In the past, I’ve written about my relationship with navigation. I have an astonishing ability to take wrong turns and get terribly lost, even with my GPS. Sometimes I doubt and take matters into my own hands as I say to myself, “That can’t possibly be the right turn? I know better than the GPS!” Moments later, I find myself humbled (once again) by the error of my ways as I struggle to find my destination.

I remember a time two years ago when I was driving with my dad in Montana. It was the first summer of the pandemic and we made a spontaneous decision to drive to Montana and see our friends out there. I remember us driving through Bozeman one evening and past the Montana State University campus. When we decided to go back to our hotel, I pulled out my phone to start the GPS. Then my dad said, “I know how to get back…we just go south and then turn left and then right and get on the main road that takes us back to the hotel.”

As I sat there stunned, I realized my dad is used to learning his surroundings quickly and memorizing driving routes in his head, whereas I seem to make wrong turns, even with the help of a GPS. My dad has had many more years of experience than I do, not just in navigating unfamiliar roads, but also in navigating life.

As the years go on, I realize there’s still a lot I have left to learn in life. As a young adult, I turn to parents, older friends, and mentors for advice. I seek support and wisdom from those who have gone before me, not because they have done everything perfectly, but because I can learn from their experiences. The process of navigating life was designed to be lived out in community.

Through the experiences of others and a few of my own, I’ve discovered a few keys to navigating life, specifically in searching for a job and starting a career. When I graduated from college and hit the job market, I was overwhelmed. I remember searching through job postings, aimlessly looking for the perfect fit. LinkedIn became a hall of fame for career achievements – a jungle of professional do’s and don’ts, and a constant reminder that I was clueless. No matter what age you are, job searching can be daunting – but it doesn’t have to be.

If I could go back to when I was a college senior, peering out into a vast landscape of unknown jobs and careers, what would I have told myself? What advice do I wish I had known?

Know Yourself

One of the first keys to finding a great job is knowing yourself. To do this, start by asking yourself some questions:

What classes did you enjoy most in school?

What did you study in college?

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Are you a people person or do you prefer to be alone?

What are your deepest values and passions in life?

To know yourself, it can be helpful to take a personality test to learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. Ask a family member or close friend what they think your strengths and weaknesses might be. Take note of how all this research fits together and use it to help you refine your job search.

Look Around

              When you’re looking for jobs, it’s important to keep your eyes open. Seek to be open to every opportunity as it comes your way. There are jobs, careers, and industries out there that could be an excellent fit for you. The problem is, you may not know that they even exist! Right now, I have a career in fundraising. When I graduated from college, I didn’t even know that career existed in the nonprofit sector. I’ve yet to meet anyone in fundraising who intended to start that career straight out of college. Some people “fell in” into fundraising, while others were volunteers or community members who were passionate about the cause. Regardless of the reason, everyone in fundraising today was open to trying something new at the start of their career. You truly never know what’s around the next corner or through the doors in front of you, unless you choose to stay open.

Share Your Story With Others

As you seek a job, share with people that you’re looking for work and what you’re looking for. This includes family members, friends, mentors, and pastors. By sharing your job process with your community, you benefit from the knowledge of those who have more experience. Especially when you’re new to reading job descriptions and interviewing, people with more experience can help you read between the lines. There’s a lot you can learn about an organization just based on how they put together their job descriptions. People you know might know people on the inside, who can give you a better picture of what the positions are really like (which are always made to look good on paper).

In the professional world, personal connections make a huge difference. Another benefit of sharing your job search journey with your community is that they know people who work for various companies and help you get connected. These people will know about jobs, companies, and industries that aren’t even on your radar yet. They might even be able to put in a word for you, get your resume moved to the top of the stack, and help you set an interview. The bottom line is to work your network – your relationships will help you find rewarding work.

Pray Through the Process

              No matter what stage you’re at in your career, searching for a job, applying, interviewing, and accepting an offer is a process. Depending on the size of the organization, the process can be shorter or longer, but regardless, there is a process. It’s important to trust the process and be patient as everything unfolds. As you wait and anticipate, pray through the process.

              My top tips for having a calm, confident interview every time are very simple. First, know who you are interviewing with and think about what kind of questions they will ask. Do your homework on the organization and have examples of your work ready to share. Once you’ve completed this process, stop preparing. An interview is not an exam, you can’t “cram” for it! An interview is simply a conversation about who you are, what you’ve done, and how those things might align with the open position. It’s kind of like dating – a job interview could be the start of a life-changing relationship.

              Once you stop preparing, spend time in the Bible and in prayer. Do this the night before and the morning of the interview. This will help you have focus, peace, and give you the ability to share the best version of yourself with the interviewer.

Trust God’s Plan and Perfect Timing

As you go through the process of finding a job, you need to know that not every job is going to be a perfect fit. Some might be the wrong fit, some will be just ok, and some will be just right. It can be easy to get discouraged in this process but seek to be resilient. Remember that God will get you exactly where you need to go, exactly when you need to be there. God has a plan for our lives and works everything out according to his perfect timing. When I allow God’s peace and by trust in him to drive my job search process, everything falls into place.