Hi everyone, I'm Judy. How are you? The New Year has just passed, and many people probably have returned to their jobs from the holidays, right? I wonder, after returning to your job if you feel recharged and ready to face the challenges that the new year of work brings to you Or have you not started working yet and already feel tired at the thought of your boss and colleagues? Five years ago, I was definitely in the latter state Back then, I was in the finance industry doing a job I didn't particularly like looking forward to the end of each workday using my time after work to compensate for the life I wanted to live At first, I thought there was nothing wrong with this I had just graduated at that time I thought this must be the norm for entering society But gradually I discovered that doing a job I didn't like brought me physical and mental exhaustion and a sense of powerlessness The cost was really huge It even led to me being unable to fully utilize my time after work to live the life I wanted For me, this was not an ideal state Because, every day, apart from the time for rest and meals, work occupied a large part of my day and my life in a very significant way If the time I spent did not bring me happiness and a sense of fulfillment I felt it was a real loss for me So, after working in finance for six months, I made up my mind to find a career path that truly suited me within the next year and successfully find my next job So, I went through a series of self-discovery and the process of changing careers Eventually, I succeeded within seven months in switching from finance to the tech industry and found the right path for myself In the four years after I switched tracks, my salary tripled Today, I want to share this interesting story with you all If you are still exploring your own career development process this video might give you some reference or new ideas At that time, I wasn't very clear about my own interests and at the same time, I had no specific passion for any profession I mainly did four things to help myself find the right career planning The first thing I did was to write down all the reasons why I didn't like my previous job and list them all and then categorize them to see whether it was a problem with the industry the profession itself the company or my own personal issue Categorizing these problems is important because knowing the root of the problem helps better in finding a suitable career If the reason for not liking the job is just because of low salary or disliking colleagues or the boss then you might not need to change your profession or industry but just change to a different company After completing that exercise, I came to a conclusion that I simply did not like the finance industry didn't like financial planning and didn't like the wealth management company I was working for at the time From the perspective of changing careers, this was a very challenging scenario because it meant I had to switch to a completely different track But fortunately, I did this exercise because it made me realize that I needed to find the right industry, profession and company, and do thorough research in these three areas The first thing I tackled was the industry part I decided to choose the industry based on development and preference Before entering the workforce, I had never thought that I might need to choose an industry I prefer/like more More often, I just heard people say you should choose a profession you are interested in But after entering the workforce, I found that working in an industry you are not very interested in is a real disadvantage Because when I was working in finance, whether during breaks or in the morning, many colleagues would gather together to talk about changes in the stock market decisions made by the Feds how they might intervene in the market or even what someone said a series of financial information/news/messages All of this, for me, required extra effort to learn Whether I was doing this job or not, it wasn't something I would actively learn about after work So, through this, I realized that entering an industry I was not interested in was really disadvantageous I naturally have less industry-related knowledge than others and had less information I also missed opportunities to connect with colleagues because they all understood the same things so they could connect with each other better Besides, you can more easily build up some networks in your workplace This, overall, is very advantageous for career development I didn't have this advantage at the time So I decided I must choose my industry based on development and preference First, I really pulled up an industry list and then used a process of elimination A person might not necessarily have a specific interest or passion but everyone has preferences That's why there are algorithms Without preferences, algorithms wouldn't work So, I used this method at the time After listing them, I eliminated like this, x5 to see which one I preferred more Finally, I chose five industries They were tourism, technology, real estate marketing and advertising and consulting But I didn't directly choose the one I liked the most What I did next was in the city where I was to see which industry had the most development A well-developed industry has more job opportunities possibly higher salaries and better helps in changing careers So, after another round of elimination I was in Vancouver at that time Speaking of Vancouver, marketing and advertising were basically first to be eliminated because they were much smaller compared to the U.S. or Asia The same concept applied to consulting, so I eliminated it too I also eliminated tourism later I hate to say it, but the central part of Canada and the area above it are relatively desolate making the tourism industry not as thriving So, it came down to technology and real estate Finally, between technology and real estate how did I make my decision? By understanding which industry If you make a decision just based on preference and development you might end up not understanding the industry and after changing jobs, find it different from what you imagined and feel like starting all over again So, between the technology and real estate industries I looked at which friends were working in these two industries and asked them how the development of these industries really is what kind of jobs are there how the companies operate, and so on to understand many details and their usual work conditions Then I decided, OK between real estate and technology I prefer the technology industry and finally decided to move forward into the technology industry The next thing I needed to solve was to find a suitable profession for myself While trying to solve this problem I really did a lot of research At that time, I saw many people saying you should find an interesting or passionate profession But honestly I really didn't have a specific interest or passion Besides I think using your own interests and passions to plan a career often turns out to be that your original interest and passion are no longer your interests and passions I think if that's the case it's too much of a loss So I think it's not quite suitable to make a hobby a profession unless you can accept the way this interest monetizes Because a profession is a job and a job is supposed to bring income at least for most people If it's supposed to bring income then it needs to monetize When you use that interest to transform into a monetizing method actually, many people don't like that way of monetizing For example, I really like making videos editing videos for YouTube but actually, I don't really like The way of monetizing as a (full-time) YouTuber because this often means I have to regularly upload videos and I might not always be able to film what I really want to For me, this could turn my interest into pressure and a burden So I never considered being a full-time YouTuber If I don't make my interest my profession, my final research conclusion was that I should choose my profession based on my core competencies and lifestyle to select a suitable job for myself Why I thought I should use my core competencies is because I saw a video of a professor who talked about a research that interviewed a group of people doing the same job He found that among them, those who did their job well and liked their job was not because they were super passionate about the job or profession or the profession itself but because the job utilized their core competencies These competencies brought value in their work and gave them a sense of achievement Their sense of achievement allowed them to further improve their expertise After improving their expertise, they could make a bigger impact in their work The things they did brought them greater value After hearing this story, I really felt it was right I thought I should find my core competencies and also wanted to use my core competencies to create greater value I spent a lot of time finding my core competencies If everyone is interested in this part, I can make another video because it really took me some time to find my core competencies My core competencies are mainly three The first is relationship building The second is leadership and then planning Besides core competencies, I also thought about my preferred or ideal lifestyle Work is a part of life Often when you choose a profession, you are choosing a lifestyle If you decide to be a doctor, you might have to accept working night shifts Even when paged outside, you must be on call If you want to be a software engineer, you have to accept sitting in front of a computer for long periods If you want to be a realtor, you might have to accept constantly running around outside showing houses to clients So, I think when choosing a suitable profession for oneself, you must consider the lifestyle that suits you At that time, I hoped my ideal job would have more fixed working hours because I wanted to make full use of my time after work to do other things I wanted like making YouTube videos Then, next I hoped that my job would not require a uniform or be too formal I was really fed up with having to wear business casual in the finance industry or even business formal Every day, I looked forward to taking off those high heels after work and lying on the sofa and slipping off the skirt That was basically what I looked forward to every day So, my ideal job would allow me to dress casually Lastly, I am someone who really likes talking and chatting and am afraid of being bored and quiet So, I hoped my profession would involve communicating with many people and working together in a team I didn't want a job where just doing my work alone was enough Combining my core competencies with my ideal lifestyle, I focused on the technology industry, particularly software/Internet specifically in Sales/Business Development Marketing, and Sales Ops departments After confirming the departments that suited me, I did more research to see within these departments what the three most common positions were what their job content roughly looked like in the tech industry and their average salaries After clearly understanding these things, I finally focused on pursuing Sales Ops and doing more work in business analysis Then, finally, came choosing the company I basically chose based on two things which company I would work for The first was the company culture and the second was the salary and benefits Regarding company culture, at that time, there were two things I valued more The first was that I hoped the company had a startup vibe So, I did not look for large companies The second was that I hoped the company culture placed a lot of emphasis on each employee's personal professional development So, the companies I looked for at that time provided certain support in this aspect After entering the tech industry, all my further education and all the certifications I obtained, etc., the costs required for those thousands of Canadian dollars were all paid for by the company I didn't spend a penny on classes As for salary and benefits, I basically adopted the approach of among the companies with the culture I wanted, choosing the one that offered the highest For benefits, I think everyone at different times wants different benefits What I valued more at the time were bonuses and stocks I didn't place as much importance on vacation and maternity leave, etc. Okay, all the above are very detailed ways I found a job suitable for myself This method is definitely not suitable for everyone But if you happen to be troubled by this matter, I hope this video can give you some references Besides, if you are someone unhappy with your job, I think knowing yourself and finding a job suitable for you is very worth spending time to research Hoping a successful example can give you a bit of confidence So, that's it for this episode See you in the next one Bye~
