How to Find the Job of Your Dreams
By: June Coffey
Tags: Career Advice, Software Development, Recruitment, Career Change, Interview

I get asked this question all the time, June, now that I have decided it is time to look for a new job, what do I do? What role should I apply for?

I wish the answer is straightforward. Do you know how many titles there are for software developers?

There are web developers, front end developers, fullstack developer, software engineer, computer programmer, software analyst, development consultant, and the list goes on. I can easily name at least 50 titles for software developers alone. For a recruiter like me looking at all these titles are just another day on the job and we know the nuances of each job within each company. But for someone who has been in a job for over 5 years and just decided to want to start to look, opening a page on Indeed and getting slapped with 50 different titles can be a little overwhelming.

How should you start to look for your dream job?

Step 1: Figure out the industry

If they are in a role with transferable skills, meaning if they can do the same role in another industry, think accounting roles or information technology roles, for example, the first question I ask them when they come to me is, do you like your current industry. Anyone who has been in the same industry for the past 5 years has a lot of industry knowledge that they can build on.

If they enjoy their industry, building on that experience is very beneficial. We would then start focusing on companies within that industry in the geographical location of their choice.

If they want to change industries, we would narrow down the industries they are interested in.

Step 2: Identify dream companies

What companies within the industry or industries you have narrowed down peaks your interest? Working for a company you believe in is definitely part of the recipe for a dream job. I would note down those companies.

Step 3: Figure out your passion

Before you apply anywhere, I usually get them to do the Project List exercise found here:

This accomplishes 2 goals. One, as you have read, it will be your interview cheat sheet to tackle all situational and behavioral questions. Two, it will allow you to go through and figure out what excited you the most out of all that you have accomplished before.

I find often times most people do not take the time to reflect on their day to day job to figure out if they love what they do, I encourage everyone to take a deep look before committing another 5 years of their lives to something else.

I have had managers go away to do this exercise only to find out that their passion may not be managing people, we then focus on something else that they do enjoy. While others come back and tell me they only want roles that will allow them the build teams because that is what they have enjoyed the most.

Note down what are the responsibilities that drive you the most, the ones that make you excited to get out of bed.

Step 4: Now you can figure out which roles to start applying to

Once you have identified the industry and the companies, start looking at what roles they have posted. Look at the descriptions and figure out which titles have the responsibilities you want. I find that most industries usually have similar titles among companies.

I would even go on LinkedIn and see the people who work in those companies, what are the titles of the people who hold the responsibilities you would like to have? This is especially helpful since companies may not have the openings at the time you are looking.

Note down the titles.

Step 5: Apply

Apply to only the jobs you want in the companies you want. I know, this step is super straight forward.

Step 6: Have lots of patience

I have been a recruiter for over 15 years, the one thing I have learned is that timing is everything when it comes to looking for a job. And unfortunately, that is something completely out of our control. We try our best to work our magic to manipulate the situations to line things up. However, you still need a lot of patience.

After all, we are looking for the job of your dreams.

I hope this helps you in the next job search. Good luck!