Welcome. I am Beverly Landais, professional certified positive psychology coach trained by Barefoot Coaching and the Wholebeing Institute. I am the creator of the ‘Change your career and find fulfilment’ coaching programme. You can subscribe to Psychologies magazine to access the full course including videos and weekly journal workbooks for in-depth coaching. If you are already a subscriber, head to the Life leap Club page on the Psychologies website and register or sign in.

In this article, you will learn how to develop a vision for your ideal career or dream job. We will focus on the most crucial part of developing purpose which is having a clear understanding of where you want to be in a few years – and why. You can then use this insight to plan the career change that you want in your life.  

Let’s get started. Do you know what you want from your career? Many people are unsure and feel overwhelmed at the thought of trying to work this out. Finding a way forward starts with imagining what your ideal career might be. You might like to try this  ‘dream job’ exercise:

1. Begin by imagining your ideal role – one that fulfils you and makes you happy and proud. Describe the role in as much detail as possible. What would you be doing? What would be the working environment? Who are you working with? Where would you be working? Keep going until you have a concrete picture.

2. Now think about your strengths, skills and capabilities. What personal characteristics have been valuable to you? Take your top three and imagine a few occupations where these may be transferable. What might be possible?

3. Then recall your past interests and achievements. Thinking back, what did you enjoy as a child, at college or in your first job? Can you see any patterns or themes? Are these still important to you?

4. Next, consider: What are you like at your best? How would you sum up your successes to date? Describe these fully. Use real examples as these can become mini case studies to use at a job interview.

This approach will help you focus on what matters the most to you at work. You will end up with three lists which you can review to consider what type of career and occupation is most likely to be a good match.

Pausing to recall specific times when you have used your strengths, been resourceful and overcome challenges is an excellent way to boost self-confidence at any time. Doing this is especially powerful when you need to show your abilities at their best, such as during a job interview or at an important meeting. This exercise also reminds you of what motivates, matters and works for you.

Next time we will look at how you can improve your current working situation and begin to lay the ground to pursue a new career direction.

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