Reaching your dream job is tough. What do you think it means to reach your dream job, and why is it so rewarding?

Reaching your dream job starts with getting to know yourself. Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

I would avoid thinking about a single "dream job" and focus on broader categories like industries, skills you want to use, impact that you want to have etc. Career changes are more and more common (3-5 times on average over the course of your life right now) so the younger you are, the more likely you are to change careers and the more times you are likely to change careers. Not just changing jobs, but changing what you do for a living entirely. This is because people change, but the job market and skills demanded also change. So, today's "dream job" might not be what you want to or are able to do tomorrow and you don't want to develop too narrow of a skillset.

In addition, without work experience, it's tough to know what your dream job really is. Here is what I would do:

1) Think about the type of work you want to do: Do you want to work with other people a lot? Work independently? What type of work-life balance do you want (there are trade-offs so think about this critically without defaulting to "I want to work as little as possible")? Do you want to work with your hands or with a computer? Travel, or go to the same office every day? Any particular industry/ subject matter that you want to work with? Etc.

2) Think about what types of careers match with the above. Make a long list! Not just one.

3) As a young employee or student, focus on jobs that will teach you the skills to stay relevant in many of the jobs on your list as possible. Don't focus on making your first job, or even first career, your "dream". Understand that the job that you have when you are older and are likely to hold for many years is more important than your first job, which you might only have for a matter of months or a few years. Pick a job that will help you get to the next job, and the one after that.

4) Keep repeating this process and reevaluating where you want to do. Always have a 1 year plan, a 3 year plan, and a 5 year plan. Understand that they will change, and that's ok, but have a plan all the same. As long as you are always working towards something with intention, happy accidents will happen along the way.