12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love

In 2024, I named Be The Unicorn: Data-driven Habits That Separate The Best Leaders From The Rest, by William Vanderbloemen, as the best new leadership book of that year. 

The book is timely, incredibly practical, and immediately usable for any leader wherever they are on their leadership journey.
 
Through extensive research of more than 30,000 top leaders and proprietary data, Vanderbloemen identified in the book the twelve habits that the best of the best leaders have in common. These superstar leaders are the unicorns – highly desirable but that are difficult to find or obtain.
 
And recently, Vanderbloemen followed up that gem of a book with another terrific book called, Work How You Are Wired: 12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love. It’s a great companion book to Be The Unicorn.
 
Those 12 steps align with these 12 personality traits/interpersonal habits:

1. Fast
2. Authentic
3. Agile
4. Solver
5. Anticipator
6. Prepared
7. Self-aware
8. Curious
9. Connected
10. Likeable
11. Productive
12. Purpose-driven 

In the book you’ll learn key takeaways for finding the best jobs tied to your specific trait. For example, Vanderbloemen recommends for a person with the fast trait, they should look for jobs that require quick decision-making and high levels of attentiveness. They should avoid jobs with even a whiff of bureaucracy or slow-moving gears.

 
He also highlights for each of the other 11 traits specific positions to avoid at all costs based on someone’s work style and personality.
 
Vanderbloemen adds that “The most important person to learn from is yourself. When you know who you are—truly what makes you you—you can begin to narrow your wide ocean of options and draw that much closer to finding the work you are wired to do. Stop doing what doesn’t serve you and start doing what your heart and brain implore you to do.”
 
Two of my favorite learnings from the book are where Vanderbloemen lists the six reasons why people hate their jobs: 

1. Toxic work environment
2. Bad management
3. Lack of work-life balance
4. Bad pay
5. Lack of opportunity for advancement
6. Lake of purpose

…and the six keys to being happy at work: 

1. Having a good boss – where your boss has your best interests in mind.
2. Work-life balance – when you’re not on the clock 24/7.
3. Making enough money – when your basic needs are met in the form of a fair, living wage.
4. Autonomy and flexibility – where you are treated like a responsible adult who can do their work without being micromanaged.
5. Professional growth – having a chance to advance in your career.
6. Meaningful work – having a sense of purpose and believing in in your work.

William Vanderbloemen

Vanderbloemen shares these additional insights with us:
 
Question: Can you explain the quiz mentioned on page 22 in the book?
 
Vanderbloemen: The VanderIndex is proprietary index we developed a couple of years ago. It helps individuals learn about their best interpersonal habits and places they need to work. The index was born out of our research of the top 1% of all candidates we have ever seen and an in-depth survey studying over 250.000 individuals.
 
Question: Can a person be more than one of the 12 traits and if so, how best do they find their ideal job?
 
Vanderbloemen: Of course. These 12 "lanes" for employment are built around those same 12 interpersonal habits. Nearly everyone has one or two that rise higher than the others. Knowing what those habits are will help. When paired with the DiSC inventory and Enneagram results, most people will be able to narrow down to the best lane to explore.
 
Question: Which one of the 12 traits does your data show is the most common and why might that be?
 
Vanderbloemen: Purpose-driven - Now more than ever, people seem fulfilled by doing fulfilling work. Think of Simon Sinek's viral talk, "Start with Why." This trend crosses generations but has been increasingly true with younger employees. Over 85% of all Gen Z's say that they need to know the purpose of a business to have satisfaction at work.
 
Question: What inspired you to author the book?
 
Vanderbloemen: Most Americans aren't happy with their jobs. Most managers say their teams are average or below. What would happen if people could find a pathway to discovering a job that they truly enjoyed and are truly good at? That led to the research that uncovered the pathway I write about in Work How You Are Wired.

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"Work How You Are Wired is perfect for anyone at the start of their career journey feeling lost where to look first, or for the many of us who feel drained in a position misaligned to our personal strengths,” shares Vanderbloemen.
 
Vanderbloemen, founder and CEO of Vanderbloemen Search Group, has become an unlikely business expert over his long and continuing career. Combining over fifteen years of ministry experience as a Senior Pastor with the best practices of executive search, he created a brand-new industry: executive search for faith-based organizations. Prior to founding his own search company, he studied under a mentor with over 25 years of executive search experience at the highest level. Vanerbloemen also has experience as a Manager in Human Resources in a Fortune 200 company, working on integration of corporate culture and succession planning.
 
Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.