21: How to find a career you love

If you want to live a life that you enjoy, you have to build your career intentionally. You have to plan your career intentionally. You have to make intentional choices. And that all goes back to what's right for you next in this next chapter of your life. Welcome to the Career Diet podcast. Also by me and I believe a world-recognized career coach and LinkedIn learning instructor who's helped thousands of professionals discover and land their dream career. This podcast is for ambitious professionals like you. Looking to create a career that supports your personal goals, growth and lifestyle. Note the one that requires you to sacrifice them. My mission is to help you see the power you hold in your career and how you become the star candidate and a rain employer is searching for. Think of this podcast as a personal career strategist in your pocket and leave it up to me to provide you with the tools, tips and resources. You need to make job search fun and turn your dream career into your reality. Thank you for tuning in today. Can't wait to see how your career and life shift. Hello my friends. Welcome back to the Career Diet podcast. I'm your host, Anna Boliva. It is February already and it is the month of love. I thought how fitting it is for us to talk about how to find a career that you love. It is a topic that I am very passionate about. In fact, I have developed my own framework around how to discover what the right role for you is. It's called Building a Dream job prototype. I teach it inside my job search coaching program, the start candidate. The way I have built it was based on my own experience. If you've been listening to the podcast, I have shared my own experience getting clarity and figuring out what's next for me in my career. I'm pivoting careers multiple times. If you haven't listened to this episode, I believe it was actually the very, very first episode on the podcast where I've shared my story and how my definition of a dream career changed and how I felt like there's really no clear process around discovering what is the right fit for you. After I became a career coach, I was actually looking for certification that would teach me that. Again, I have realized that there are a lot of tools that those certifications teach, but there is no step-by-step process. A, I looked at what I have done in my own experience and what I needed to go through. B, I have worked with hundreds of people teaching them the same process. Now we teach inside the start candidate program a four-step process to building that dream job prototype and validating it. We'll talk about it in this episode. Now, what I actually want to start with is I want to share a personal story. In my mid-20s, and by that point, I have already got my bachelor's degree. A few years of work experience, I actually went back to school, to business school, I got a master's degree in business. I'm over-the-broad multiple times. So I have done quite a few things by that point. And again, I have had maybe at that point five years of work experience. And I was in the county world. I was working for CBA. And I just didn't really like the subject matter. And one of the things I considered back then was going back to school to become an architect. And it's interesting how this came up because I loved buildings. I always felt like I'm quite creative. And I grew up in Russia. So we do advanced math in Russia, at least we did 30 years ago. And I felt like, hey, I'm good at math too. So I'm very else structured. So the way I think is kind of in a very structured way. So I felt like it was just such a good fit for me. And what I would see, and it's actually funny to say now in the movies. And kind of what I thought a career in architecture was was just a perfect fit for me. And then I started looking into it. And I realized, okay, if I do want to become an architect, I actually need to have a master's degree in architecture. So I started looking that up. Okay, it's a few years of my life. I was like, okay, well, I quit my corporate career. I'll take a loan. I'll go back to school. So I'll be in school full time. So I'll need to take a loan to pay for my life, to pay for school. And then I was like, okay, and then I'll, you know, start, I guess from the beginning in my career after after architecture school. So that was kind of my very loose plan. But it's also a really big decision to really start from zero. And I thought, you know what, before I do that, let's talk to real humans. Let's talk to real architects in real jobs who have been through this journey, who are now on the other side. And let's see what they have to say. And I was having a conversation with a friend who is not in architecture, but I just mentioned that to her. And she said, you know what? I know an architect. You should talk to her. And I did just that. We went for a coffee. If you, I live in Toronto in Canada. And if you're in Toronto, you know, AGO, there is a coffee shop just across the street. So that's my rematch. I still remember it. It's been eight years. And I remember that conversation and everything that he was telling me about being an architect. And what it actually looks like. I was listening to him and I was like, okay, I don't think I need to be an architect. So he just, I guess you're interested what he told me was that most architects spend most of their days and time on proposals. So they're bidding for projects. And they don't get most of the projects that they bid for. So most of your career and most of your time, you spend bid A rather than actually designing and working on projects. I was like, Oh, that's, I did. I know it. I did not realize that. And then he talked to me about kind of financially what that looks like and what your prospects are. And that also wasn't as exciting. So I was disappointed, but I said, okay, well, that's one person's experience, right? So maybe I should talk to a couple more architects. So I have met a couple more people more senior. So they're more established. They're making more money in different types of firms. So I've met with people who were in small firms, people who were in kind of national big firms and we're working on big projects. And again, everything that I was hearing was not what I thought it was going to be. And it honestly, this process took me maybe a month. And I wasn't really like active with it, but just having those few conversations. And in those few weeks, I realized this was not the path for me. Just imagine it. When I think back to it, I am so thankful that I did that because imagine how much time and money and heartache that I saved myself by not pursuing this path that I just imagined was the right opportunity for me. Because here's the thing. Too many people approach job search and careers altogether without clarity. They either just fall into what they could get or pursue opportunities for there are reasons like me pursuing architecture or maybe you're pursuing tech and AI or math school law school because someone told you that's the path to success. And often people, when they feel like they have clarity, they waste time really chasing roles that aren't actually a fit. So maybe, you know, a marketing role, a marketing manager role is the right thing for you, but which marketing manager role at which company, which team, which products you need to get crystal clear. And we'll talk about it more in this episode. But what I have observed with myself, with my clients is that when it is the right fit, you are different. The way you show up in the world is different. And here's what I mean by that. I was recently the last few weeks interviewing some of the clients in the start candidate program who recently got jobs and doing kind of little testimonial videos with them. And it is fascinating seeing people on the other end and seeing them get the right roles for them. So for example, talk to Jaria. When her and I met, I feel like at this point, maybe a year and a half ago, he took me a while. It took us a while to get on the call for a testimonial. But when it first about her, she seemed different. Like she felt very reserved and kind of stressed, I would say. And I talked to her this time. And she got a job that pays twice as much as she was paid before. But she is also doing more technical tasks that she wanted to do, that she wanted to get into. And she's working on these higher level projects. She's in sales force implementation. And when she was talking to me about her job and where she is in her life right now, I can't even explain it. She's glowing. And the words that she's used, she's like, I'm just so, so happy where I am in my career. And provided she didn't just get this job. It's not just the honeymoon phase. Again, it took us a while to get the video done. I should have been in this job for actually want to say close story here. So that's what it feels like when it is the right thing. You're quite literally glowing. Everything else in your life is different because you are happy. You are in the right place. So in this episode, what I want to do, I want to break down five common scenarios where a lot of people are kind of getting the job search wrong, what it comes to clarity. And then I'll talk through three steps around what to do instead so that you get that clarity, you find and define the career that you love so that again, you find the role that is the right fit. All right, let's start with those five scenarios. Scenario number one, you are scrolling through LinkedIn aimlessly. I see this quite often is one job seekers, you know, it's time for your job. Maybe you got laid off. Maybe you're just are looking for your next opportunity. Maybe you want more money, a little bit more challenge. And you're just scrolling on LinkedIn to see what's out there. So what's available? So when you're doing that, you're kind of fitting yourself into what's available. So you're not thinking, okay, what's the right thing for me? Let's go and get it. Let's go find it. But rather what's available can I be a fit for it? So you're fitting yourself into it. And that's why it just never feels right. And that's why after you lend those opportunities, and I'm sure that has happened to you already, you get in, you're like, well, I kind of feel the same. I'm still not feeling that high that I was just describing you that my client, Darya, is on and it still doesn't feel like the right fit. And another thing with just scrolling LinkedIn aimlessly is there are so many roles that you don't even know exist. There are roles that have maybe a weird name and wouldn't have come across your radar because of your filters. And also you're looking at a very specific point in time that those specific roles are posted. And maybe the right opportunity for you was never posted or maybe it will be posted next month, but you just didn't see it. So that's scenario number one. Scenario number two is you're going after what I call vague goals. So oftentimes I hear looking for a marketing manager role and I'm looking to be paid 100K. And maybe you will go a little bit further and say, I think I'm looking to get into kind of the financial sector. That's what I'm interested in. Maybe you will go even further and say, I want to work for a bank like marketing manager at a bank 100K. And hear me when I say this, this is not specific enough. It's a good start. It's more than most people know before this are drop searching. But you need to get even more specific than that. You need to understand, okay, well, what kind of company? What kind of products I align with and I want to stand behind and I want to promote or sell or work with? What kind of clients would feel good to work with? And what I mean by that, I have clients who come into my job search coaching program to start candidate and they tell me, listen, I work for a petroleum company and I sell plastic and that doesn't feel good. Or they tell me, hey, I work for PepsiCo and I sell Getterate and I just, what am I doing? This is not what I want for my life to be. I want more impact or I work for Asian down and what in the world? We're killing our planet. There are better ways to do fashion. So that's what I mean when I say what kind of clients, what kind of projects, what the company actually stands for. But then you need to go even further than that. Okay, well, what kind of manager is right for you in this next chapter? Is it really a hands-off manager? Is it someone who is the opposite who is really hands-on? So you will have the opportunity to grow and learn from them because it's such a good manager. So my point is you need to get a lot more specific than you ever have to make sure you find this next role that is right for you. Okay, scenario number three is your casting a white net meaning that you're kind of going for everything that you can potentially do. So maybe you're thinking, okay, you know what? I have a little bit of experience in sales so I can definitely do sales. And at that one company a little bit earlier in my career, I also did a little bit of social media. So maybe I can go into social media. So I've talked about this before, but casting a white or not and pursuing those different roles is actually making your job search harder because your brand isn't clear. If I'm the hiring manager for that social media role and I land on your LinkedIn right now, is it crystal clear to me within three seconds that your next role is that you're pursuing your dream role is in social media or is it in sales? So you make it so much harder for yourself to actually lend anything. Okay, scenario number four, you're following, I call them kind of hot trends type of industries and roles. So for a while, it was, you know, medicine and law and finance. And I think for a decade, it was stuck. And I feel like now we are maybe moving slightly away from tech and, you know, I feel like AI, I guess it's still partially tech, but AI is now one of the hottest topics. So you're kind of thinking, okay, like something that's popular, that's growing, that's lucrative. And there is nothing wrong with that, but is it the right fit for you? Because I'm telling you, you can find something that's popular and sustainable and lucrative in all kinds of industries. And even if it's tech or AI, what exactly in tech or AI do you want to do? So a hot industry, a hot function, something that's popular is not necessarily the right fit for you. And scenario number five, you're pursuing what I call the natural next step. I hear this often as well from job seekers who tell me, okay, well, my experience is an act. And most people with this experience, it acts move on to do why. And that's just what everyone in the industry does, like that's the natural next step. Again, is this the natural next step for you? Just because most people do it or just because it's the easiest next step to maybe more money or more responsibility, it doesn't mean that it's the right step for you. So don't just let career happen to you. All right. So how are you going to do that? How are you going to find the career that you love? Well, I teach, as I mentioned in the beginning, I teach that in the start candidate program and I teach you how to build a dream job prototype. So that you're going into job search with clarity on exactly the type of roles and companies that you're pursuing. Okay. So here is how we approach building those dream job prototype. We always start with your dream life. And again, it doesn't have to be 40 years from now. It can just be what that dream life looks like a year from now, five years from now. You really don't need to go further than that because we change so much our life stage changes so quickly, especially kind of earlier in life, that what dream life and career looks like five years from now will probably be different from what it looks like 15 years from now. So you don't need to go very far here, but start with that picture of your dream life five years from now. So again, what do you want for your life to look like? Close your eyes with me right now. What do you want for your life to look like five years from now? Even three years from now. Because remember, the dream career is the career that supports that dream life, not the other way around. That's what most people do. They get a job and then they build their whole life around it. So everything, both the job and the life don't feel very good. So for it to feel good and aligned and for you to be as I said, on a high from what you're doing and the life that you're creating, you need to start with that bigger question of what you want for your life to look like. And here, typically walk my clients through that of a visualization exercise and we really kind of start really big here with the idea of your dream life. Step number two is you need to get specific about this dream role. So look inward. It lights you up. So looking back, as I mentioned, I was interviewing my clients for testimonials in the last few weeks at Helene told me that she was C level executive when she joined the program and she was laid off. So she was really looking for a big transition and big next chapter. And she had no idea what it was. So that's what she told me. And one of the exercises that we do here, we really go back to your different jobs and experiences that you've had. And we look at different parts of it that you enjoyed and you didn't enjoy. And she said that she was back to her burger flipping days and really didn't just look at what she did, but what she enjoyed about that and what she didn't enjoy. And looking inward means doing that. It also means looking at the values that you have. What's important for you? So again, what's selling get or eight feel good? Or maybe it's creating more impact and that's actually what I've been hearing a lot from the clients in the start, Ken and the program they all come in with this idea of like I want to create more impact in this in this world. And I want to help real humans. So Helene, for example, ended up narrowing it down to, hey, I want to work for an awful profit. I want to work either with kids or maybe disaster management. So I want to help real humans and be really close to it, not just very high level where I don't really know the real humans that I'm helping, but I really want to be close to kind of the ground. It's also looking at what skills you have and which of those skills we do this exercise together in the start, Canada program. What are your favorite skills? So I teach you how to find all of your skills. So all of those, you know, that idea of transferable skills. So I teach you how to actually find the skills that you have and find. your favorite skills. So in your next opportunity, let's make sure that you're using those favorite skills because that on a daily basis, as you're just going through your day to day, you are actually enjoying what you do. Because listen, I freaking love going to. I love doing content. I love I'm obsessed with coaching. You have no idea. Every single Tuesday when we do our coaching, I feel like I'm on a high. It is kind of demanding for me and my body. I do feel tired after because I'm really on. I'm holding space. It's a, you know, we do small group coaching. So it's a group. So I really need to kind of navigate that. So it is requiring a lot from me, but I quite literally feel high on a high after. So I'm obsessed with the type of work, with the type of tasks that I do daily. And for me, E-PACT, for example, is also very important. So what I do, for example, those clients, video casting modules, I have been telling you about on this episode. Again, just the way I feel at the end of the day is really hard to describe. But those were the things that I have identified are important for me to feel in my day or flexibility. A freedom is another thing that is very important to me. And I have built a career. So before leaving corporate, I very early on before even COVID, I was remote because I wanted to have this opportunity to travel and to be remote. And the last three winners, for example, with my partner, we have spent in different countries, working remote and exploring and traveling. So last year we did Argentina, the year before we did Mexico. Now at the time that you listened to this, to this episode, we are in Colombia. So that's also something that was very important to me. So you have to design that for yourself. You have to design this dream job description. Then the next step here, the final step is to do your due diligence because most people kind of stop there. They're like, okay, all of that sounds awesome. That's the job that I want. And that's kind of the architect example, because you now need to actually talk to real humans in real jobs and see, okay, well, is that what I actually picture? So for Helene, for example, it was, okay, let's talk to humans who work in disaster management, who work with kids, and see, is that what I actually imagined? Is it just a ton of paperwork and I'm somewhere in the office and it feels very disconnected? Or am I on the ground that I'm helping real humans? So for example, when I did an interview with her, so she's from Florida, but she is now stationed in New Mexico for a couple of months because they're doing a fire relief project there. So again, she is boots on the ground and that's what she wanted. But yet that only comes from having real conversations and narrowing down, okay, is this what I imagined to be? Or is this something completely different? And I'm telling you, this is not something you can read on Google, on Glassdoor, or on the job description. It's only real humans who would tell you, this is what my day actually looks like. So you have to do this due diligence and actually call it kind of validating your dream job prototype without validation. All of that is just ideas of what you can potentially do. So my friend, that's how you find a career that you love. And if you're listening to this episode, clarity is probably important to you and finding a career that you love is probably important to you. But I want to remind you that it's not a nice to have. I think for the longest time, the idea of success was, listen, as long as you're paid well and you have a nice title and it's glass, glass, working a glass tower downtown, you're successful. And as long as it's stable, you're successful. But I think now most of us, one more, we want impact and we want to actually enjoy what we do. We're also realizing that we spent most of our day and week at work. So build intentionally build a career that you love without it. It will never feel good without it. You'll always come home, hated it. So my wish for you, this February, and I believe this episode is coming out on February the 14th. So my wish for you, this February this year, is to find a career that you love to find a role that you are obsessed with the way my clients are when they speak about what they do, the way I feel about what I do. And we said, if all of this seems a little bit overwhelming, if you're not sure exactly how to go about it, where to start. And then once you get clarity and you realize, wait, it's in a different industry or sector of function or even country than I am right now. And I actually now want help lending this opportunity. You're in the right place. This is what I'm really, really good at teaching you how to get that clarity, how to feel like a freaking superstar that you can achieve anything that you want. And then lend this next level dream opportunity. So that's exactly what I teach inside my job search coaching program, the star kidded it and I would love, love, love to see you there. All right, my friend, that is it for this episode. And if you're listening on Spotify or Apple podcasts, I would really appreciate it if you leave me a review. It really helps us out. All right, my friend, I will see you and talk to you very soon. If you found this episode helpful, I would be grateful if you could leave a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify. It really does help me put out more free resources just like this to support you on your journey. And if you aren't already following me on social media, you can find even more content to help you build your dream career. Follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok at the career diet or head to my website, thecareerdiet.com. I am thrilled to have you here with me and I can't wait to cut out with you in the next episode.