How to Start the Job of Your Dreams Today

The first time I posted to this blog was January 28, 2009. This was actually the day I moved all of my posts from myspace over to their current location which you now read. The post on Lou Holtz is from August of 2008. So if we assume that start date I started writing this blog when I was twenty five and going in to my second year in big 4 accounting. Two years ago is a long time.

Looking back now I’m very glad to have recorded my thoughts, because I realize that we rarely remember much and what we do remember is highly distorted. For example, if you asked me to recall for you my trip to Europe last April and tell you everything I could remember, perhaps I could talk for an hour or two. Instead I journaled out the entire experience. Reading through the material I have hours upon hours of recollection. Many lessons I learned or feelings I had became muted by a faded memory, and reading through my thoughts rekindles my experience.

So when I started this blog the purpose of it was to record my journey toward discovering my life’s purpose. What did I want from life? I was coming out of college where I originally thought you were supposed to discover yourself and realized through my search that life is more about creating yourself.

If you had asked me my ideal job two years ago I’m not sure exactly what I would have come up with. It would have been something along the lines of a small business owner. At the end of the day I wasn’t sure. My resolve then was to pursue the things that interested me and to discover new and exciting adventures; which I did and continue to do. So I read quite a few books on small business, I subscribed to blogs by entrepreneurs, and I thought about and discussed these topics. Never knowing if I would ever use the information, nonetheless, I cultivated my interest.

And there is no dramatic montage here. In fact, my pace was slow and arbitrary at best, but I did SOMETHING. And over the course of two years I learned a lot. So yes the point of this post, in September of this year I found myself in a job that I found less and less interesting and more and more monotonous. I decided to check the job market. The market outlook for individuals leaving Big 4 accounting is actually very good. When I was searching I saw the typical jobs and actually got a great offer from a very good company above market price for someone with my experience. Now I must note that the story could have ended here, and it does for many. Get the good job work and succeed. Though occasionally, preparation meets opportunity…

I got a call from a recruiter who doesn’t recruit the standard big 4 market and decided to do one interview more out of courtesy than interest. In the interview I recalled my keen interest and study of small business and entrepreneurship. The recruiter then informed me of a position requiring much more experience (5-7 years) than I had, but perhaps with my background and outside interest I could land it.

I went and interviewed at aforementioned small company with less experience than the other candidates, and I wowed them. I discussed some accounting and finance improvements that could be implemented immediately to help the Company. Additionally, I outlined some financial metrics and spreadsheets that the Company could use to make business decisions based on financial information. This coupled with my self taught knowledge of small business and its problems allowed me to offer some beneficial suggestions. I got offered the job two weeks later.

Two years ago, I couldn’t have predicted I would be sitting in my own office about to give a financial presentation on the direction of a company I may soon have an equity stake in. But I am. And that’s life, we can’t know where it will take us. Instead what we can do is take our natural talents and interests and develop them. That way when the opportunity comes we can seize it.

We all are skilled for some particular job. And what that ideal job is you don’t know or you would be doing it. Instead may I suggest that you pursue your interests and discover what excites you and grows you as a person. Because perhaps one day when you least expect it, preparation will meet opportunity.