When I was in university, I remember sitting and listening to a very established guest speaker talk about their journey through university and their career. They spoke about how they always had a dream job in mind, explaining how it motivated them through the duration of their career, and how they took certain steps and opportunities to get there. They offered endless advice on how all of us aspiring students could do the same.
And I remember sitting their thinking… CRAP CRAP CRAP. Not as in, what the person was saying was crap, what they were saying was great advice and quite insightful. But as in… CRAP, what is my dream job? I don’t think I have one? What should it be? Panic.
I thought about it constantly for about a day or so, and then sort of forgot about it. Every now and then it has surfaced back to my mind, but I’ve come to a certain realization that I want to share…
I am sure all of our parents and/or relatives tell us stories from when we were little and asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. The infamous story in my family is when my older sister was asked this question, her response was, “When I grow up, I want to be a Giraffe.” Although, I love the new Nike ad about having crazy dreams, I don’t think any of us will one day grow up to be a giraffe.
The reason I’m telling that story, is to point out that we, and our aspirations, change. Our interests change, our hobbies change, our friends change, our passions change. My sister changed, she no longer wants to be a giraffe. Your dream job today might not be your dream job tomorrow. Having a dream job also implies this expectation of what a certain job will be like in the future. I think it’s pretty hard to be 100% sure your dream job is everything you imagine it to be.
For those of you who are like me, and don’t have a specific “dream job,” here’s the advice I can offer; do whatever you can to give yourself a sense of direction. When I was in high school, I knew I liked business and I was strong[ish] in it. I also loved playing sports. I kind of realized there must be some program for the business side of sports – cue the SPAD program [Laurentian University Sports Administration Program]
That was all I knew when I went into the program. I didn’t go in thinking I wanted to be the next General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs – I took it because I liked sports and I liked business.
Fast forward to the end of my four years, and I had a better sense. Even if you don’t know what you like exactly, at least learn what you DON’T like to make the list shorter. Finance – no thank you. Accounting – no thank you. The list goes on – and then all of the sudden your down to a few things you genuinely enjoy and could see yourself pursuing as a career.
Now you have to find a job and work the rest of your life until you die… yahoo!
By the end of university, I knew I enjoyed event management, marketing, operations, and even a bit of business development, but not really because I don’t like asking for money… which is probably not something I should admit on here since I work for a foundation now.
I searched for jobs that were in those fields. They did not have to have all of those things, and it was also okay if they had elements that I was unfamiliar with. It didn’t have to be the perfect job. Just like while in school, my first job would tell me more about what I enjoyed and where my interests and strengths were.
Here’s the thing I’ve learned, and this would differ for a lot of people. I love my job for a number of reasons, but I genuinely think an enormous part of loving your job has to do with liking the people you work with. Now that comes a lot with personality type, I know plenty of people who love their jobs and they love it solely because they have a job where they don’t have to interact with people at all.
The moral of it all is, you don’t have to know exactly what your end goal/dream job is – and I would guess that the majority of us have no idea at all. It’s great to have a plan, but don’t plan too much or too far ahead and don’t worry if your plan changes. What you expect you might like, you may not, and you may find other things that excite you that you never imagined would. Take it in stride, continue to learn, and I’m confident all our paths will go in the direction they were meant to.
Maggie
