On average we spend a third of our days at work, but according to a recent survey, 70% of employees don’t consider their current job their dream career.
According to a survey conducted by CV Library earlier this year, inadequate pay, lack of career progression and poor company culture were among the main reasons some people are unsatisfied with their current job.
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New research by The Recruit Venture Group looked into what workers would rather be doing instead. Surveying 1,500 office workers, the study tried to find out what the most common dream job was, with only 13% currently in their ideal career.
At number one was education or teaching, or a job working with animals, with 25% of respondent choosing either of these career paths. This was closely followed by business owner at 23% and holiday rep at 20%.
Lawyer, author and doctor came in next, followed by nurse actor or photographer. Creative arts and design was also a popular industry.
The survey also compared this with what respondents aspired to be as a child. Teaching came top again, with vet also making it into the top five. Others in the top five included doctor, nurse and footballer.
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By GlobalDataWhy don’t more people make the switch?
Although many have aspirations of changing career, few are brave enough to chase their dream jobs, with money, location and family arrangements cited as the top reasons for not making the change.
While one in three wants to leave their position, only 11% of full-time employees are actually thinking about changing their job in the next year as more than half believe it’s too late or are unsure.
Age appears to be a factor in why employees don’t feel they can pursue their dream job. Those aged 45 and older are the most likely to believe it’s too late to change careers, and a surprising 10% of 18-24-year olds already believed they have left it too late.
However, research from the Resolution Foundation has found that it may pay to be disloyal, with a recent study revealing that those who change jobs regularly may benefit, as the typical pay rise for someone switching jobs is, on average, around 2.5 times higher than for someone remaining in the same job.
Many dream of starting their own business
The research also revealed that many have aspirations of branching out to start their own business, with a third of full-time employees wanting to start a company of their own.
However, the current political climate is having an impact on those with entrepreneurial aspirations, with almost 1 in 10 not wanting to start a company because of uncertainty around Brexit.
But for those who take the leap, it appears to pay off, with business owners are six times more likely to be in their dream job than employees.
Paul Mizen, Managing Director at Recruit Venture discusses these findings:
“Initially we predicted that more employees would be unhappy in their job over business owners, but we didn’t expect it to be that high.
It seems that many people could be happier by starting their own company and looking at the statistics we have got back from business owners, employees should think about their options and work out if their dream job is feasible by creating their own business and if so what the next steps towards this goal could be.
There is always another option and a different career path has no age limit, especially when looking at setting up your own company.”
