How to find work you love | Bob Moesta (Jobs-to-be-Done co-creator, author of "Job Moves”)

1. Prioritize Job Experiences

When evaluating job opportunities, prioritize the experiences a role offers over static features like salary or title, as experiences are what truly drive satisfaction and retention.

2. Map Energy Drivers & Drains

Reflect on your past career and educational experiences to identify specific moments, projects, or interactions that either gave you energy (drivers) or drained your energy, then dissect the underlying context of these experiences.

3. Identify Your Career Quest

Determine which of the four career ‘quests’ you are on (Get Out, Take the Next Step, Regain Control, Realign) to understand the underlying motivations for your job search and guide your next move.

4. Make Conscious Trade-offs

Accept that no job is perfect and requires trade-offs; consciously identify what you are willing to give up (e.g., salary for learning) to gain what truly matters to you in a role.

5. Own Your Career Path

Understand that navigating your career path is your personal responsibility, as HR’s primary role is often risk management and filling positions, not individual career guidance.

6. Prototype Diverse Jobs

After distilling your skills and energy drivers, prototype a wide range of potential job positions across different industries, recognizing that your core strengths are transferable to many roles.

7. Conduct Informational Interviews

Actively seek out and conduct informational interviews with people currently or formerly in roles you’re considering; this provides practical insights into the job and valuable practice for future interviews.

8. Craft Your Career Story

Develop a concise, compelling personal career story using the Pixar template (Once upon a time…, Every day…, Then one day…, Because of that…, Until finally…, And ever since that day…) to articulate your journey, skills, and future aspirations.

9. Leverage Superpowers, Not Weaknesses

Instead of trying to ‘fix’ your weaknesses, focus on leveraging your unique strengths and ‘superpowers,’ understanding that attempting to normalize weaknesses can diminish your core abilities.

10. Take a Jobcation

If you are burnt out or exhausted, seek a ‘jobcation’—a less demanding job that allows you to rest, recover, and reset your mind and body before pursuing your next big move.

11. Reset After Startup

After leaving a startup, commit to taking a significant period (e.g., a year) to reset your mind and body, allowing yourself to become comfortable doing nothing to rediscover your true identity and purpose.

12. Aim for Next-Next Job

If your quest is to ‘Take the Next Step,’ redefine what a significant step means for you, focusing on the ’next-next job’ to ensure your current move aligns with your long-term career roadmap.

13. Simplify & Realign Strengths

If your quest is to ‘Regain Control,’ focus on simplifying your job and realigning your responsibilities to primarily leverage what you are truly good at and enjoy doing.

14. Prioritize Time Control

If your quest is to ‘Realign,’ prioritize finding a role that offers greater control over your time and allows for a better work-life balance, especially as your personal context changes.

15. Hire a Resume Writer

To navigate automated application filters and increase visibility, hire a professional resume writer (e.g., found on LinkedIn) who understands how to craft resumes that pass through these systems effectively.

16. Fit Job to Person

As an employer, instead of trying to find a person to fit a rigid job description, actively seek to redesign the job to fit the unique strengths and energy drivers of a good candidate.

17. Improve Job Descriptions

As an employer, improve job descriptions by focusing on experiences and outcomes rather than just features, and build a hiring process that uncovers candidates’ energy drivers and drains.

18. Be Specific in Requirements

When writing job descriptions, avoid vague requirements like ‘five years experience’; instead, be highly specific about the outcomes and experiences a candidate will deliver, rather than just listing features or skills.

19. Interview with Pushes/Pulls

As a hiring manager, use the ‘pushes and pulls’ framework to structure interview questions, asking candidates why they left their previous job and what they are truly seeking in their next role.

20. Monthly Quest Check-in

Utilize the ‘Job Moves’ quest test (available on jobmoves.com) monthly to assess your current career quest, identify misalignments, and stay on track with your goals and energy.

21. Delegate Misaligning Tasks

Actively delegate tasks that pull you out of alignment or drain your energy, recognizing that doing so can significantly boost your motivation and overall effectiveness.

22. Founder Self-Awareness

As an aspiring founder, cultivate deep self-awareness of your strengths, weaknesses, energy drivers, and drains to effectively shape your founder role and build a complementary team around you.

23. Focus on Productivity

As a founder, consciously differentiate between mere activity and true productivity to avoid wasting effort on tasks that don’t contribute to meaningful progress and cause unnecessary stress.

24. Unpack Your Money Motives

When seeking higher pay, deeply understand the underlying reasons (e.g., respect, financial security, feeling behind) rather than just the desire for more money itself.

25. Identify Bottom 5 Weaknesses

Utilize StrengthsFinder not just for your top strengths, but critically identify your bottom five weaknesses, as these often reveal the root causes of your energy drains.

26. Daily Energy Reflection

At the end of each day, reflect on where you gained energy and where your energy was drained to better articulate your preferences and needs in a job.

27. Gamify Energy Drains

For tasks that drain your energy, wrap a process around them or gamify them to make them more manageable and help you get through them effectively.

28. Prioritize Networking

Focus on networking and directly communicating your aspirations to people rather than relying solely on mass resume applications, as most ‘real’ job opportunities don’t come through automated filters.

29. Beware Overpaying’s Impact

As an employer, be mindful that overpaying can sometimes lead to employees becoming overly conservative and less innovative due to fear of losing their compensation, rather than doing what they should.

30. Find Superpowers in Weakness

Recognize that perceived disabilities or weaknesses can often foster unique ‘super abilities’; identify these strengths and actively leverage them in your career and life.

31. Insight 31

Actively monitor your career progress, as a halt in growth often signals the right time to seek a new job.

32. Insight 32

Consider it a significant ‘push’ to seek a new job if you don’t aspire to your boss’s role and cannot identify a clear next step for growth within your current company.

33. Insight 33

Leverage the practice gained from 10-15 informational interviews with strangers to significantly boost your comfort and confidence during formal job interviews.