Your Statement of Career Purpose is, by definition, very big picture. The career goals exercises you will be doing in the remaining units of this MBA Prep Step™ will help you develop a concrete set of career goals and a path to achieving them.
In this unit, you will learn how to translate your Career Purpose into a “Dream Job.” Your Dream Job describes the setting and role that you believe will best enable you to achieve your Career Purpose. To be clear, we aren’t referring to the job you want after graduating from business school. At this stage, you should still be thinking big picture and many years in the future. Your Dream Job will probably take many years to prepare for. You might also call it a long-term career goal if you like, but we believe there is something powerful and exciting about the idea of searching for one’s Dream Job.
Figure 10: Identifying Your Dream Job
Your Statement of Career Purpose is, by definition, very big picture. The career goals exercises you will be doing in the remaining units of this MBA Prep Step™ will help you develop a concrete set of career goals and a path to achieving them.
In this unit, you will learn how to translate your Career Purpose into a “Dream Job.” Your Dream Job describes the setting and role that you believe will best enable you to achieve your Career Purpose. To be clear, we aren’t referring to the job you want after graduating from business school. At this stage, you should still be thinking big picture and many years in the future. Your Dream Job will probably take many years to prepare for. You might also call it a long-term career goal if you like, but we believe there is something powerful and exciting about the idea of searching for one’s Dream Job.
How do you project into the future and identify your Dream Job? We recommend that you use your strengths to guide you, and aim for a Dream Job that capitalizes on those strengths (i.e., your Points of Difference, Character Strengths, and Leadership Capabilities).
Figure 11: From Career Purpose to Dream Job
So let’s take a look at an example of how another MBA Prep School student identified her Dream Job.
Case Study: Lucy’s Dream Job
Remember Lucy, the investment banking analyst who decided that her Career Purpose would be to help shape the future of digital entertainment?
To take the next step in defining her career goals, she thought about the strengths she possessed and where she might be able to make the greatest impact in the future of digital entertainment. For example, some of Lucy’s strengths were:
- Mastering New Subjects
- Strategic Thinking
- Inspiring Others with Words
Following these strengths and projecting many years into the future, she decided that her Dream Job was be to lead a Digital Home Entertainment Media Company someday. This was a job that would place her at the forefront of the evolving digital media landscape and demand the kinds of strengths she possessed.
Was this the only direction Lucy could go in to fulfill her Career Purpose? Of course not! She could have set her sights on leading the digital media practice of a strategy consulting firm, becoming a director of equity research for an investment bank’s entertainment industry practice, or founding a digital strategy market research firm.
Nevertheless, by talking all the variables and options into account, Lucy decided that the CEO job seemed like the best fit for her unique combination of talents, interests, and strengths.
Exercise: Brainstorm Your Dream Jobs
Now it’s your turn! Armed with your Career Purpose statement and the strengths identified in the Discover Your Strengths exercises, start brainstorming possible Dream Jobs.
After you have completed this exercise and have a few possible Dream Jobs in mind, please continue on to the next unit in which you’ll do research and exercises aimed at further defining your Dream Job. You will develop a Career Action Plan for acquiring the Career Capabilities you will need to position yourself for the Dream Job you envision.
Unit Review: Identify Your Dream Job
- Your Dream Job describes the setting and role that you believe will best enable you to achieve your Career Purpose.
- There are many different Dream Jobs you could take to fulfill your Career Purpose.
- To identify your Dream Job, follow your strengths and aim for a Dream Job that capitalizes on those strengths.