Everyone wants to find their dream job, but it might take you a few tries before you actually get it. A number of successful people in business, philanthropy, and the arts have told me they had to have a few different gigs before they landed their dream job.
So what is a “dream job”? Simply put, it is a job you love. And, as the saying goes, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” But even if you do not get it on the first try, you can still find a job you at least enjoy. The key is to match your character strengths (what makes you who you are) with the job you want.
Dr. Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania emphasizes how important it is to identify your top character strengths. In his book Authentic Happiness, he states that if you find a career that utilizes your strengths, you will have higher job satisfaction.
Dr. Seligman has made it easy to figure out those strengths by providing the VIA Survey of Character Strengths. I strongly recommend you also take the Authentic Happiness Inventory and the Grit Survey. Click on the Questionnaire Item on the menu at the top of the page. Take the questionnaire titled, “VIA Survey of Character Strengths (Measures 24 Character Strengths).” This questionnaire takes about 50 minutes, so do not rush through it. You will be asked to create a username and password but do not worry about that. They will not contact you for any other purpose. The purpose is to identify you as a unique subject for their research. It also allows you to return to the site and take other questionnaires.
Once you find out your top character strengths, discuss them with your family, friends, and advisors. Ask them what they think of the findings (you will be surprised how much they agree with the results), and then ask them to help you think of careers that would utilize these strengths. For example, if you like science and you are good at working with others, you might be happy with a career in the medical field. Or if you prefer solitude and are interested in computers, you could look for a career in information technology instead.
If you do not figure out your top character strengths before you search for a career, you will have no real criteria for choosing the kind of job you want. When you chose your major, you already took some steps in defining your career interests. However, your major is not always a reliable indicator of where you will find job satisfaction. Several students change majors, and many graduates end up in fields unrelated to what they studied in college.