Pondering the idea of a dream job
Many people desire to find their “dream job”, one where everything is just perfect. You do work that you love and engages you. Your boss is nice and supports all of your career/ business desires and goals. You have fantastic colleagues who constantly look out for your best interests. Your compensation package is nice and fat, meeting all of your financial needs and leaving just enough for you to save and invest. You can take time off when you want and there is no stress involved. Any desire you have can be met through that job.
Your dream job is one where your skills and passion match all of the conditions that you consider favourable to you. How wonderful would it be if we all found this dream job right? Alas, only very few people do and for many of those who do, likely, there would always be at least one issue to contend with. If you are looking out for your dream job, I am sorry to burst your bubble but, in my opinion, you may never find it. This is because a lot of people don’t even know what their dream job looks like let alone go after it.
A lot of people want jobs, better jobs, different jobs but many never even know what exactly they are looking for. How many people sit down to think about what the components of their dream job would be? It’s also amazing how we often think that the characteristics of our dream jobs are similar when in reality, everyone consciously or unconsciously seeks out very different things at very different times.
For some people, their dream job involves doing what they studied in school or a long-held passion they have always had. For another, it pays more money than they currently earn. For some others, it could even be as simple as a job that’s closer to home or even working from home. Your dream job could provide you with travel opportunities to see new places. It could also provide you access to meet certain types of people. It is important to know what one’s dream job looks like because a seemingly better job could have a lot of components that one may end up realising are not as important as they initially thought.
A friend of mine shared an experience a former colleague of his had with changing jobs. They were both working for a telecoms service provider at the time and his colleague got a job with one of the major telecoms companies. Now, in their company, they always had a one-hour siesta break and when my friend’s colleague moved to the telecoms company, he assumed that was the norm. On his first day, he attempted to observe siesta until his new colleagues told him: “We don’t do that here”. He had never really considered having siesta as being an important part of his employee experience until he couldn’t enjoy it anymore.
I have had various conversations with different people through the course of their job search/ change and I have heard all sorts of things. The conversation below is similar to most conversations I’ve had on the subject:
Them: Hi Gbubemi, I’m looking for work oh
Me: Ok, what kind of work are you looking for?
Them: Abeg, any job will do for now
Me: Any job? Will you wash toilets, sweep floors, and clean offices?
Them: God forbid! I’m a graduate now, I can’t do that
Me: But you just told me you can do any job!
Them: Why are you talking like this? You know what I mean now…. any proper work, like in a bank
Me: Ok, so what would you want to do in a bank?
Them: Maybe HR or Customer Service because I like working with people
Me: What about sales?
Them: Isn’t that marketing? Lailai!!! I won’t do it oh
Me: Sales and marketing are different though, sales also involves working with people
Them: I am not looking for that kind of work, I can’t be walking the streets looking for money I didn’t lose
Me: hmmm…. I suggest you think about what exactly you want to do before searching for a job
Them: Please, just help me find one job first then I can think about what I want to do after I start working
Me: I understand you but it might just be better if you understand what type of job you’d like to do first, that way you narrow the options
Them: Well, that sounds true but will I just be sitting down and thinking? I need a job now… I need money!
Conversations like this always make me wonder. I am well aware that people need jobs to earn a living but I often wonder why many do not put much thought into their job search process. The economic situation of the country is one major reason for this because many people are driven to accept whatever is on offer, after all: “Let me just earn some money first, bills have to be paid”. So it wouldn’t matter at the time whether the commute was two hours or the work hours were very long. At the fore of this thinking is the assumption that there are no jobs or that one may not find the type of job that they want, so they might as well take whatever comes first. How does a person hold out for a job they are passionate about when bills need to be paid?
The challenge with many people who settle for available jobs is the likelihood of getting comfortable doing that job. Please note that I do not believe there is anything wrong with settling for a job if you are compelled to for various reasons, it is what you do after that is important. Oftentimes, especially when one has worked for a long while, the salary and benefits may be too attractive to consider switching jobs. Also, if one has worked for so long in a company or industry, and built a reputation, it often seems like it doesn’t make sense to change careers.
A friend of mine has worked in financial services all through his career of over ten years. He doesn’t hate it but he wishes he could be doing something else. He has a good idea of what he would rather be doing but he doesn’t have the basic skills and experience to cross into his dream job without having to start at or near entry level. A tough one really because starting afresh would require changing jobs (if he could find an employer that would hire him) and losing the status and benefits that he has acquired through his career. My advice to him was to begin developing the skills he needs for his dream job and find an informal means of gaining experience, potentially through volunteering.
If you have found yourself working at a job you don’t like, know that you don’t have to endure. You need to plan your move towards what you would rather be doing. It may take some months, it may take some years, it may take some sacrifices, but you can find work that you love at whatever career stage you are in. Understand yourself. Prepare yourself. Look for what you want. Ask for help. Seek advice. Remain open. You can find your dream job but only if you are deliberately looking for it. This is the way I see things today.