When I look at all the people I know who are at the top of their game and loving what they do – a diverse bunch of people with different roles in different industries in different locations – I see three elements they all have in common. These are the essential ingredients for a happy and successful career:
Finding Your Ideal Role
Knowing and Living Your Brand
Achieving Success
Finding your ideal role
Working in a job that is not right for you is like wearing someone else’s suit. It just doesn’t feel right. So you need to get clear about what role suits you. It sits at the intersection of:
1. Your passions. Your passions are fuel. They give you energy. They need not be exactly what you do, but you need to be able to connect your work with your passions or at least be open to making your passions known to those around you.
2. Your strengths. Your ideal role should give you an opportunity to use your superpowers. Your superpowers are the things you do better than anyone else. When you consistently integrate them into what you do, people use superlatives to describe you and you stand out from everyone else who does what you do.
3. Opportunity. This can be the most challenging element to add if many other people possess the same passions and strengths as you, or if those passions and strengths are not in demand. Be honest with yourself about the needs of your organization or your industry (the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a good resource for that).
William Arruda , CONTRIBUTOR
I write about personal branding.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
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9 Key Factors For Landing Your Dream Job
When I look at all the people I know who are at the top of their game and loving what they do – a diverse bunch of people with different roles in different industries in different locations – I see three elements they all have in common. These are the essential ingredients for a happy and successful career:
Finding Your Ideal Role
Knowing and Living Your Brand
Achieving Success
Each of these three elements has three components – yielding nine areas to focus on in your quest for landing your dream job and achieving success. Let’s take a look at each:
Finding your ideal role
Working in a job that is not right for you is like wearing someone else’s suit. It just doesn’t feel right. So you need to get clear about what role suits you. It sits at the intersection of:
1. Your passions. Your passions are fuel. They give you energy. They need not be exactly what you do, but you need to be able to connect your work with your passions or at least be open to making your passions known to those around you.
2. Your strengths. Your ideal role should give you an opportunity to use your superpowers. Your superpowers are the things you do better than anyone else. When you consistently integrate them into what you do, people use superlatives to describe you and you stand out from everyone else who does what you do.
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3. Opportunity. This can be the most challenging element to add if many other people possess the same passions and strengths as you, or if those passions and strengths are not in demand. Be honest with yourself about the needs of your organization or your industry (the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a good resource for that).
Knowing and Living Your Brand
Your personal brand lies in the intersection of three areas: Authenticity, Differentiation and Relevance.
4. Authenticity. Be yourself. And more importantly, be your best self. This means taking an inventory of who you are, what’s important to you, and where you want to go. Use that information as a guide for your career.
5. Differentiation. If you don’t stand out, you are a replaceable commodity, not a brand. That means you’re interchangeable with anyone else who shares your job title or does what you do. In personal branding, we say “ work your quirks ,” because the things that make you unique will make you a success.
6. Relevance. This element speaks to others. It’s no value to be your authentic and differentiated self if you are not relevant and compelling in the eyes of those who are making decisions about you. You need to first identify who these people are and then understand what about you impresses them and provides value to them.
Success!
There are lots of different definitions of success and lots of formulas for achieving it, but my approach is a simple combination that I have dubbed The Three I’s.
7. Influential. You have achieved this if people listen when you speak, and they seek out your input and advice.
8. Indispensable. When you’re the employee they can’t do without – the one they are afraid to lose – you have control of your career. You have leverage in business relationships and can design the way you want to work.
Pass this advice to your friends. Share with them.
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