Your Dream Job Is Waiting

Are you ready for it?

Turn on the TV, flip through the newspaper—oh wait, let me revise that—click on your favorite online news site, and the news is a bit doom and gloom about job prospects. If you have severe hemophilia, you may think a down economy coupled with a bleeding disorder is a recipe for unemployment.

Fortunately, you’d be wrong. Sure, it’s competitive out there. But equip yourself with the right tools, and you can nab that job you’ve been eyeing. You’ll want to stay away from jobs that put you in harm’s way—you can probably skip the postings for oil rig workers or fire fighters—but apart from those obvious high-risk professions there’s nothing that your bleeding disorder can stop you from doing. Here’s a guide to get you started:

Superhero or Fire Fighter?

Everyone’s got grand ambitions when they’re little of what they’d like to someday be when they grow up. Now, the time has come. So, what do you want to be? If you’re not sure, think about what you’d like to do if qualifications or money weren’t an issue—and don’t rule out those childhood dreams, because they can tell you a great deal about where your vocation may lie.

Once you’ve got an idea of what kind of area you’d like to work in, “break it down into what you want in a job—I want to be with people, I want to be outside, I get bored easily and want something to get finished fast,” David Couper, a career life coach, says. Whatever’s important to you, identify it so you know what to look for in a position.

The Sherlock Holmes Stage

The next step is to do your best Hardy Boys impression and sleuth out all you can about that pie-in-the-sky gig. An online search will help you tremendously here—uncover what this field really is all about and find people who are in your dream job, then look at how they got there.

After that, you’ll want to talk to people in your chosen profession, which may not always be easy. Let’s say you’re interested in becoming a producer at a particular sports TV network, but you don’t know anyone at the company. Couper recommends putting the word out among your friends and family that this is a goal you have. One of your immediate connections may not know a producer at the broadcaster, but they might know an accountant at a rival company, who knows an accountant at the company you want to work for, who knows a producer who can help you, and so on. “Aim toward this hit list of people rather than cold calling,” Couper says. “It’s easier to work with people you do know rather than starting out with the people you don’t know.”

If someone helps you find a contact or takes time to meet with you, make sure you follow up. A handwritten thank-you note goes a long way. So many young guys don’t do this, but it will make people more likely to help you in the future, and it’s always nice to show gratitude.

Pump Up the Volume

Youth has a lot of perks, but it’s got some downsides, too—one of which is lack of experience. If you’re a high school or college student, now is the perfect time to start participating in activities, taking classes, and applying for internships that relate to the career you want. This will make your résumé stand out and show that you’re serious about the occupation.

When applying for jobs, know that many—if not most—are obtained through networking as opposed to applying blindly. Don’t let that discourage you from responding to job ads, but make sure you’re also actively letting the people in your social network know what kind of aspirations you have. If getting hired is a numbers game, you want to make sure to pursue any and all avenues of getting in the door.

Face to Face

You can make or break getting a job at the interview stage, so be prepared to present the best you. Sit forward in your chair, make eye contact, and come dressed to impress. “Most interviewers are really busy, are usually not very well prepared, and a lot of times don’t really have any training,” Couper says. “You can’t rely on the interviewer to make you look good—if the job says you need to be able to do A and B, you need to be able to show you can do A, B, and C.”

Survive and Thrive

So you’ve made it past the interview stage and you’re hired. Congrats! You can relax a little, but you still need to impress your employer—and let them know they made the right choice. You’ll likely be working with people from many different backgrounds and age groups, and it’s a fair bet that you’ll be one of the youngest. “It’s worth picking up a book about the differences in millennials and baby boomers,” Couper says. “If you have a boss who’s in their 40s and 50s and you start texting during a meeting, you may think that’s fine, but it’s going to piss him or her off.”

You want to stand out, of course—with good work ethic, brilliant ideas, natural talent—but you also want to fit in to some degree. That means if everyone around you wears a tie to work, you should invest in some ties. “When you get to a job, look around you and see what other people are doing,” recommends Couper. “If at 5 o’clock, everyone’s still working, that’s probably a good sign that you should be working.”

Staying late may sound terrible, but if you find something you love, it’ll feel less like work and more like fun. (Really!)