For starters, it’s helpful to remember that our dream-job requirements often change over time. One job I held in my youth was a dream job at the time but would be impossible for me now because of the working hours. When I was twenty-something and single, I was perfectly happy to sit in a conference room with my workmates, eating cold pizza and talking shop at 8 p.m. Couldn’t, wouldn’t consider that now.

You may have longed for a management role at one time and realize now that’s the last thing you’re interested in; or you may learn that you’re happiest working independently, where your teammates are available if you need them but aren’t in your face all day long.

The point is, dream jobs aren’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. And that means that your ultra-customized dream job is the perfect job for you, not the whole world of job-seekers. So your task is first to understand what you’re looking for, and decide which elements in your wish list are most critical for you; and then to make and execute a plan to go out and find that job. The very worst way to land a dream job is to wait for it to find you.

As you create your dream job must-have list, it’s helpful to think about your wishes in two separate categories. In your first category, you’ll list the “hard” attributes you’re hoping to find in a dream job—company size, industry, job function, local or global enterprise, level of management, division vs. headquarters role, etc. Geography is perhaps the “hardest”—the least flexible of dimensions. Would you move across the country or abroad for your dream job? Will you move across town, doubling your commute? Think really hard about these questions, because these factors aren’t likely to change.