An Obsolete Concept

I think a dream job is an obsolete concept in two ways. First, the idea of a dream job belongs in your childhood. In those days you don’t think about the reality of employment and nor should you. Your childhood is a time for trying to find your strength and your passion in your life. When I was younger I wanted to be a sports journalist or a music writer, and I would have been good at it, but the reality was that you had to be hard nosed to get into papers and I wasn’t. In those days you had to work in local papers reporting on everything and anything and I wouldn’t have had the instincts to do that. The fact that I have had the opportunity to write about music and sports in various ways is a bonus and because it hasn’t become a job, it’s been better for me as a person.

The second reason why you should forget about the idea of a dream job lies in the way that today’s employment practices are so impersonal and so profit driven. I have said it before and I will say it again, employees have never had it so bad in my working lifetime. Since Human Resources took over from Personnel, the difference in treatment has been stark. It wasn’t just a change of vocabulary, it was a change of approach. Personnel departments used to be full of people who had done the same jobs in the same situation and therefore understood you and your issues. They had compassion for you as people as well as employees. Nowadays, HR departments are full of university graduates with no experience of the sectors and no interest in the people who work for the firm. They are there to protect the firm not you, because you are Resources, not Humans. The shareholders are the people who count and the employees merely replaceable cogs in a machine. As a result of this change dream jobs can no longer exist in my opinion. I would love to hear from an HR professional with their take on this, but I am merely a small blog so I don’t suppose it will happen!