Thursday , March 28 2024
You might think the dream catchers are the rich, but that's not so.

Dreaming of a Good Job

A whopping 84 percent of those polled in the online job site CareerBuilder.com career survey said they were not in their dream jobs, meaning they didn't consider their work to be fun. That's right; 6,169 full-time workers polled and not even 1,000 of them are livin' the dream.

If you apply that result on a national scale (and pretend all 300 million of us are full-time workers, which obviously we are not because minors, athletes, and politicians don't count), that's 252 million people totin' that barge and liftin' that bale while the other 48 million are doin' it to'in it.

You might think the dream catchers are the rich, but that's not so. The rich are happy because they can afford "adventurous and exotic” sex. That's a whole different kind of dream. I'm not making that up – go check yourself.

The dreamiest jobs are held by those in police work, firefighting (both at 35 percent), and teaching (32 percent). This result bodes well for those employers seeking workers who are more interested in making a difference than making money.

Answering on behalf of their childhood dreams, 22 percent of those polled said they wanted to be a firefighter, 16 percent wanted to be a professional dancer, and 14 percent wanted to be president.

Apparently the career counselors of yesteryear did not have but a few options from which the children could pick. This would explain some of the loftier career choices. Those polled were not broken down by gender. That's too bad because I would like to know how many of the 17 percent who said they wanted to be a princess were female and how many of the 14 percent who said they wanted to be a cowboy were male.

Those least pleased with their jobs hail from the service industry, manufacturing (both 9 percent), and retail (10 percent). I don't think anyone needed a poll for that one. Frankly I'm surprised the numbers look that good. When you combine these percentages with the cities boasting the least number of dreamers fulfilled, you'll want to avoid places like San Diego, Phoneix, Detroit, Atlanta, and Miami.

If you want to increase your odds of running into someone who is working their dream, you'll have to book your next flight to Boston, Sacramento, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Dallas, or Portland.

Respondents were entered into a contest held by The Walt Disney Company. The winners will get to work for a day in a Disney theme park. Do they get to pick the job, Mr. Iger? I don't mean to be disrespectful, but aren't the majority of the positions within a Disney theme park part of the service industry (see above)? So you're going to take a handful of despondent dreamers already stuck in jobs they don't like and put them behind brooms and lunch counters. Oh, joy.

It really is a small world after all.

About Diana Hartman

Diana is a USMC (ret.) spouse, mother of three and a Wichita, Kansas native. She is back in the United States after 10 years in Germany. She is a contributing author to Holiday Writes. She hates liver & motivational speakers. She loves science & naps.

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