When you approach your job search, do you think of looking inward at what a job really means? If you haven’t, then you have been doing it wrong — though you probably aren’t alone. Luckily, in this week’s Office Hours chat, we were able to talk to career guru Leslie Ayres about how to conduct our inner and outer job search. She is the resident career expert for NBC Universal’s website WorkGoesStrong, where she writes about job searches, business culture and career tips. Watch the video below to watch Leslie’s whole chat.

Leslie has helped more than 10,000 people find jobs over the course of her career. “I know who gets the job and why,” she says. She has literally worked a rainbow of different types of jobs including managing a band in Thailand and working for the company that named The Blackberry. It is her colorful resume that helps her figure out the job that is best suited for the person and not the other way around. Here are some of her tips.

For your inner job search, Leslie suggests:

1. You must be real. You need to find out what you want and not what other people want. Do not be a poser. You should not be going to a job you hate every day and pretending you like it.

2. Create a vision for yourself. Many career coaches ask where you see yourself in five years, which is really just asking what you want your job position to be by then. But Leslie wants to know, where do you want to be at the end of your life? What kind of relationships do you want to have? What do you want your life to be? Leslie stresses that you need to understand that careers are not linear. Sometimes you just wander into things.

3. Create a checklist. You need to make a list to figure out what you do and don’t want in your job. Create  a simple list of five must-haves and five no ways.

For your outer job search:

1. Create a resume that resonates like you. Your resume needs to open up doors. It is literally a brochure about you.

2. Cultivate the people you want around you. Put yourself in the presence of mentors you would like to be like and people who support you. It is these people who will carry you forward, says Leslie. It really is all about who you know. You have to learn corporate politics in order to move up in your career.

3. You absolutely have to believe in yourself all the time. You can have cheerleaders and a good support system, but ultimately you are the only person believing in your career. You have to learn to make decisions and learn how to use your intuition. Learn to keep yourself positive. Don’t lose your mojo.You need to make it a conscious thing that you believe in yourself at all times. It is that kind of confidence and self-awareness that people want to hire.

Photo courtesy of Blood Mood Couture and Miles Redd