Working at a job you don’t like can make you miserable, but unfortunately, most Americans find themselves in this situation. While job satisfaction rates have been climbing since 2011, just passing 50 percent for the first time in a decade last year, this still falls far short of the 61.1 percent of Americans who liked their jobs in 1987, Conference Board data shows. Factors such as the decline of labor unions, growing outsourcing, and falling real wages have contributed to growing job dissatisfaction. Only 30 percent of workers say they’re actively engaged at work, a recent Gallup poll found. The majority aren’t satisfied in their careers.
If you’re not happy with your career, there are steps you can take to take charge of your career path and work toward improving your situation. Here are three self-improvement steps you can take to help build toward landing your dream job.
Pursue Educational Opportunities to Develop Your Marketable Skill Set
Education can be the gateway to a more rewarding career. When you have skills that are in demand from employers, you command higher pay, and you have more leverage to negotiate with employers. Median salary for full-time, year-round workers aged 25 to 34 rises from $31,800 for those with only a high school diploma to $64,100 for those with a master’s degree or higher, Census Bureau data shows. If you want a more rewarding career, one of the steps you can take is continuing your education to develop the skill set your dream job requires.
There are several paths you can take to continue your education. One is to pursue a traditional degree. Another is to take courses for specific certifications that are in-demand in your chosen career field. If the skills you seek are desired by your current employer, you may be able to get your employer to help cover costs. You can also take courses online through resources such as massive open online courses (MOOCs). Another option is to get a practical education in business from a company such as Amway, which provides an 80-lesson business training course for its independent business owners, in addition to hands-on experience in marketing and sales.
Improve Your Resume to Attract Employers
While education will help you acquire the skill set for your dream job, in order to advertise your skills to prospective employers, you’ll need to build your resume. Your resume conveys the self-image you want to present to prospective employers. You can improve yourself in recruiters’ eyes by improving your resume.
Today’s resume needs to be geared toward two audiences simultaneously, advises Elite Career Coach Stephanie Bravo. On one level, your resume needs to impress human resources or hiring managers. But in order to gain the attention of a human audience, you’ll first need to grab the attention of the automated applicant tracking systems (ATS) that today’s HR professionals use to find prospective recruits on sites such as LinkedIn.
To make your resume attractive to human readers, Bravo recommends focusing on the qualifications that are most relevant to your desired job, rather than trying to include everything. For each item you include on your resume, consider how it makes you an attractive recruitment candidate, as well as how you can word it to emphasize the desired qualifications. Meanwhile, to attract ATS attention, make sure to include keywords that match the language used in want ads for your dream job. If you’re responding to a specific want ad, tweak your resume’s language to mirror the keywords emphasized in that ad.
Expand Your Network to Include Career Contacts
Another crucial self-improvement step for achieving your dream job is to expand your network to include contacts who can advance your career. When it comes to career success, it’s not just what you know on your resume, it’s who you know. Meeting the right contacts can dramatically increase your odds of getting your dream job.
The fastest networking path to your dream job is to know someone at the company you want to work at. One fast way to meet someone at your desired company is to tap your existing network, recommends career consulting firm Career Attraction. Go to your LinkedIn profile or other social media profiles and search on your target company, and see who comes up in your network of contacts who knows someone at that company. Then reach out to that person to tell them that you’re looking for a job at that company, explain briefly why you think you’d be a good employee for that company, and ask if they know a contact they can refer you to. Then follow up with that contact.
In addition to this method, there are other effective networking strategies you can use. Join professional organizations in your field of interest. Attend industry events and job fairs. Publish blog posts and articles in your field. Use these tactics to seek out mentors and recruiters who have contacts in your target industry.
Conclusion
You don’t have to settle for an unsatisfying job if you seize control of your career path by taking proactive steps to improve yourself. Building your marketable skill set through education, honing your resume to attract recruiters, and building your network to develop contacts with your desired employer will all increase the odds of landing your dream job. Following these steps will set you on a path to a more rewarding career and a greater sense of self-fulfillment.
