“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
It’s a question adults frequently ask young children, and it is usually answered with something like princess or cowboy. Of course our dreams develop as we age into somewhat more obtainable career goals, but the desire is still the same: A dream is a dream.
As I walked through the hustle and bustle of New York City a few days ago, I could not help but gaze in wonder at the bright lights and tall buildings. It sounds cliché, but this city of dreamers still gives me the goosebumps and makes my heart flutter each and every time I walk on its character-filled streets. I think the reason the Big Apple is so inspiring to me is because it is filled with dreamers — every nook of the city is graced with aspiring musicians, writers or actors.
But that is the problem: Every nook is filled by them. All these dreamers walk through the streets wearing the same rose-colored glasses that everyone with a dream and an NYC residency owns. Only a few will achieve their dream careers in this city.
When is it time to trade in the guitar for a suit and tie, and is the trade worth it?
According to NBC News, more than four out of five U.S. workers do not have their dream job or do not describe their work as fun. That number leaves a sour taste in my mouth—these people have to go to this place every day and be reminded that they are not doing what they love with their life. They were dreamers at one time, but they seemed to give in to practicality like most people do.
Unfortunately, there comes a time in many people’s lives when they decide that the happiness that their dream job would possibly bring them does not outweigh the reality of having to live with minimal funds. The scale tips towards having shelter and food, leaving the dream on the other side of the scale abandoned.
Complete abandonment may not be the case for dreams among U.S. workers though. The average American has seven careers during his lifetime, which is a testament to the strength of the pursuit of happiness. Even when workers think they have “settled” for a job outside of their original plan, it seems as though they will keep trying to achieve that dream or at least something close to it.
College students all over the country work hard for years in order to obtain a job that is desirable to them that is within the major they have originally chose. Well, the economy is making it hard for students to snag their dream job because when they graduate, they are forced to simply take whatever they are given. A survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that businesses plan to hire only 2.1 percent more college graduates from the class of 2013 than they did from the class of 2012. According to NBC News, that number is way lower than an earlier NACE projection of a 13 percent hiring rate for 2013 grads. These days, college graduates are simply trying to get a job, never mind their dream job.
Dreams may not be priority in our economy currently, but I feel as though job-seekers should not give up. That little girl whose dream job was to be a princess could be playing Cinderella in a theme park somewhere — if she could make it there, college grads could very well make it anywhere.
