The Best Ted Talks To Watch That Will Help Prepare You For Your Job Hunt

Are you unemployed and desperately seeking encouragement in your search for work? These Ted Talks paint the job hunt honestly and are well worth the listen.

Unemployment is plaguing society, it is a growing problem for university students graduating their degrees without a job offer. It is much more common than we think and we can learn more from these moments than we often realise. Despite the hardship of searching for a job, here are the best Ted Talks to encourage you on your journey – both honest and poignant examples.

Find Your Dream Job Without Ever Looking At Your Resume, Laura Berman Fortgang

Ted Talks can often inspire inspiration. Through Laura Berman Fortgang’s Ted Talk she defines what work can be and what instead it should be. This is helpful for those of us searching for jobs who may be unsure of what we want. Fortgang says that many people hate their jobs, this is not rare. But it is possible to walk away from jobs we hate despite this being a scary process, it is also an important one. In these moments of doubt, this is when we turn to our resume and examine our credentials but Fortgang makes the point that what we are qualified to do is not always what we are meant to do! It isn’t the job you are searching for that will bring you happiness but who the job allows you to be that will bring you fulfillment. Our dreams can change forms and it is taking these dreams into account and pairing them with our current skillsets that we find which jobs we should be applying for. Because everyone is unique, you are not in competition with anyone. Laura sends a number of messages in her Ted Talk that makes the job search less intimidating.

You can watch her Ted Talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfNX1cHk-fE&t=600s

Trust Your Struggle, Zain Asher

Ted Talks can help you develop a change in perspective. In Zain Asher’s Ted Talk, Trust Your Struggle she uses a combination of personal anecdotes and formulated opinions to highlight that struggle is never a straight line. Asher details the realisation that rocked her world which was that hard workers are not always successful, and that hard work is not always the solution to getting the perfect job. Instead, success defined by Asher is being able to relate to people in all walks of life. She believes in trusting your struggle and maintaining faith that all hardship is all for the greater good of your journey. Asher refuses to compete with those around her and instead believes the more you give the more you will receive. It is through preparing over time that you will find success, and preparing before you get the call that will see you meet success when you are meant to.

Zain Asher’s Ted Talk can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT2XlI8oeh0

Don’t Find A Job Find A Mission, Celeste Headlee

Ted Talks are often honest, more honest than many of our usual exchanges. Celeste Headlee begins her Ted Talk asking for audience participation, she will ask the same questions of you so feel free to participate. A common question she is asked is ‘how did you get where you are?’ and she believes her success came only through a carefully executed plan that she was once oblivious to. In her own words, ‘I found my mission and I forgot the job title’ which is the driving point of this Ted Talk. In Headlee’s opinion, we are terrible at choosing the right jobs, statistics show this dissatisfaction. We need a purpose to our work and meaning in what we do because Headlee proclaims that our dream jobs do not exist, but it is our sense of purpose that makes us happy with our jobs and makes them dreamlike. She encourages us to try many things because we can’t know if we like something unless we try it. It is important to note that we can’t rely on our degrees because we are constantly changing and what we studied may not always be our calling. So on your job search focus less on a specific job title and instead on what the work will have you do. Your job title will change constantly but your mission will remain the same.

Find Celeste Headlee’s Ted Talk at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVx6ntr5OqI

Three Questions To Unlock Your Authentic Career, Ashley Stahl

Ashley Stahl in her Ted Talk presents the struggle between work we love and work that compliments the people we are. It is this difference that helps us in our job search, Stahl presents three questions to make this much easier. The questions are as follows:

What am I good at?
What do people tell me I am good at?
What’s holding me back?

When we ask ourselves these questions we arrive at the conclusion that we must do something that fits what we are, not just something we love – as Ashley says. The key to achieving this is tuning out social pressure and what the world is telling us, and most importantly don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Listen to Ashley speak here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMiSf7LpFQE

Did you find these Ted Talks helpful as you continue looking for the job that is right for you? Let us know in the comments below what impacted you the most!