Today’s graduates start their job search with a belief that they should enter their company or industry of choice immediately after graduation. Students often pursue dream jobs with a short-term mindset, thinking that they need to get started in their chosen area right away in order to be successful in their career. In order to avoid time being wasted, Rebecca Cook and Eric D. Johnson from The Conversation have created a five-step process for new graduates to get on the path to their dream job.

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  1. Share your vision with trusted mentors

    Don’t treat the vision as a private document for personal use only. As your vision and plan comes to life, mentors and friends can help to shape and mold the vision by sharing advice and experience from their own career paths. They often see skills and abilities in you that you don’t see in yourself, thus enabling them to help you get a better understanding of your strengths and areas of opportunity

  2. Modify your vision as needed

    Recognize that each person’s vision and path will change over time, due to interests changing and markets evolving. You may find yourself off of your original path at some point, but the practice of consciously evaluating short-term opportunities against long-term goals will reduce the frustration along the way and lead to the ability to make better sense of each opportunity as it presents itself.

  3. Map out a path to the dream job

    Spend time to identify different roles that can lead to your desired long-term goal. Examine company hierarchies and the benefits or drawbacks of moving across industries. Also, consider the role geography may play in your chosen field, the value of international experience, and other trends discovered in the research stage.

  4. Research people who do your dream job

    Next, utilize LinkedIn to research the backgrounds of people who are in your dream role (or close to it). Reach out to a few of them to ask advice and find out answers to key questions, such as: What did you do along your career path to get where you are now? Are there common roles or skills that stand out? Are there some unique skills that have propelled people forward faster?

  5. Create a seven- to 10-year vision

    A great vision has a clear end goal in mind, such as aiming to be a chief financial officer or chief marketing officer in 10 years for a technology company. However, the plan should also outline skill sets and experiences that need to be developed in order to attain that “dream job.”

**The information used in this article was taken from The Conversation**