So you’ve decided it’s time to explore your options. This job isn’t what you thought it was.

You’re overworked.  You need more money.  Maybe you just need change.

But where do you start? You were so certain that this was the job for you. This was supposed to be the step to catapult your career to the next level.

What the hell happened?

You need a new strategy. You need to rethink this.

That’s what I had to do.

I realized that I needed to stop thinking about my future job in isolation from the rest of my life. This time around I needed to consider the whole picture – the whole me.

The biggest mistake we make when we search for a new job is that we try to fit our skills and experience into a job posting like we’re squeezing a tiny puzzle piece into a giant jigsaw puzzle.

The problem with this is that we are only filling the need of an employer rather than satisfying our own needs. We spend too much time in the interview process trying to impress the prospective company.

What about us?  What do we think about working for them?

It’s time to change the way we look for jobs once and for all. It’s time to change the whole approach.

We must no longer waste our time endlessly clicking through online job boards. After all, what does this get us except painful rejections from jobs we didn’t want in the first place?

Instead, we must first focus inwardly on what we want and then get out there and start telling our story to everyone who’ll listen.

Think to yourself right now. What matters to you most? Is it growth? Culture? Location? Stability? Work-life balance?  

What is it?

What are you passionate about outside of work that you wish you could be doing all day? How can you find a position that gets you closer to that?

By reflecting on these questions your narrative will start to form. The industry you belong in and the job that fits you best will become clearer.

Don’t have all the answers? That’s OK.

Start poking around. Reconnect with college colleagues on LinkedIn and ask them how they found their job.

Ask your friends who are happy about their job why they’re happy about it.

Ask them what they really care about in their career or outside of it.

Become a detective.

It’s OK to be honest with people. Don’t be ashamed that you don’t have it all figured out. Because chances are, they don’t either.

If anything, they’ll be impressed that you’re asking these big questions at all.

From these types of conversations your story will become clearer and leads will start to form – leads that actually make sense for you.

And throughout the whole interview process, don’t change your approach. Stick to your story. Stick to who you are. Stick to asking questions.

Stay curious.

Don’t lose sight of your goal, which is to find a job that fits into the full context of your life. Because as you know, if you settle for anything less then you’ll be just as unhappy as you are now.

So take this moment of career indecision and use it to your advantage. Use it to peak into the lives of others.

Use it to make your next career move an intentional one so that you can start building the career that you want rather than that unfulfilling one your stuck in now.