Excerpt from Chapter 1 of the Job Search Handbook on Creating a Vision

Despite the fact that Michael Jordan wasn’t polished when he started off, he did have the raw abilities required to become a great basketball player. Likewise, you have unique abilities and interests which could help you become great in your field. Michael Jordan has talked about how even when he was starting out, he envisioned winning in the NBA championship playoffs.

If you already have that kind of enthusiasm and vision for your career, you’re one step ahead of most people! If you don’t, the following are some exercises which may help you.

Exercise 1: Put someone else in your shoes. You can do this by imagining what other people who you respect and admire would do with your unique talents and interests. Take a few minutes now to imagine what the following people would plan to do for a career if they were in your shoes:

My favorite celebrity, __________, would plan to do this if they had my talents and interests:

The person I admire most in my field, ______________, would plan to do this if they had my talents and interests:

My wisest friend, _______________, would plan to do this if they had my talents and interests:

Exercise 2: The first exercise is mostly introspective. You may also find it helpful to get input from some other people.

One way to do this could be with a Talent Contest among your friends. The way it works is this: you give your friends a description of the skills you have now and the job you have now, and their challenge is to come up with something you could be doing 5 years from now that you would be totally passionate about. The only rule is your friends have to be able to explain, logically, how you would be able to get the job starting from where you are now.

The person who describes the best job wins (of course, this is subjective). You can even throw in a prize, like taking the winner out for dinner.

Talent Contest Winner _________________

Description of winner’s ideal job for me 5 years from now:

Other notable job suggestions friends had for me:

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