How do I begin to find a job?

Where should I even start?

Whether you’re a current college student, a recent graduate, or someone with a few years of experience looking to change jobs, you’re not alone in the experience of feeling stuck. Perhaps you have a dream job in mind, and you can’t find an actual job listing to match it. Or maybe you’re looking at a broad sea of employers and job postings and having trouble narrowing your sights. 

A career triangle can help you identify the characteristics you value most in your first job search, or if you’re looking for a second job to pivot from your current role as you develop your career. In this post, I’ll talk about a career triangle and give you some ways to use it.

What is a Career Triangle?

A career triangle is a conceptual tool to help you identify the values you want to key on in your next job search. It consists of (surprise!) three points: 

• type of organization, 
• type of work, and 
• quality of life. 

Any one of these three points can serve as the starting point for your job exploration and, at different points in your career, your priorities may shift among these points, or within a category. Let’s take a look at each one.

Type of organization:

What kind of organization do you want to work for? Is it a Fortune 500 company? A local small business? A national nonprofit that works on a cause you believe passiontately in? 

If the type of an organization is what you’re looking for, start broad and narrow down. Thinking about these characteristics can help you identify types of organization that meet your interest:

• Size: either of the company or a local office, branch, or chapter
• Mission: are you looking for a non-profit with a social mission you believe in? Do you want a company that is known for big sales and significant results?
• Culture: are you looking for an organization with ping pong tables and softball leagues? Or one where you will leave work on the doorstep?
• Location: Do you want to stay close to home or start an adventure in a new city?

Where can I learn more about a company or organization?

There are several great places you can research an organization. One is on the company’s website itself (look for the About or Careers section) or search in Google news for stories about the organization’s work. Look for TED talks or other speeches by executives or company representatives, or seek them out at career fairs, to hear how they talk about company culture.

Another way to learn about employers is by looking at one of the major job sites: Glassdoor, Indeed, or LinkedIn. Each of these sites offers information about potential employers and allows you to search open positions, but each has a slightly different focus. Glassdoor prominently features anonymous reviews of companies by current and former employees, which can give you an inside look at company culture. Indeed began as a job posting site, and those features are its strongest. LinkedIn is based on personal and professional networks; you can find out if you are connected to anyone that works at an organization and reach out to them with questions or for an informational interview.

Type of Work

This part of the triangle focuses on the actual work that you will do. While some types of positions are well-defined in an organization (e.g., park ranger, retail employee), you may have to dig a little deeper when it comes to office jobs. Coming out of college, you may be looking at jobs such as office assistant, research assistant, marketing associate. If the type of work is most important to you, make sure you’re looking for positions that capitalize on your strengths or focus on the skills you want to develop. 

Where can I learn more about the types of work that might suit me?

Ashley Stahl focuses on the type of work as the most important in her book, You Turn. Stahl identifies ten core skill areas, such as words, analysis, or innovation, and asserts that we are most fulfilled when our job aligns with our core skill set. Stahl also points out that changing your type of work later in a career can be more  challenging than changing an organization or industry. If you’re interested in finding out which of her 10 core skills you have, you can start with the Dream Career Quiz on her website.

Career aptitude tests or personality assessments offer another way to identify the type of work that may fit your personality or skills. Some popular assessments include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Gallup’s Clifton StrengthsFinder, or the Enneagram. The Muse has a useful list of many common career or personality assessments–ranging from free to hundreds of dollars–that can be used in identifying potential careers.

Quality of Life

Quality of life includes, well, everything else. Some considerations for quality of life include:

• Salary: is a high salary the most important thing to you right now, or are you willing to work for lower pay to get yourself into a company or an industry?
• Telework: do you want the camaraderie of going into the office, or would you prefer a job that allows more telework?
• Travel: are you excited by the idea of visiting new places on your employer’s tab? Or does the concept of business travel stress you out?
• Hours and work culture: coming out of college, you may be looking for something to throw yourself into. Or you may be more interested in a job that balances well with your other interests and friendships.

Once you’ve thought through which values are most important to you, you can use these to help filter as your research potential employers and jobs on Glassdoor or other sites.

Using the Career Triangle for your first, or your next, job search

The career triangle can be a helpful tool in narrowing down a job search, in comparing offers, or in starting to plan a pivot in your career. You can use it in several ways, but the following steps may be beneficial. 

Step One: Choose the most important point for you

Choose which of the three points of the triangle is your top priority at this point in your career, and use that to begin your search. 

Example A: Brianna has decided that the type of work is most important to her right now.  She takes some personality assessments and reflects on her academic and professional experiences so far, and realizes that she has always been most engage when she is writing.  Brianna wants to make sure that writing will be a crucial part of her career. And so, based on some lists that came from her career assessment tests, she begins thinking about positions that include writing as a focus, such as copywriter, marketer, journalist, marketing associate. 

Example B: Liam has already decided he wants to stay in the city where he went to college. With geography as a limiter, he can narrow down accordingly. He uses Glassdoor to identify the 100 largest employers in his metropolitan area, so that he can evaluate them on his other criteria.

Step Two: Dig deeper on your primary point

With your answer from step one, do some research to get more information and narrow your focus.

Example A: Brianna has decided she wants a job that focuses on writing, and she has listed several kinds of positions. Now, she reaches out via her network–friends and family, her college’s alumni network, or LinkedIn–to find people who are or have been in those positions. Brianna contacts them and sets up a series of informational interviews to see if the reality of those jobs matches her idea. She also searches for Reddit boards and bloggers who talk about their experiences. As Brianna learns more, she constantly updates her list of potential positions to consider, and starts to search for job postings.

Example B: Liam has decided he wants to stay local and has identified 100 potential employers. He begins to filter through this list, seeing which organizations might seem like a good fit with his skills and personality. Liam can do this in various ways, such as narrowing down to a specific industry or sector (for-profit, nonprofit, or government). In addition, he may look at Glassdoor, or at the “Best Places to Work” issue produced by the regional magazine in his city.

Step Three: Start to fill in the other points on your triangle

Once you’ve figured out your most important point on the triangle, and your preferences within that point, take some time to think through the other points. 

Example A: Brianna started by identifying writing as a skill she wants to focus on, and then began to search for potential job opening for writers. Now, she can use her preferences about the other points, such as what type of organization she’s interested in, or what salary she’s aiming to hit. These internal filters will help her narrow down the hundreds or thousands of search results to a more manageable number that cha 

Example B: Similarly, Liam started with location and narrowed down to a list of a couple dozen employers in his city that might be a fit. Now, he can search on their websites or on Indeed.com to find out what positions are open for applications. Or he can reach out to 

The triangle is a tool, but the journey is yours.

There is no “right” answer to which point on the triangle is most important, but there is usually one that is most important to you right now. Hopefully the triangle tool can help you identify that value and use it as a starting place for your search.

As your career develops, you won’t always find a job that matches your aspirations on all three levels, and so finding one that meets your top priorities is key. Additionally, your preferences within and among the points will change at different points of your life and career. You may decide to move from company to companywithin an industry, deepening your knowledge, experience, and network, and growing your salary. Or you may wish to try out work in the government, the private sector, and the nonprofit world, incorporating lessons from each to apply to the others.

Whatever your journey looks like, thinking critically about the organization, the work, and the quality of life will serve you well as you pursue the most fulfilling next job. Good luck finding your path!