Dream job does it exist

Roadtonowhere100121

I am 35 years old, had a few jobs and every job I had I hated the wok but stayed due to team members. Will I ever find my dream job?

TELLIT01

To be blunt, it's possible but highly unlikely.  At least that's the case if you want to remain as an employee rather than going self employed.  Only by going self employed will you have total freedom to do the job you want, work the hours you want, and charge what you want for your work.  Even then there is absolutely no guarantee that you will be able to make a living from said 'dream job'.

MikeJXE

Yes when you start looking for the job that suites you rather than looking at the pay. 

I worked for 50 years from 15 years old and loved everyday 

I'm 82 now and hate this job I don't have 

theoretica

If by dream job to you means getting paid to do what you would choose to do even if you were not paid for it then I doubt many people have that - even things you enjoy wear thin when you have to do them for 40 hours every single week.  But if you mean not actually unpleasant, or feeling worthwhile and no worse than  boring/tedious/rushed then that seems achievable.

elsien

I’ve never had a dream job.
What I have had jobs that have good bits and bad bits, where the good bits are good enough that I’m happy to keep going five days a week and which pay enough money to do the things I really like doing.

Savvy_Sue

theoretica said:

If by dream job to you means getting paid to do what you would choose to do even if you were not paid for it then I doubt many people have that - even things you enjoy wear thin when you have to do them for 40 hours every single week.  But if you mean not actually unpleasant, or feeling worthwhile and no worse than  boring/tedious/rushed then that seems achievable.

On one level I had that dream job when I left uni - being paid to do what I'd choose to do even if not paid! - but the commute was horrible and there were some tedious bits. I've mostly had a great job for the last 20+ years but there was a period not that long ago when quite a small thing nearly finished me off. I think it's the closest to a dream job you could get: variety, what I do is appreciated, lovely colleagues etc. Commute is not too difficult and hours have some flexibility. 

Doshwaster

At the age of 50 I've finally given up on my aim of being a professional footballer. Just another 5-10  years of corporate slog before retirement.

ACG

Every job will have elements of it you do not like. 
I love my current job, but at times it gets stressful and doing the what seems like endless reporting to the FCA is a pain, but in the main I love my job. 

Over the years I have had a few jobs, but one of my favourites was working in a call centre for a bank. When it was customer services and you got paid to actually help customers it was a good job. It was a little repetitive at times and I could do it hungover or drunk (I was 19-22 when I worked there). The targets were easy to hit, the managers were normally our age, most of the people I worked with were my age and I did a 12-8 shift so I had a lie in in the morning and when I finished at night I was in manchester city centre. The pay back then (17 years ago) was about £17k so it wasnt a bad wage either. 

It then became "sales and service" and everyone started dumping on one another or customers in order to hit their sales targets. Nobody seemed to care (remember the PPI scandal...). I left as that wasnt for me. 

At 38, that job would not be for me now, I have a kid and getting home at 9pm is of no use as I would never see my daughter. What might be your dream job now, wont be in 5-10 years time. 

I never knew what I wanted to do growing up, I assumed it would be web design or programming or something. But I ended up getting the job at the bank and loved it. I had never even considered working in financial services but it ended up shaping my career. 

My other favourite job was working on the markets. The pay was up and down, you could earn £20 one day and pay out £25 on your stall or £1,000. It was great during summer as you were out in the sun, but during winter you were wrapped up, stood on cardboard, cold and earning very little. But I loved the people, the customers, the people on the stalls around us, it was like a little community. 

DullGreyGuy

Roadtonowhere100121 said:
 Will I ever find my dream job?

First of all you need to define what your dream job is... if its a non-stress job earning £1,000 per hour working when you feel like in a team of 20 year old glamour models then probably not. 

If its to have a good salary, that you can comfortable do within the allotted 40 hrs a week, with people you get on with etc then possibly. 

I'm not sure I'd call any of my jobs a "dream" but they are paid well, an enjoyable challenge and like most the people I have to deal with. Occasionally the hours are long and as a freelancer there is always the risk of a gig ending and not being able to find a replacement immediately but in 13 years of doing this that only happened once for 2.5 months. 

SensibleSarah

I've never had a perfect job for me. The ones I absolutely loved didn't pay me enough to live on and the ones that paid better always have had down sides. It tends to be the people you work with that make or break a job and I'm an introvert so find being around lots of Type A people a real drain. I'm not particularly ambitious and work to live rather than live to work, so after a few roles where the responsibilities and demands were asking more of me than I was prepared to give, I went freelance in my field in 2021, after 14 years in the industry.
Much happier now as at least I can pick and choose my clients, can work from home permanently (which really works for me - I know it doesn't for everyone), have much less responsibility and I'm earning significantly more, but obviously self-employment has it's downsides too. Put it this way, if I won the lottery this weekend, I wouldn't carry on doing what I'm doing now for the love of it. 

diystarter7

Hi OP

I hope my post enlightens you to what a dream job in reality may mean

Via skill and a bit of luck I've had a dream job, as close to a dream job as per my circumstances.

Ideally I'd want to be the guy that is the first to travel to the planet Urans.
Howeverm IRL, this was my dream job.

Working for the council and at times alnogside NHS but as coucil staff,

The job was easy, easy for me when compared to others with the same job who took a lot longer and or struggled.
Therefore more time on my hands to have nice chats with other co-workers and clients,
I did not spend hundreds a week on travel as it was only a couple of miles up the road.
I was able to take my car to work and clients and avoid the dreaded public transport
I have never worked a weekend or late/very early or night shifts
I had flexible working hours.
I had by my own admission loads of hols as in the final few years of work on senior-level pay scales
I took at least 2 flexi day leave hols per month
I rarely did a full weeks work
Towards the last few years before I left work at just over 50, I did my 35 hours a week over 4 days, lol.
I got enjoyment out of my work when I went the extra mile for clients that had been previously misunderstood by
others or were not given the time needed to appreciate their difficulties.
I loved the banter with co-workers som, three were good buddies and some clients
I at times loved out etra long weekly team meeting that at times almost resulted in hand-to-hand combat.
Management on the whole respected me and I loved that.
I loved the fact co-workers shared their secrets with me as they trusted me.
I started from low lever ordinary admin in the council and quickly worked up to the level where
I felt very comfortable on the lower banding senior pay scales as it came with less responsiblity ie not having to supervise staf some of whom had more baggage tha LHR airport.
I loved my office space, desk and at times when working for the joint NHS teams we had an office for two/three
and that was great and city views.
I really loved the fact that I was spending about 20 mins getting to work and 15 mins back as opposed to many that spend over an hour each way.

TBH, more pay equating to about 500k per month would have been better


To many the above may not sound like a job of their dreams but in the real world, your office up the road, take your car, free car parking, saving thousands a year in fares, saving hours travelling, flexi-time off/work, mass of hols, easy work, long lunch breaks you cant beat it

Yes, I was good at what I did and my clients often thanked me loads other than the few that are just out to hate others because they are not getting what they are unreadable demanding


Thanks