What's next
Write the job you'd love
A simple exercise to design the job you'd be excited to go to every day, starting from the one you have
Using what you love about your job, what you'd happily lose, and what you wish were part of it, write the description of a job you'd be excited to do.
- About 30 minutes
- Just you
- Once a year
- Worksheet
Why this can work
A job you've actually described is something you can aim at, and the next level usually isn't. Listing what you love, what you'd drop and what you wish you did turns a vague restlessness into a brief you can act on. Starting from the job you have keeps it honest, and often shows that some of it is closer than you thought.
Read moreHow to write your ideal job description
You’ll come away with a one-page description of a job you'd be excited to go to every day.
- Look at a real week.
Open your calendar for the last two or three weeks and skim what you actually spent your time on. You're working from the job you do, not the one on your offer letter.
Tip: Find half an hour where you won't be interrupted. A first draft is all you need today.
- Fill in the three lists, then write the job.
Keep each list short and specific. Then build the description from what you love and what you wish for, and use what you'd lose as a filter: if a line in the job sounds like something on that list, cut it.
Stays in this browser only. Nobody else sees it.
Tip: Specific beats grand. Untangling a messy problem with one other person tells you more than analysis.
- Read it as if it were a posting.
Would you apply? Would you be glad to go in on a Monday? Where a line feels flat, it's often something you think you should want. Rewrite it or cut it.
- Mark what's already within reach.
Circle anything you could do more of in your current job, on your current team, in the next month. Even one small thing counts; it's the first test of whether the description is right.
Tip: If nothing is within reach, that's worth knowing. It doesn't mean you have to leave. It means your next conversation, or your next search, can be more specific.
- Keep it where you'll see it again.
Save it somewhere you'll reread in a few months. It's the brief for any conversation about what's next, with your manager or with yourself.
Good times to repeat it: once a yearwhen a promotion is on the tablewhen you catch yourself restless at work
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Some things you're great at drain you. Skill tells you what you can do; energy tells you what you'd want to keep doing for years.
What might make this harder
Widen the lens to the last few years, or the best job you've had. If nothing comes, start with the wish list; it's often easier to say what you want than what you have.
Questions people ask
How do I figure out what job I want?
Start from the job you have. List what you love, what you'd happily lose, and what you wish were part of it, then write the description of a job built from the first and third lists. Designing tends to work better than searching.
Is it okay not to want a promotion?
Yes. A promotion is one shape of next, and it often means more of the parts you like least. Describing the work you'd actually enjoy gives you something better to aim at, and to talk about.
How do I write my own ideal job description?
Give it a working title, two sentences on what it's for, what a good week looks like, and what it deliberately leaves out. Build it from what you love and what you wish you did.
Should I share my ideal job description with my manager?
Possibly, once you've checked it against your team's goals. Many people start by bringing one piece of it into a 1:1 rather than the whole thing.
Why this works, and where it comes from
When people feel stuck, the default target is the next level. It's the shape careers come in. But a promotion is a title and a pay band, and it often comes with more of the parts of the job you like least: more meetings, more reporting, less of the work that got you noticed. Most people don't want the next level so much as a better version of their days. Naming what that looks like is the hard part.
Starting from the job you have keeps the exercise honest. You're not dreaming up a job from scratch; you're working from evidence. This meeting energized me, that report drained me, I keep volunteering for this. Organizational researchers have a name for reshaping the tasks and relationships of your current job around what you care about, job crafting, and a lot of what people discover here turns out to be craftable right where they are. The lists are raw material. The description is what turns them into something you can point at.
Even if the answer turns out to be somewhere else, this is the brief. Knowing what you'd love makes a search sharper, because you know what you're screening for. It also makes the job you have better in the meantime, because you've spotted the parts you could move toward now. Designing what you'd love tends to work better than waiting to recognize it.
If something more urgent is going on, start there instead. When your job is at risk, or the real problem is one person rather than the work, a description of the job you'd love won't get you through a bad month. And if you're running on empty, rest comes before design. Come back to it when there's a little room to be curious.
Other simple things to consider
What to do next
More in What's next
Know what you actually want
Do it with Truest and it goes on your permanent record, in a Career Vault your employer doesn’t own.
See how Truest worksAlready a member? Log in- The longer sessionCareer Compass is the guided session for working out what you want next.
- A living page in your VaultKeep it as one page you add to, next to your reviews and your files.
- A reminder beforePut it on your calendar and Truest reminds you before it starts.
Read this alongside your role page
Tell Truest what you’re dealing with
We read every one, and we write guides for the things that come up most. Leave your email if you’d like to hear when we do.
An exercise written by Truest, based on our experience. Last updated September 25, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.