For many people, their careers are the most important parts of their lives. Working towards a goal and being rewarded for their efforts can provide meaning to their lives and make them happy. But as people get older, it may be harder to find rewarding work that also fits around their personal lives and life goals.

I had a chance to sit down with well-known career coach and now author of the Number 1 Release book, College to Career, Explained: Tools, Tips & Confidence for Your Job Search, Amy Feind Reeves to discuss how anyone can find meaningful at any age. She provides five easy steps that anyone can follow now.

1.     ”Identify what job field or industry would be meaningful to YOU.

Climate change, war, and cancer research are obviously meaningful and worthy fields. But what is meaningful to you can be something quite different-and that’s fine. It can also be in a field that is profit and not mission-driven.

Want to work for a food or clothing company to bring ethically sourced products to market?  Want to work in a female-led advertising company that is committed to showing women in positions of power in their campaigns?

Recommended Actions:  Google topics that interest you and follow the thought leaders and companies that pop up, check out free sites that let you know what businesses are getting funded, and what those value propositions are. You can also set up a Google Alert for “social entrepreneurship” in your regional area.

2.     Identify the skills you want to apply to make work feel meaningful.

Are you a creative, analyst, or project manager? What is your core skill set and how do you want to use it moving forward?

Recommended Actions: Do an inventory of the tasks you do every day or week and how satisfied you feel after doing them. Think about the kinds of task you enjoy doing outside of work and whether there may be jobs that would incorporate those kinds of tasks. Without thinking about the kind of organization you want to work for, make a list of the kinds of tasks and activities you would like to do be doing in a role that has meaning for you. What kind of job description would that make?

3.     Think about how you will define success and meaning in addition to having meaningful work.

Are you ready to go all-in on meaningful work to the point of exclusion of everything else in your life? If not, what else gives your life meaning and how will you keep things in balance in this new work role? Will getting meaningful work fill what you are looking for in your life or will you want/need other things to feel content?

An overall inventory of where you are in life is a great thing to do before starting any kind of job search. Expecting a new job to resolve a lot of issues outside of work is a recipe for disappointment.

Recommended Actions: Make a list of anything you feel may be missing in your life that you would like to incorporate into it. Go through the list and check off those items that can be met with a new job that provides meaningful work. For any items that you did not check off, think about ways to be creative in getting them into your life: volunteer work, special projects, family activities. Keep your list and refer to it throughout the search. As you interview, consider how many checklist items any role could meet.

4.     Read job descriptions.

Job descriptions are a wealth of information about what kind of jobs there are, what industries are hiring, and what tasks you would be doing. They don’t take long to read, and you can learn a great deal in a short period of time.

Recommended Actions: Set up keyword alerts on job boards in your city, as well as on Indeed and Idealist.com. If there are companies that interest you, go directly to those sites to sign up for alerts. Additionally, follow those companies on LinkedIn, as well as any senior executives who may publish regularly on the site.

5.     Create a timeline and a plan.

Don’t stay in this research phase forever. Narrow your focus, and start your more intensive networking and applications at some point.

Recommended Action: Pick a date to stop researching and start networking.”