Need help finding a non-sucky bridge job Read this. - When I Grow Up

Need help finding a non-sucky bridge job Read this. - When I Grow Up I got an email recently that asked me about bridge jobs what I like to call the jobs we take that help get us from right now to our dream career. Cause theyre a bridge from one place to the next. Right? Obvs. Well, this woman asked for resources on getting a good bridge job. And I was stumped! Dear Reader, I havent been stumped on something for a very long time. Ive pretty much heard it all in the 7 years Ive been The When I Grow Up Coach. Challenges, fears, goals, roadblocks, types of resistance nothing is new to me anymore. (Hear that, career fears? Youre not so special! The person who contains you IS, but YOU, sir, are not. Good day, sir. I said good day!) I kept that email in my Inbox for almost a week, thinking. And nothing came to mind. Sure, I had my Ditch Your Day Job class on CreativeLive that helps you brainstorm good bridge jobs for your skill set and ways to save/make more money, but not specifically how to get that job. Sure, The Renaissance Soul talks all about having a j-o-b (which is basically the authors term for a bridge job) and what one should entail that would appeal to your multi-passionate nature, but it doesnt talk about the how either. So lets cover two birds with one stone and start with the WHAT. A bridge job is a kick-ass one if it  gives you the time and energy to work on your career change  without having to worry about covering your bills. Before we go any further, I urge you to asses your current situation. Sure, your job might be boring and beneath you. Sure, you might not feel valued. Sure, youd never want to work there long-term and you feel youre wearing a mask when youre there. I have been there. I have done that. I mean, can you picture me working for a FINANCIAL CONSULTANCY company?! (I wanted to yell that part because, over two years after working there and only a few months shy of my quitting date, I was reprimanded for talking too loud in my cubicle. I asked my manager if shed prefer I work from home or get my own office, but neither one was acceptable. I was told to tone myself down, and a week or so later I was reprimanded for not appearing engaged and eager to help at departmental meetings. Well, I wasnt. I was being quiet. I responded that my communication skills were taken away from me when I was asked to tone myself down, and at that point I was told to go back to your old self. I cant make this shit up.) But if the job like mine at the finance company makes it so that you can have the time and energy to work on your dream career while giving you the money you need to pay your bills (and especially if you can sock some away to pay yourself severance when you quit), its probably worth sticking out. Now this? THIS is the HOW of finding a kick-ass bridge job: Go for something thats obvious from your resume, and dont try to climb that ladder too fast. This is not the time to make the move from office manager to copywriter when you  want to start a jewelry business. If you have office manager and receptionist experience, you can probably make the move to  admin or assistant to account manager, something in that realm. Spend an hour or so researching job boards or even better companies youd love working for that are local to you. Check out the Career section of their site and see what jobs they have that could be within your reach. Make a shortlist and then tweak your resume accordingly. This worked well for me when I used my experience as an Account Manager to get hired as an Executive Assistant. Dont tell the feds, but I tweaked my title at that job from Account Manager to Assistant to the Director of Client Development / Account Manager. All the bullet points were totally accurate in terms of what I was responsible for in that job and what I delivered on, but without calling it out like that in my title I might not have been gi ven a second look. The only exception to this? Its if you have real experience with what youre reaching for. If you want to make the move from office manager to copywriter and you have a portfolio or site to back it up, then dont be shy! Youll want to be clear that you did that work on your own time, but itll show your dedication and passion as well as some real-world work, and that is never a bad thing. Dont hide your extracurriculars. In all honesty, I think the companies with the best cultures are the ones who want workers who have passions, hobbies, and interests. They wanna know youre the right person for the job  and that theyll like working with you for 40+ hours a week because youre not a bore. They want to see that youre a self-starter, and that you can bring more to the table that job what your job entails. Dont be shy in pointing them to your social media sites, or even adding your site/blog as a title on your resume (i.e. founder of MyAmazeballsBlog.com) and listing your accomplishments (i.e. weekly postings for two years; over 100 subscribers; invited to speak at a panel on being amazeballs). So many of my clients realize that  where you work and with who is almost ad or some times a bit more! important than  what you do at work. Remember that if the company rejects your own personal interests and accomplishments, then theyre bringing the point home that its  not the right place for you to work. Nothing lost there. Utilize the help of recruiters when/if possible. I would not have gotten my Executive Assistant job at the fancy-schmancy financial consultancy company without a recruiter. I can remember meeting with almost a half-dozen of them, incorporating all their notes and suggestions on my resume and taking tests to mark my knowledge in stuff like Excel. (I had never done PowerPoint before, but I got an 80-something on the test. It aint rocket science, people, so dont stress about em.)  And then the recruiter has the hard part of getting me in the door. Its super silly for you to not get them to work for you so you dont have to do that grunt work AND you have someone singing your praises from the get-go. If youre aiming for a bridge job that you think might work with recruiters,  your first step should be to get in front of them first. Send out an All Points Bulletin to your trusted network, and cast as wide a net as possible. Last year, Forbes reported that half of all available jobs arent advertised. Half! Its probably not a surprise to hear that When a job is posted online, hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applications pour in, all from individuals eager to fill the listed position but not necessarily possessing relevant skills or experience. So, HR managers decide to save themselves the torture and go directly to their own networks. This means youll be doing waaaaaay more for yourself spending time  personally emailing your trusted peeps to say what I did in August of 2006, when I was trying to get out of working in sales. This is it in its entirety: Sorry for the big mass email, but I need to cast a wide-net to try to find a job that doesnt suck out my soul every day. I started my 2nd sales job in under a year this May, and I need out ASAP. However, because finding starting new jobs are about as exciting as getting a root canal, I want to be able to find something that I enjoy (imagine that!) treats me as a grown-up ( i.e. provides health insurance, 401K, yada yada yada). Im NOT exclusively looking for sales (in fact, I think Im going to stay away from it unless its with a major corporation that doesnt bore me to tears), so I need some help to see what else I can do and where I can go to find that special, magical place that I wouldnt want to leave. anyone hiring that wants a sassafrass on their team any online job database thats not Career Builders, Media Bistro,Craigs List, or the NY Times a career counselor that helped you or someone you know a recruiter that wont tell me I can go sell copiers for Xerox Thanks for your help, guys! The title of the email was Help me find a job that doesnt suck and I BCCd 36 people including my Moms bestie, my voice teacher, former colleagues and trusted friends.  That email led to 3 requests for my resume, a link to 3 job search sites I didnt know about, information for 7 temp and perm recruiters, a referral to a career counselor, direct numbers for HR people with permission to drop names, and an unasked for reformatting of my resume that made it even more awesome. More productive than applying on idealist like a zombie to black holes, right? Right! Open your mouth. Seriously, did you  read Katies story on this weeks The Recession is Bullhonkey series? Stop and read it now. She didnt have to do any of the above when she just opened her mouth, explained what she could do + what she likes to do + what she wanted to do, and utilized her peeps. This is not magic, people. Listen, I know that finding a new bridge job is a part-time job in and of itself, which is why you gotta be really honest as to your current situation and what you are and arent willing to put up with. However, if you  know your job is contributing to poor physical and/or mental health and is leaving you zonked at the end of the day, then the first thing you should do to make your way towards your dream job is to get out of there. I know its an absolute pain, but take it from someone who make the exact same choice. The first thing I did to become a certified coach was to leave my Account Manager position with the verbally abusive boss and get hired at that financial consultancy company   then I signed up for my coaching school and started classes the same month I started my new job. Eight years later, I can tell you that its the most important thing you can do in making the choice to get ready to change your career, and I know that youre ready.