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Before beginning the journey down any career path, you need to evaluate what that career will mean to you - in terms of a job as well as your work life balance. We'll start by taking a self-assessment that can help us answer these important questions.
Questions for Self Assessment
- What do you want to do?
- What do you want out of a career?
- What kind of company do you want to work for?
- How important is company culture and attitude?
- What kind of responsibilities do you want in your career?
- What kind of salary and benefits do you desire?
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[Careers Foundations with Pasan Premaratne]
0:00
[The Job Search - Deep Dive]
0:02
People work for many reasons. There's the obvious reason.
0:04
We work to support ourselves financially.
0:07
But aside from that, we work to be part of something big.
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We work because we're contributing to a cause, fulfilling our passions,
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and changing the world in some small way.
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Working at a job where you love what you do makes a big difference,
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because then you're not working because you have to.
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You're working because you want to.
0:25
Finding that job is not easy, though.
0:27
Nowadays, in a lot of industries, finding any job isn't that easy.
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But before we start talking about searching and applying for a job,
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I want to spend some time talking about you.
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Now I love what I do at Treehouse, and it doesn't feel like a job.
0:39
But to find a job like this, I had to figure out what I wanted out of a job.
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Lots of people think that things like work-life balance and company culture don't matter.
0:46
But you spend the majority of your life working, and you will definitely
0:51
enjoy life more if you enjoy your job.
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Not every job is a perfect match for you, though.
0:57
Before you find one that's a match, you should complete an honest
1:00
self-assessment to understand what works best for you.
1:03
And this is nothing complicated, but it requires thinking about certain questions
1:07
and how they pertain to your situation.
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Let's start with what seems like a simple question but is quite a loaded one.
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What do you want to do?
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Answering this question requires arriving at an intersection
1:20
between your skills and your desires.
1:23
Now since you're at Treehouse and watching a video about
1:25
getting a job, I'm going to assume you have some web design or development skills.
1:27
Now you may be able to code, but does that mean you want to code for anyone out there?
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Are there certain things you want in life that your job can fulfill?
1:36
Suppose you want to change the world in some way.
1:40
Maybe working for a charity will fulfill that need.
1:43
Maybe you like helping other people start companies.
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What about working for business incubators or companies like Kickstarter?
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What if you want to have hospitals but aren't a doctor?
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Maybe you can design or develop the systems to make hospitals more efficient.
1:55
If you watched our Careers in Web Design video,
1:59
you might remember that one of our teachers, Nick, got his first job
2:01
in a healthcare company doing just that.
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He also raises an important point.
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You can find plenty of technology jobs outside of the tech industry.
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Now think about what you want to do that will give your life meaning.
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This will directly help you by narrowing down the list of companies
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or industries you want to work in.
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What kind of company do you want to work for?
2:24
Certain people like to work for large, multinational corporations,
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where they're part of a bigger team working towards a common goal.
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Others want the feel of a smaller team, where you feel more like family than colleagues.
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There are certain advantages and disadvantages to each one.
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With a larger corporation, you're with a recognized company.
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There's plenty of room to grow and maybe opportunities to travel
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and work in a different part of the company in a different country altogether.
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In a smaller company, you'll work a lot more closely with your colleagues
2:52
and might be expected to wear different hats.
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You will definitely learn stuff outside of your job role and can venture into new areas.
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What about company culture and attitudes?
3:04
Do you want to work at a place that that has a dress code,
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or do you want to wear whatever you want?
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Now these might seem like trivial considerations,
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but in reality they affect our moods, productivity, and energy,
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and you'll be happier as a result.
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Other things you might want to think about are what kinds
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of responsibilities do you want and what kind of projects do you like to work on.
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Do you want to manage a team or individuals?
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Do you want to manage projects?
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Finally, you want to think about numbers.
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What kind of salary do you need to live a comfortable life,
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and what about benefits?
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Does the company offer any perks for work-life balance?
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Can you work remotely? This is a big deal nowadays.
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For some people, this isn't as important, but if it is for you,
3:45
then you need to look for jobs that offer these benefits, rather than
3:48
settling for something less and being unhappy for a long time.
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Once you have a better idea of the type of company you want to work for,
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your job search should get easier.
4:00
You can narrow down your list of companies and focus on
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sending tailored applications to each.
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You will definitely get better results with an approach like this,
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instead of mass-applying on job boards like Monster.
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Take some time and answer these questions.
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And once you're ready, we'll take a deeper look at other aspects of the job search.
4:17
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