That’s a question for an expert. Meet career change coach Alice Stapleton.

Alice helps people in their 20s and 30s who don’t know what they want to do choose their dream career. One that suits their skillset, their values and how they want to work.  

‍We spoke to Alice about how she does it, and what you can do to choose your dream career.

What even is a dream career??

Alice: It's a tricky question because it's become very loaded. With social media especially, a dream career has become sort of a fantasy land and it all seems very untouchable. 

But I think for most people, a dream career is one that feels worth getting out of bed for. A career that interests you, that you’re motivated to do, and that can pay you enough to sustain the life you want to lead. 

So many people come to me saying, ‘I just don't see the point of what I'm doing’. So the whole process I go through with people is all about redefining what success looks like to them. It's about being rich in those areas of life that are most important to you.

How can people discover their dream career?

Alice: In my work, I break it down to three steps.

1. Explore what it is that you want and need in your career. 

Think through your values — what’s most important to you, fundamentally, in life? What's going to get you out of bed on a cold, wet, dark Monday morning? 

Then, what skills do you have already? What skills would you love to learn and use in your job? 

And tied to that is what you feel your strengths are. You can use many helpful free assessments on the internet to get a sense of what those might be. Ask your friends, family and colleagues what they think your strengths are. 

Get a sense of how you’d like to work with online free assessments. Think about what your ideal working day looks like, the type of organisation you want to work for, their culture, their values, their leadership style. 

Finally, take all that thinking and make a mind map so you can see it all on a page. This is your groundwork — building your self-awareness.

2. Make a shortlist of jobs, then get out there and test them out. 

Look at your mind map and think where your wants and needs start to crossover. What ideas do these crossovers give you about jobs you can do? (For instance, if you’re good at talking to people and you love sports, a job you might think of is a sports coach.) 

Send your mind map to your friends and ask, ‘what jobs does this sound like to you’? Go online and see what comes up when you google your skills. Take in everything and build a shortlist of jobs you might want to do. 

Next, actually get out there and test drive some of that shortlist. Shadow somebody, talk to people that do what you're interested in doing, find online work experience, do short courses, go to workshops, ask your connections and friends and family for introductions. 

All so you can really get a sense of, how well do these jobs match up with my mind map? Then use all that experience, research and knowledge to help you decide which direction you want to move in. 

3. Put together an action plan and start working towards a career goal 

Write an action plan. Come up with a career goal — where do you want to be in three months? Then give yourself some specific timeframes and deadlines, weekly tasks and monthly tasks, to help you hit that goal.

Get an accountability buddy who also has a project going on and keep each other on track. You can use a career coach for that too! 

Break everything down into manageable chunks. There’s no need to get overwhelmed. Don’t wait for a big epiphany — follow the fairy lights of your curiosity, be patient with yourself, and you’ll find your dream career in time.

For anyone who can’t do work experience right now, is there anything they can do to build career experience?  

Alice: There's always ways to do little bits of informal work experience, even if that's helping out a working friend on a weekend or a family member who does something that you're interested in. Even just talking to them and hearing what it’s like is useful. 

YouTube is great for Day in the Life interviews — find people who do a job you care about. Look online and find sites that summarise what a career looks like or what a particular job looks like.

And just keep a journal of moments through the days where you feel a little bit drawn to something, whether it's a particular skill that you're using or an interview you catch on TV, and you think oh, that sounds pretty cool. 

Do lots of people need the kind of support you offer? 

Alice: The amount of times people have asked me, ‘Oh, so what do you do?’, and I tell them and they're like, ‘Well, yeah, I need someone like you’. There’s a real demand for career change support. 

I think more and more people's careers are becoming very integral to their identities and the sense of purpose and meaning that they draw in their life.

So yeah, I think people are being more and more intentional about how they use their years. Which feels like a long time, but it's not really. So I think people are making more of an effort to get their career right. 

If you don’t know what career you want to do yet, you’re not falling behind and you’re not the odd one out. You’re one of many!

Once you’ve found your dream career, do you have to stick with it forever? 

Alice: Not at all. Because, you know, you're only human. It's our default nature to want to grow and to challenge ourselves and to progress. 

So yes, I think it's impossible for us to expect one career to meet our needs across our lifespan. We'll always be looking to change things up. And I like to think with my clients that the work we do makes it easier for them the next time they choose a new career. 

It’s definitely possible to find a job that keeps you fulfilled for a long time. But if that changes over the years, it’s absolutely ok to go and do something completely different. 

Learn more about Alice here