Hello and welcome back to another blog post. I feel like it’s been forever! In reality I stepped away for like a week and a half but it feels like ages since I’ve sat down to write down my thoughts on here. Today I want to talk a little bit about this idea of a dream job. As you all may know, based on the content I post here, I love all things related to career. The other day as I was sitting down getting some work done, I had this thought cross my mind that was about the idea of a dream job. Now, I must confess that when I was younger (I would say the last year in college and beginning of me working), I thought that such a thing existed. I had heard in the media and in school that we were all working towards this “dream job” and I believed it. Don’t get me wrong, I think that school is important and goals are important and it’s important to go to a job that you enjoy but, the question here is “what exactly does having a dream job entail?” Well, that’s why I wanted to sit down and write this blog post.
Although this is one of those topics where everyone has their opinion I’m here to share mine. ? I used to think that a dream job was one where you would wake up everyday and be super excited to go to work and loved every aspect of it. You loved everything you had to work on, you loved your office/working location, you loved your coworkers and you never felt like you were working because it was that, a dream job. Well, I was wrong! As some of you may know, right after college I started working in radio and was so excited to be there. Don’t get me wrong, it was a cool job! I mean, I had awesome coworkers, the building was spectacular, the job was fun (heck it didn’t even feel like a job), I mean in other people’s eyes it certainly felt like I had a cool job, and it was but, it wasn’t what I thought a dream job was all about. Although the work was fun and so was everything surrounding it, at the end of the day it was still work. The radio station was 50 miles away from where I lived, sometimes the work was physically hard, the pay wasn’t great (to be honest ? oops) and there were other things that were “not perfect” that I’ll keep to myself forever and ever! That for me was a learning experience. As time kept passing by I realized that there was no such thing as a “dream job” (at least in my opinion). Later I worked at a career company and I remember we would often ask students we would work with what their dream job was and for some reason although I loved the question, it also bothered me because I wanted to tell them so badly that there was no such thing (but don’t worry I didn’t because I knew that it was my opinion and they should figure that out on their own). So, what do I think now about having a dream job? Well, I don’t think it exists. I know it sounds harsh but it’s truly how I feel. I mean don’t get me wrong there are jobs you absolutely dislike, and others you like a lot (like in my case now with my current job), but they are not a dream. What I mean by this is that, every job will have one thing (or many) that you don’t necessarily love. I think that when thinking about what you want to do in your career instead of aiming for this perfect “dream job” , aim for a job you’ll really enjoy and come to terms with the fact that it will involve work and sometimes doing things that are not your favorite but, that you enjoy it more times than you don’t.
I don’t mean to sound like Debbie Downer but, let’s stop idealizing this idea of a perfect dream job and the thoughts that come along with that (like that if you have a dream job your life will be perfect and everything else will be resolved) because that is just not the case. I will say though, think about the things that are important to you and see if the job you have or want will match up with those. In my case, I really prioritize a job that pays well (gotta pay the bills- ya know ??♀️), has great work-life balance, is close to my house (I highly dislike traffic), has a great work environment aka awesome co-workers, and one where I can learn and feel challenged in my work. My current job checks off all those boxes and I’m happy with that. Now, I leave you with this question. What are some things that are important to you when it comes to a job?
