A-Z guide to finding work you love: X is for...

Welcome back to my A-Z guide to finding work you'll love. We're now on to the letter X, where X stands for Xenocrates. Stay with me!

Now, in case you've forgotten your Greek philosophy, Xenocrates was a student of Plato back in 396 BC. He once said, "I have often regretted my speech, never my silence". 

When it comes to finding a career you love, research comes before a job search. To research effectively, we need to be curious and listen well. It can be so easy to make decisions based on assumptions about a company or industry. These assumptions can be gathered through various means e.g. family, media or even a series on Netflix.

Therefore it's vital that you find out as much factual as you can about the ideal careers you have in mind. What can you find out about the industry and what would it be like to work in both now and in the future? You can do this by doing some online research, but ideally, it would be wise to speak to people who work in the industry or work for the company you have an interest in.

If you can find out the answers to the following 10 questions in your research, you'll be well on your way to making a well-informed decision:

1. How did you get into this field?
2. What do you do most of the time in your role?
3. What do you like about your job?
4. What don't you like about your job?
5. Would you recommend the job/industry to a friend?
6. What does the future hold for this industry (impact of AI etc.)
7. What are the skills and qualities that make you/your colleagues successful?
8. How do you think I could leverage my career background in this sector?
9. What actions should I take next if I want to break into this industry/company?
10. Is there anyone else you can recommend that I speak to?

The aim is to find out as much as you can by listening, rather than focusing on what you have to offer.

The more people you can listen to, the better - and the more information you can gather, the clearer you will be about whether the role or industry is right for you. If you conclude that it is right for you, you can then demonstrate your knowledge and understanding in job applications and interviews, explaining how you can be part of the solution to some of the challenges they are dealing with. After all, one of the most common reasons people are unsuccessful in applications is their lack of knowledge of the company or industry.

So it's important that you focus on listening BEFORE you explain what you can offer when it comes to finding a career you'll love if indeed that direction is right for you.

If your conclusion is that it's not the right job or industry for you, your research may well have helped you to dodge a bullet.

Stay tuned for the next instalment of my A-Z guide to finding work you'll love.