How to identify and find your ideal job

The key to finding the right job for you is this:

Step 1: Identify something now that you are really passionate about. It could be children, researching, sailing, training people, languages, acting, teaching… anything really.

Step 2: Identify what it is exactly that you enjoy about your passion. If it's teaching for example, is it the standing up in front of people that you enjoy the most, or is it preparing for the lessons, or is it seeing the light-bulbs switch on in people's heads, or do you like the sound of your own voice? Find out why you love what you love.

Step 3: Find a way of making a living out of your passion. Too many people find a job in order to generate a steady income so that they can dedicate themselves to doing the things that they want to do on their time off. This is the wrong way round - especially seeing as you will only have about 3 hours free time a day.

You should find a job that IS your passion and then find a way of making enough money at it so as to make your job your lifestyle. Work and Life should be the same thing. It sounds idealist but IS possible.

Once you've identified what it is you want to be doing, the next step is finding out where to find that ideal job. The most obvious place to start is your university careers office. They should have the names of companies who have good graduate schemes, and will be able to help you on your first steps in finding a job. Including helping you with your CV.

Otherwise - you can go straight to Graduate Recruitment Companies, who will help you find the right job for you, but bear in mind that they may try and push you into doing a role that isn't your ideal job. They work for their clients - not for you! After all, it's their clients who pay them, not the poor ex-student looking for work. But they are always a good source of information and advice and if nothing else, they'll help you refine your interview technique.

Always ask your friends and family to help you. They may know someone who's looking for someone just like you for an exciting opportunity. Many ex-students take their first step into the real world through personal contacts and you know you can trust your family to have your interests at heart.

Never neglect the newspaper as a good source of finding a job. All the big companies, public services, schools and other institutions advertise in the paper regularly for graduates. And, of course, the Internet should be one of the first ports of call for you - there are dozens of excellent job search sites for jobs in the UK and in Europe. A lot of it will be hit-and-miss. It's rare to find the ideal job at the first go. The key is widening your "net", making contacts with as many people as you can - get your name "out there".