Ok. Here it is. I’m not sure there is any such thing as ‘the
dream job’. I was reading a competitor’s
blog last week and they were advising clients how to make their internal roles,
their candidate’s dream roles thus gaining loyalty and staying power from an
increasingly transient workforce. It got
me thinking. What would my dream job
be/have been? Probably a travel journalist at one stage and I can definitely
remember wanting to be a Doctor, until I saw a corpse and gave up on that
one. I definitely never set out to be a
Recruitment Consultant – yet, of all the jobs I’ve had, it has been the most
satisfying, most flexible, most rewarding – financially and personally job that
I’ve done. So technically, it is my dream job.
I think there are a few things going on here. Firstly the definition of your dream job and
secondly, the realisation that that definition can change throughout your
lifetime and what was your dream job at the age of 25, probably won’t be by the
time you are 45. We’re very lucky
really. In my parent’s generation, your job was your job. You did it for life. Albeit, you did usually get a final salary
pension scheme too so they didn’t do that badly! These days, we are able to change career and
increasingly, people are looking for alternative ways to make a living that don’t
involve a relentless daily commute or mind numbing 9-5 .
I do see several candidates
try to make the break. And whilst there
are a few who have succeeded, there are an equal and opposite number who after
perhaps a year or two years doing something different, have come back to the
industry. Often it’s because the grass
isn’t always greener but often, simply because the ideal dream role with lots
of flexibility and balance, doesn’t always pay very well. Often, I’ll see candidates who want to ‘Freelance’
or ‘be a Marketing Consultant’. It’s
really important to weigh up the pros and cons of doing this before
committing. I think in the North, there
is a great Freelance market for Project Managers, Developers and top quality
Designers. Not so much for client
services, account handlers or in-house marketers. The best we can do there is
usually maternity contracts. Most often,
the consultants find that they can fill 2 days of work with an old client or
existing work but it can be tricky to top up...and then financially it doesn’t
become the same win win plan. Lots of
time but not enough money...
We also see quite a few industry leavers who go into
alternative therapies, life coaching and yoga teaching. Again, the feedback is
that whilst these opportunities are personally rewarding, the financial side of
things is a bit of a come down. And
increasingly we find individuals coming back into the jobs market.
So there is definitely something to be said for employers
trying to make their employee’s lives as enjoyable as possible. We’re very lucky to work in marketing. For the
most part, it’s interesting, challenging, has lots of variety, is evolving all
the time etc. In my annual surveys, the
most important benefit that employees value is the number of days holiday and
the ability to buy extra days. Second in
line is flexible working. Whether this is one day a week working from home or
the ability to start at 8 and leave at 4 or start at 10 and leave at 6. Increasingly pensions are both requested and
provided. Other softer benefits including
gym membership, free fruit, pizza
Fridays etc – they are nice but it’s the things that allow quality of life with
family and friends that make the difference.
I think over the coming years, we’re increasingly going to see
individuals wanting to work part time and employers who can accommodate this
will probably find increased loyalty and greater staying power in their
employees. In my recent experience, as
individuals enter their forties and fifties, they don’t want to stop working,
but they’d love to work less. At the
moment, this is more easily accommodated with in-house marketing roles than in
agencies but perhaps that will change as the century progresses. We will see.
So, are you in your dream job now? As long as you feel like you have a good work
life balance, are paid fairly and you get a kick out of what you do? I’d say
yes you probably are. If not, give me a
call and we’ll see if we can find it!