This is a summary of a post I made a long time ago, that ended up being the highest traffic to the subreddit ever.
It comes from a resume writing and interviewing course.
Take a piece of paper.
Right now. No seriously. Fold it in half.
On the right side, write down everything you’re good at. Everything you enjoy. I don’t care if it is ballet, mario kart, or quietly crying in the corner while masturbating. Write it down.
On the left side write down everything you enjoy. Hiking, fishing, putting together puzzles, writing out your thoughts. Everything. There are no taboos.
Got that. Don’t continue until you’ve written down everything.Okay, now you’ve got that. Flip it over on the back. Write down careers that you know that interest you on the left. Go on, write them all down.
Now go back to the front. I want you to circle any thing you like, and anything that you are good at that would lead you to a career.
You’re good at ~~~~~You like~~~~ Career
Masturbating + watching porn = Maybe a camera man for a porn studio
Writing your thoughts + Talking to people = Dear abby columnist
Got it? Anything goes.
Now, flip back to your careers. If none of them match, it’s time to broaden your horizon. Look up people who like to do what you like to do. Look up people who are good at what you are good at. See what careers they had.
Now write down all the careers that matches what you like to do and what you are good at. That is where passion lies. That’s where hum-drum and suck die off and you go to work enjoying your job every day.
And money will follow. Don’t worry about the money. Be good at it, and enjoy it, and you’ll find a way to make money off it.
How? Okay we’ll tackle that.
Now you have a career in mind and something you like to do, and are good at, find someone who did that. Or does that career right now. This is your role-model
Write their name at the top of the last column on the back of your paper. This column is for you to write down how they got to that dream career. Odds are, they spent years as a waitress, or a entry-level clerk. Maybe they had 3 careers previously. That’s fine. Odds are you’ll change what you want to do again later too. Odds are you’ll have to do some crappy burger flipping while you pursue your dream goal. That’s fine. Hard work is necessary. You have to wade through “suck” to get to “nice”. Otherwise the “nice” will corrupt you.
Look up what school they went to. What degree they had. What clubs did this role model join.
Now you have a path. You know what you want to do, and how to get there. You can probably see ways to do it better than your role-model. That’s fine.
This will shine through every job interview. They’ll feel your passion. You won’t be just “looking for a job, any job”. You’ll be there for that job, and when they ask “Where do you see yourself in five years” you’ll have a solid answer.
Now, go re-write your resume to highlight your skills and your passion. Now your resume will go from “Another resume” to “a tool that gets you to end of the rainbow”.