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Step 3--Organizations where you can have the Career of Your Dreams

So my personal update today, this glorious Saturday in New York (it's honestly never really more beautiful than this), is that I'm twittering with excitement about my life. I really feel like over the last 2 1/2 months, I've got such great clarity through some good introspection about what really makes me happy at work. It's so important a foundation for a life well lived. We spend, afterall, the majority of our hours AT WORK. More time there than with our family and loved ones (unless you work with them.) More time at work than at home or sleeping...sometimes combined! One woman I contacted for an informational interview told me she's been working 100 hours a week this week: that's SEVEN days a week...and even then that's 14.29 hours a day...THE MAJORITY OF HER LIFE.

Blew me away.

SO, if you're in pain at work, you're spending the majority (for some of us...and that includes those who are on constant call 24/7 on mobile devices) of your LIFE in pain. Seems to me we should pick work that we love. Seems to me two that for simplicity let's divide work into two:

1. The people you work with
2. The work you do

I think more and more half the "work" is the people (and that we can call the organization and industry too). You gotta love that.

Then the people. We have a saying in my industry that people join companies and leave their managers. I've seen it happen over and over.

So think about your current job (if you're one of the 90% employed) and say where does it hurt? What I'm doing or who I'm doing it with? Trust your gut. Now, what can you do about it? What's the ideal? Then let's start taking actions that adjust that. You're worth it. You're family and friends and those you impact on your commute deserve it too.

STEP 3
ORGANIZATIONS IN YOUR INDUSTRY, APPROPRIATE FOR YOU

So you've got your ideal job description, your industry and function that aligns with that. Now it's time to gather names of companies where you'd like to work. This is where you start calling on your network. Start with those in your inner circle. That might include your parents (though not necessarily...make sure you do that only if they are the supportive types around who you want to be in the world...some of us are lucky to have that.) Pick the supportive people and ask them for suggestions of companies. Try your Career Services folks at your alma mater, your dearest friends. See who they know and see if they can introduce you.

Get online and look at their websites. Does the company inspire you? Can you easily see how you can contribute to their success? Would you be excited to say you work there? Now check out who their closest competitors are by looking at news items. The Wall Street Journal is good to look at for news items because they often will have the competitors' stock symbols listed on the right side and they segment articles by industry as well.

It's tricky when you're thinking smaller companies. Just means more conversations with humans: and that's a good thing.

OK, people, it's Saturday. I'm going to have some fun.

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