How to find a job you love

The average person spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime. This is a major investment and not one to be taken lightly. “How do I find a job I like?” is a common question people ask when seeking employment. Even more pressing is the question of how to find a job you love. Employees with high job satisfaction have better physical and mental health and are more productive. Everyone benefits when you’re able to land a truly satisfying career.

Take a deep dive into your passions

To find a job you love, you should begin with a thorough self-evaluation. Make three lists:

Passion projects

What activities do you pursue out of pure joy? This may include things like shopping, fishing, painting, baking, reading, or throwing parties. Don’t dismiss any of your interests. Now is the time to brainstorm boldly. You’ll achieve optimal job satisfaction when you can incorporate tasks that you love.

Talents

What are you good at? List everything that you have a natural talent for, even if you’re not passionate about it. You may have a knack for doing quick mental math in the grocery store even if you’re not especially fond of numbers. Maybe you can read people well even though you’re an introvert. Incorporating your natural skill set into your career will make your daily tasks less strenuous.

Values

What causes get you fired up? Are you passionate about gender equality? Affordable housing? School funding? Consider the causes you’re most likely to donate your time or money to. What conversations do you always jump in on? These are the areas that will give you the most fulfillment if you’re able to make a difference. 

When you’re considering how to find a new job that you’ll enjoy, you need to look for areas where these three lists overlap. Dave Ramsey calls this the sweet spot. 

Define professional fulfillment

Professional fulfillment looks different to everyone. You must define this term in your own way if you’re searching for a career you’ll love. Do you get the most fulfillment from bringing home a big paycheck for your family? Do you get a sense of deep satisfaction from connecting with others? Perhaps your day doesn’t feel like a success unless you’ve learned something new. Keep your benchmarks for fulfillment in mind, and make sure you choose a career where you can hit them regularly.

Explore how others see you

Ask your friends, relatives, and colleagues what they think you’re best at. Getting career suggestions from outside sources may yield surprising insights. You might find that your friends adore your sense of fashion, though you simply take it for granted. You could channel this skill into fashion marketing, personal shopping, clothing design, or photography. 

Perhaps your coworkers see you as a natural mediator, though you never realized you were fulfilling this role. With a job in HR, you could get compensated for the type of work your colleagues already seek you out for. If you’ve been impressing your family with well-executed reunions, you may have a future in event planning. Personality tests or career counseling may help you further explore unidentified talents.

Design the ideal day

Your work-life balance plays a huge role in your job satisfaction. When you’re exploring how to find a job you enjoy, it’s crucial that you consider this. Even the most intriguing career path can feel stifling if you don’t have enough time at home. Statistically, employees enjoy the greatest job satisfaction in a hybrid work environment that’s neither fully on-premises nor fully remote.

As you’re evaluating all the different aspects of how to find a job you love, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I a morning or night person?
• Do I prefer a few long days each week or more days with shorter hours?
• Would I be content and productive in a home office?
• Do I enjoy work lunches with clients and colleagues or a quick bite alone?
• What days and hours do I need to be home for my spouse or children?
• How far am I willing to commute?
• Do I want to travel for work, and how often?

These answers will help you identify the ideal daily and weekly schedules for your dream job. Some people love the stability of a daily routine that allows them to take the kids to school, attend every soccer practice, and predict their routine. Others shudder at this monotony, instead seeking a job with frequent travel and new clients to meet every day.

“Statistically, employees enjoy the greatest job satisfaction in a hybrid work environment that’s neither fully on-premises nor fully remote.”

Assess your lifestyle needs

What type of lifestyle do you need to feel content? What lifestyle would you consider the epitome of success? This is yet another area where answers will vary widely. If your dream home is a rustic cabin in the woods with lots of hiking trails, you may be content with a smaller salary if your job lets you move your body and spend long hours outside. If you dream of a penthouse in the city, you may be willing to put in longer hours in a city that never sleeps so you can afford those opulent delights.

There’s almost always a trade-off between your hours on the job and your freedom at home, and the perfect balance is different for everyone. The good news is that you might not mind the extra time at work when you find a career you love.

Review your red flags

Your search for the perfect job may include a few false starts. Don’t be afraid to walk away from job offers that aren’t right. Too often, job seekers see the interview process as a one-way street. This conversation should go both ways, just like your job search. Create a job profile so employees can find you just as effectively as you find them. 

Make a list of red flags that will identify companies you don’t want to work for. For example, if you don’t want to spend long hours in the office, you should avoid amenity-packed environments with features such as on-site gyms and cafes. Those perks are put in place to keep you in the building longer. When a job offers the stellar benefits that you’re looking for, make sure you get them in writing.

A nebulous job description is nearly always a red flag unless you’re exceptionally passionate about shaping your position from scratch in a startup. If you’re taking this route, make sure to settle on a deadline for defining your job description so you’ll eventually know what your benchmarks are for succeeding, excelling, and passing performance reviews.

When you take a thoughtful approach to your job search, you’ll likely find that it’s easier than expected to find a job you love. Incorporate these strategies so you can identify a career path that checks all the boxes and leaves you truly satisfied with your life and fulfilled at your job. Build your resume now and get ready to experience life on a whole new level.

More tips for finding a job you love

Decide whether you want a desk job or something that gets you out of the office environment.

Hone your interview skills so you can ask your potential employer the right questions.

Take inspiration from the success stories of others who have found their dream jobs.

Come up with a plan for balancing your career with your goals for your home life.