server administration, web tech experience (PAN), architecture certification, Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE), knowledge of Cisco network and technologies, CCIE, Linux, and Unix.

5 Applications architect ± $149,000 / year

Application architects are responsible for choosing strategy for application within company such as when to use existing tools, build new one, and occasionally develop company’s prototype for further development. They play important role in designing and analysing software projects. They also create new application and improve existing one.

Skills requirements – Good leadership skills, know how to design and test methods, good creating custom solution, and able to integrate application with existing system.

6 Software architect ± $145,400 / year

Software architects design and develop software systems and applications. They are responsible for setting an overall plan and strategy for building software. They act as a high-level decision makers in the process and are determining everything from deciding choices to technical standards. Being one of them means you really set the pace and goals for other teams of developers.

Skills requirements – Board knowledge of software development process and technology, knowledge of architectural styles and design patterns, understand various of codes and computer languages, data modelling and database design experience, experience with software development lifecycle (SDLC), service oriented architecture (SOA), enterprise service bus (ESB), and content management systems.

7 Technical program manager ± $145,000 / year

If you want to be a technical program manager, you are in charge of handling all aspects of technical projects for your company. You are responsible for initiating programs, following its progress, and serving as sport providers if there is issues arise. You should also be able to track technical issues and implement solutions in a good manner.

Skills requirements – Interpersonal and presentation skills, ability to identify and track dependencies, project management skills, financial and cost management, understanding business goals, and able to manage risks.

More than just a piece of written resume, winning your dream job is all about making a perfect first impression and putting your best foot forward. You might look great on paper and get shortlisted because your resume is perfectly and neatly crafted. But not every employer will love you, let alone hire you just based on your resume.

Often times, employers look at other traits on their potential candidates. They examine your behaviours and personalities as well. Without further ado, in the end of this year, make sure a Cupid arrow is landed up for you and your career progression. Read on the listed tips below to make yourself appealing to employers.

Craft a professional social media presence – You should be aware that employers will stalk their potential candidates even before calling them for a job interview. In this case, social media can serve as an unplanned resume because it can tell a lot about you. Bad social media attitude, often means bad candidates. Of course you do not want your recruiter to think that way. So, ensure that your social profiles are up-to-date, appropriate for business matters, and have something exciting to tell recruiters about your personality.

Highlight your accomplishments – Your resume tells a lot about you, so is the way you answer your interview questions. When employers ask about your accomplishments that you already highlight in your resume, you should answer it certainly and accordingly. Show the potential employers that you do not embellish those acts and that your achievements can help you when you are hired for the position.

Ask relevant questions – Oftentimes, employers do not only assess your candidacy merely from how best your answers are, but how good and relevant is your questions regarding the job you are applying. The general rule here is to never ask questions that you can easily find in company’s website or Google search. Show them that you are well-prepared.

You can ask questions that will help you understand if this job if the right job for you. For example, ask about resources, budget you have to work with, upper level engagement in projects, or role that you should contribute in workplace.

Express your interest and ask the next steps – Many interviews end with only formal thanks and good-byes but it should not happen to you too. To make employers fall head over heels to you, you should show that you are genuinely interested about the job and position you are applying. Show them that you are the right candidate. Also, add key points in how you can be valuable for company and ask them the next step. Employers love to hire hardworking and smart working candidates.

Finishing your study and graduating from university can be both exciting and daunting. Now that you have gained necessary skills and knowledge at school, it is time to implement the theories into practices in the workforce. During your study, you might have good GPA, actively participate in student organisations, and achieve recognition from the university for your contribution. However, the working world is different from school. With the burgeoning talent pools, you might find it more competitive and fiercer to land a job.

What should you do, then?

One of the easiest way to help you get out of the overwhelming job hunting is to keep moving and change your strategy. Searching for jobs via job platform or ads on newspapers is effective, but it might drain up your energy as you need to scroll through so many jobs and companies. Not to mention, not everything you find is the one you are actually looking for. However, a method called “matrix decision” can help you simplify your job search while still receiving the best result.

Using matrix isn’t something new. It is a decision making process people often use when making other decisions, such as deciding where school to go or evaluating which car to buy. It’s not a rocket science but doing what comes natural in a rigorous way can improve your career assessments. Matrix decision is useful when you have several choices of jobs and it can actually give a satisfactory result. There are more advantages you can get by using matrix, such as identifying new job opportunities faster while helping you think clearly and use time efficiently.

Without further ado, here are 3 easy steps you can do to create your own matrix decision.

Mainly, you should set objectives. Objectives will help you determine how successful your matrix will be. For example, you graduated with a BA degree in literature. After knowing your qualification, you should decide which objectives are the most important. There are five factors of objectives you should consider in your future career: field you want to take, role you want in the workplace, impact on your future such as salary or job status, personal growth, and what kind of organisation you want to work in.

Secondly, you decide from the most important to the less ones. At this point, you should be able to rate your decision either as high, low, or medium. To make your choice obvious, you can rate it from 1 to 5. To help you in making better decision, you can ask your friends or family members to share their thoughts and give suggestions to your career matrix because sometimes, close family or friends can see your quality better.

Remember, when rating your objectives, you should also be able to evaluate alternative against objectives. Your objectives are the primary concern in this decision. Therefore, judge how each alternative meets each category and think how it might affect your future. Also, consider what you might do if things do not work out. If possible, jot down the reasons of picking up certain job in each relevant box of matrix.

Lastly, you can interpret the result. Your matrix structure is a stepping rock to lead you for a brighter career, but it is not the final answer. You must understand and figure out what it tells you. Matrix decision is as good as you want it to be and by using it, you’ll likely to know what job would be better and know what questions to ask in future career.

It is hard to decide what’s best for your future. But by assessing your career objectives and defining which are most important, you can make decisions with confidence as structured plan such as matrix decision can help you ease all your doubt in one place.

You have graduated from uni with an excellent GPA. Now, you need to prepare yourself to enter the workforce and land a job in your dream company. Before applying for a job, first you have to ensure that you already have the most important weapon in a job hunt: an attractive resume.

A good resume should be more than just a dull list of your academic achievements and personal information. That being said, to write a resume that will get shortlisted by recruiter is not the same as writing a caption for your Instagram updates. There are things you should consider such as the template, opening statement, and career overview. You must put all the best qualities on a single paper to sell yourself because usually a recruiter only give a brief 10 seconds looking at each resume.

Therefore, you should be smart enough to write only relevant qualifications or else you will lose the opportunity to catch the hiring manager’s interest. If you are a fresh graduate seeking to get that dream job, here is a guide to write your first professional resume:

1. Know the audience

Resume is a marketing tool to sell your ability, experience, and accomplishment in order to snatch a job. You should make sure that its message is targeted to right recipients: employer and recruiter. Therefore, before writing a resume for job application, you should consider:

The company: including its history, products, services, culture, and recent developments.
The specific requirements: skills and experience.

2. Choose the right style

You should choose the best style for your resume. There are 3 styles of resumes in general: chronological, functional, and combination. Chronological resumes focus on work experience and list of professional experience from the most to the least recent. Functional style focuses on skills more. Yet, normally, a combination of both styles will work on your first resume. You can point out your professional experience while still draw attention on your skills.

Moreover, you should not forget to certain format on your resume. Normally, resumes have header, career objectives, statement, skills and abilities, work experience, education, and interest. Don’t forget to always highlight the skills and abilities that are relevant to the job.

3. Start with the basic

Before we move to the more complicated task, let’s start by writing the most basic information that should be written on a resume: name, address, phone number, and email address. Make sure to give a professional email address. An email address like mixblond113@gmail.com will not work and the recruiter might think that you are just joking around. Therefore, you should create a professional email right away if you don’t have any.

4. Personal statemen

Recruiters are not only interested in why you are applying for the position and what you can do. They are also curious in who you are as a person. Therefore, providing a personal professional statement on your resume is always a good start to let them know who you are. You can use these questions as a guide to write your statement:

Do you fit the company culture?

Is your personality and attitude a good match for the company and team?

What makes you believe you will land a job in that company?

What is so interesting about your life?

5. Job posting as a guide

The best way to summarise your skill and experience is to tailor it with job description. Many recruiters use applicant tracking system (ATS) to shortlist resume, especially if there are so many jobseekers applying. Therefore, you should be able to keep it simple and make sure to include some ‘keywords’ in your resume so the ATS can scan it. Usually, the keywords recruiters use are: hard skills and soft skills. The more you can match with those skills in the job description, the more chances you can get that job.

6. Keep it one page

The average duration recruiters spend to review a resume is 10 seconds. You should make it concise and lean by getting rid of all the fluff. As your first resume should fit in one page, you can only write relevant information in it. For example, if you are applying for a design graphic programmer but you have worked at a McDonalds for 1 year, it will be better if you don’t include that experience in your resume unless it is relevant.

7. Professional look

To impress the recruiter, you should give it a professional look. Make sure that your resume is easy to read by using: common font styles (cambria, calibri, or helvetica styles), give 12 to 14 font size, use appropriate spacing, no more than six highlight and bullet points, margins 1” all around, and left aligned format. However, if you are a graphic designer, you can impress recruiters by designing your resume as creative and unique as possible.

8. Use action and power words

Recruiters are more interested in reviewing resumes that are really dynamic and impressive in action. In order to give that impression, you should use the right action verbs and powerful words. Few examples of those words are achieved, created, generated, initiated, organized, introduced, identified, improved, resolved, launched.

9. Proofread your resume

Finally, never submitted raw resumes that have not been proofread. Before submitting your resume, make sure to always double check or ask your friend to review it. This process will give you clues whether your resume is A-okay to be read by recruiter or not. Also, you can be aware of the misspelling words that will make your resume look unprofessional.

“Follow your passion when you look up for a job.”

There are two different responses people usually give upon hearing this advice. Jobseekers and fresh graduates with more ideals and less work experiences are more likely to accept and follow the idea. Meanwhile, those who have been in the workforce long enough might be rolling their eyes when hearing the same advice.

Then the question pops up: is following your passion a bad advice? What about working following our skills? Is it better?

Before judging whether it is right or wrong, let’s see what passion and skill actually are:

Passion is something that you love doing or spend time doing it.

Probably you are wondering why your friends can work in a prestigious company with flashy job title and it seems that they really enjoy their jobs, despite the fact that the job does not match their true passion. But believe it or not, there are chances that they might feel restless inside as if something is ‘missing’ from them.

Needless to say, working while following your passion gives you more satisfaction and happiness because you really love what you are doing ‘at that time’. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, believed that passion is the key to satisfaction. He also mentioned that we need to pursue our passion first but never settle. When you find a job you are passionate about, you feel amazing and satisfied but after long months of dealing with the same routine, you might feel tired and want something new.

Another downside of working according to your passion is that it might get you nowhere because it limits your choice. For instance, you are interested in literature, it is easy to think that being a writer will give you a satisfying career, and thus you ignore other options such as being an accountant or teacher. That being said, rather than having a single passion, you can be more than what you expected to be because your interest grows from time to time.

Skill is an ability that you can acquire or learn after lots of practice or hard work.

Focusing on your skill can give you a rewarding career given that skilled talents are highly sought-after. Yet, it might feel like you are lack of happiness when the job does not suit your interests. You can receive fat paycheck for the skills that you contribute to the job, but is that all you want? No satisfaction or happiness in your job?

For example, you are working as a writer because you have great communication and English skills. However, you do not find any meaning or pleasure in your job. In this case, you might consider to choose passion over skill when it comes to finding a job.

All in all, you can see that passion and skill occupy different parts of your life. You can find a professional work according to your skills, but you can also explore your passion freely if it gives you satisfaction in the workforce. Caro F., a team leader for Tech Companies 3YOURMIND and a coach, suggests that instead of giving confusion to yourself whether you should follow your passion or skill, you can answer these questions to help clearing the confusion.

What do you want out of job?

Do you want financial security to travel the world or maybe you want provide for your family?

Do you want a challenge, something that makes you grow? Or something that comes easily to you, routinely and that you can predict?

Do you value working environment as a contributing factor for your happiness, working with amazing people? Or do you value own space or progression more?

In conclusion, there is no right or wrong in choosing your career path because it is all up to you. Just the same as when you go to career advisors, they will only give you options and you need to choose one. The best thing you can do now is explore which one is the most suitable for your own career personality and characteristics.

Next read: Got an Interview? Get Rid of These 9 Behaviours

As Albert Einstein once said, “Failure is success in progress.” How many times have you faced failure in your life? Be it in your personal or professional life, there are times when failure is something you cannot avoid. As painful as it might be, you keep trying and doing it all over again. However, at the end of the day, you cannot help feeling tired of doing the same things to no avail. Finally you choose to stop trying, forget the goals, and create a new target. But alas, the luck is not on your side. What should you do, then?

People with whom you share this story might respond and say, “Do not give up” or “Learn from your past mistake.” They might not understand your struggle but at least it can cheer you up. However, you remain feeling stuck and do not know whether you should continue or take a break from your career. When everything do not go as planned, you can relax for a bit and apply this simple plan to keep you going:

Plan A: Take a deep breath

This is the very first yet simple plan you should always have on top of your list. To always breathe everything out, you should have relaxed and peaceful mind before starting everything. By doing so, you will be able to think more clearly, such that it can help you come up with a better career plan and find the way out of all the failed plans that you have done.

Plan B: Stop being such a procrastinator

Let’s be frank. If you are an acute procrastinator and unwilling to leave your comfort zone, you better stop reading BUT if you do want to change, now is the time. While people procrastinate from time to time, you should know that turning procrastination into a permanent habit is not a good thing for your productivity. While you are lazily lying down, people are busy chasing their dreams. Time waits for none, so start your move NOW.

Plan C: Stop being Sluggish

If you want to work things out but you do not want to work towards it, your plans will fail EVERY TIME. Here is the golden principle: when you plan to change a behaviour, you should do it on repeat for 2 weeks or a month. During those times, you will get used to the new custom and it will grow to be a habit. It goes the same as when you want to reach certain goals, you should persistently work on but you should be flexible regarding how to achieve it.

Plan D: Be flexible

Being flexible means you should be able to adapt and adjust yourself in every situation. If you have set certain target in your career journey, you should prepare more than two plans to achieve it. For example, when you apply for your dream job but receives no calls or notification emails for weeks, should you just apply to different company? Maybe. But what if the same things happen again? Will you just wait and do nothing, or should you change the strategy?

Well, the key is to be flexible. Find any potential gap that fails you, such as maybe your CV is not appealing or your skills do not match with the position you are applying apply. Here, you should either learn a new skill in order to achieve your dream role or change your career destination altogether.

Plan E: Stop expecting too much

There is a phrase saying, “Stop expecting, expectation always hurts.” Well, this could be true. Here is an example, your boss asks you to give a presentation about a new product. Feeling anxious about the responsibility, you tell your trusted workmates what you feel but instead of giving words of support, you hear them talking about how incompetent you are and that you do not deserve to be in your position now. As consequences, now you feel worse because the one you trust betrays you.

In this case, you should not always expect too much. Yet, from this experience you gain good lesson regarding your coworker’s personality and learn that you can not depend on anyone but yourself. The only thing that you can do is that you should stop being emotional about the unexpected situation and be responsible of the decision that you make. Also, you should always think positively and do not let negativity consumes you.

Plan F: Write more plans

As mentioned earlier, you should have more than one plan in order to achieve your goals. In this case, you should sit quietly, think clearly, and write everything in your mind. Do not spend too much thinking whether A is possible or B is impossible. Then, you will need to sort out your plans from easy to difficult or vice versa so you can manage your next step wisely and adjust yourself with it.

Towards the end, the most important advice is that you should DO your plans. Best of luck.

Where and how should I start to build my career? Should I chase my passion and only find job that fits with it, or should I just be realistic and take on any job to pay the bills? How do I know that this is the right career path for me?

We often ask these questions to find out what our true career goals are and what we can do to improve it and achieve better. You might have sought for copious job-related advices from watching your favourite motivator on YouTube, or reading those stacks of self-improvement books. However, all those theoretical advices will not bring you much significant effects to you if you still find yourself baffled about your own definition of career.

Owing to this reason, first thing you need to do is know the definition of career in itself, and thus jot down your goals and create a career roadmap. Here are 4 tips to know what a career means for you:

What exactly a passion is?

For most individuals, having a job that is in line with their passion must sound like a dream job. The problem is, not every individual can actually describe what passion is for them. Many people are still struggling in finding what they are passionate about and this affects their decision in choosing what kind of career path they should pursue. Therefore, in order to know what passion is for you, you should find something or a job you are most curious about, something that you have huge desire to learn about. Additionally, passion should be something that can fulfil yourself and somehow energise you when doing it.

See career as a jungle gym

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandber said, “Career is not a ladder. It is a jungle gym.” This mean that we should see having a career is not just about how you can get best positions, big salary, or being titled. Instead, every individual should consider a career as an opportunity to learn something new, challenge themselves over and over, do meaningful exploration and experiment, as well as build a sense of belonging in the role. That being said, job is not just a job, but something that helps you grow up, develop your skill, and most importantly, it makes you happy and contented.

Define your level of success

We often define a success with some influences from others, such as how big you company is, how important your position is, how much you earn, or how long it takes to buy that flashy car. You should understand that success is not about how others see your achievement. Instead, the most valuable level of success is what you genuinely want to achieve as an individual. With that kind of mindset, you will have the capability to manage your inner self in order to gain the best results that align with your own level of success.

Measure your ability

By understanding your own quality (both personally and professionally), you will know your best skills and be able to develop them as a strength for you. There are three aspects that you should measure. First, how much you can use your brain to give the best performance in certain fields. Second, what is the best way to upgrade and improve your soft and hard skills. Last, how good you are in communicating, interacting and collaborating with others. When you can figure out where you are best at, it will help you choose what career path you can pursue to reach your best potentials.

Tag Archives: dream jobs

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