What did you want to be when you grew up? If you’re one of the lucky 30.3 percent of respondents to a recent LinkedIn survey, your childhood dream job might be pretty close to the one you have now.
The networking website asked 8,000 about their childhood aspirations and how they compared with their current work. Called the “Dream Jobs” Survey, the study found that a surprising number of users currently had their dream gig — and that many of those who didn’t (43.5 percent) had chosen their jobs due to becoming interested in a different field, rather than finding out that openings in the field of Unicorn Wrangler and Space Princess were somewhat limited.
Men and women tended to have different dream jobs as children. The top five for men were:
1. Professional or Olympic athlete (8.2 percent)
2. Airplane or helicopter pilot (6.8 percent)
2. Scientist (6.8 percent)
4. Lawyer (5.9 percent)
5. Astronaut (5 percent)
While women aspired to the following jobs:
1. Teacher (11.4 percent)
2. Veterinarian (9 percent)
3. Writer, journalist or novelist (8.1 percent)
4. Doctor, nurse or emergency medical technician (7.1 percent)
5. Singer (7.1 percent)
Even if we haven’t achieved our long-ago dream gigs — or have outgrown them — it’s a good idea to look back and think about what we wanted to be. This is especially true if we’re feeling somewhat lost, career-wise, as adults.
“The dream jobs we aspire to as children are a window into our passions and talents,” says LinkedIn career expert Nicole Williams. “Identifying and understanding those passions are key to improving our performance and enjoyment of the jobs we currently do, even if they aren’t specific to the careers we dreamed of as kids.”
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(Photo Credit: catnipstudio/Flickr)
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