Why new graduates should look for “rewarding careers” instead of “dream jobs”
One of the things that drives me crazy when I speak with new graduates is that so many of them are looking for their “dream job.”
While I can’t fault anyone for wanting this, I don’t feel that it is realistic at this stage. There are two reasons for this. The first has to do with your personal experiences. The second has to do with your experience level (from an employer’s perspective).
First, without any real experience, it’s difficult to know what you really want to do with your life. When I was offered my first ‘real’ job out of school, it was in sales. I had been convinced when I graduated that I wanted to be in sales or marketing, so I thought that this was the perfect thing for me. I was sure that I had found my dream job.
That simply wasn’t the case.
While the company I was working for (a Fortune 500 technology company) was rated one of the best employers in the country, I quickly learned that sales wasn’t for me. Every morning I woke up with knots in my stomach knowing that I hated what I was doing. I was miles away from my dream job. Ultimately, at this stage in my career, I just didn’t know what I was looking for.
Second, going back to the experience factor, an employer is likely not going to hand over the “key to the shop” to a relatively untested new graduate. You may have all of the education in the world, but without real world experience, employers will test you with smaller tasks before giving you more responsibility. Hopefully, this will lead to your dream job.
In my opinion, it’s far more realistic (and potentially rewarding) to be focusing on finding a rewarding career. A rewarding career is something that you will not only enjoy doing, but get compensated fairly for. My personal belief is that if more new graduates spent more time looking for a rewarding career instead of their “dream job,” it would avoid a great deal of stress and frustration.
So look for a rewarding career first and save your dream job for a few years down the line.
Trevor Wilson is an author and consultant who works with new graduates preparing to enter the work force. His site, Gradversity.com, provides daily advice on job hunting, networking, and resumé writing tailored to the entry-level job seeker. His first book, Overcoming Gradversity: How to Break Into the Entry Level Job Market, was published in 2008.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading [American] site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
I think Trevor makes some valid points with respect to students expectations of their transition into the workforce. From my experience though, articulating your “dream job” helps you evaluate your options and create a career path. As you gain experience and learn about yourself, your “dream job” may change. But I still see value in moving towards a destination.
I agree. Especially as students or recent grads, we often don’t realize 1) How many different kinds of jobs are out there, even within our “dream job,” and 2) What our “dream job” may actually entail on a day-to-day basis.
I think by having a “dream job” target early on, you leave yourself more open to being able to try that dream job, either through internships or job shadowing, and determining whether or not it’s right for you.
I say that because it’s what happened to me. I always thought I wanted to be a news reporter who would change the world with the stories she covered. That was my dream job. So I went to journalism school and through a hands-on curriculum and an internship with a national newspaper, I figured out that being news reporter was okay … but just okay.
I would just like to highlight a few things about this article that none of the other readers seemed to notice or care. First of all, Trevor Wilson, a spell check is highly recommended of the article, if you would like to maintain a creditable reputation. Submitting work online containing errors, makes one look amateur and the work looses its credibility.
E.g. “One thing that drives be crazy” and “There are two reason for this.”
Most people, when seeing errors in an article, naturally will loose their desire to continue reading and will just stop. I almost did.
Secondly, stating that it aggravates you to the point of being mental, that graduates are pursuing ‘dream jobs’, makes you look irritated, impatient and none empathetic. Your article presents an ambivalent illustration about how it drives you crazy that they are searching for their dream jobs, and then in the next paragraph you display empathy by adding that you cannot blame others for wanting to do so. It is not appropriate to make your readers sound silly and immature for wanting to pursue desired ‘dream jobs’, especially after years of their devoted effort, struggles and accomplishments during their school years.
You probably did not deliberately try to cause this affect but when I started reading this article, I felt, at first, irritated by the fact that you mentioned being driven crazy by the graduates’ expectations, and then your spelling errors. A person reading the article should only feel encouragement by the author and not feel a slight condescending attitude.
You did, however, give respectable advice about seeking jobs that are rewarding, opposed to looking for the fantasized dream jobs, which could result in disappointment.
Thanks for your comment, Lisa. I’ve corrected the spelling errors (which I should have caught to begin with since I’m the editor).
(I suppose it’s the law of the universe that when you call out someone on their spelling or grammar, you’ll also make a mistake in your comment. For example, where you’ve written “loose” it should be “lose.”)
I’ve written my opinion of the content of the article already (above), but as someone who works with both students and employers, I can confidently say the condescension you’ve detected in this article is the norm and not the exception.
The great majority of baby boomer-age employers are often annoyed by students and recent grads who display the stereotypical “intern on Monday, CEO by Friday” behaviour and whether or not Trevor personally believes it’s right or not, it is very pervasive in the working world and students and new grads should be prepared for that.