A Dream Job - My Definition
It seems that this is your first time to my blog. Welcome! In this blog I will share my ideas on how you can make a living in a way that feels good to you, your family, your environment and everyone around you. If you want to know more about me and this blog, check out my about page. And if you want to stay updated on my new posts, subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!
A dream job is not something that can be defined with a single word, but the sum of many different aspects related to your work, life and personality. During my six months of blogging I have approached the question from all kinds of angles slowly collecting a bunch of answers to guide you and me on our way to finding the jobs of our dreams.
Today I am here to collect some important articles together and share with you the answers that I have found so far.
1. Don’t forget about your life
I like to think that your career, your family, and your life in general are not meant to be put in separate boxes.
To me a great career means a life that combines the best parts of each of these areas. It’s a working career that has plenty of room for spending time with my wife and son. But it’s also a life that has room for fulfilling work that lets me express myself and make a difference in this world.
Read this:
2. Don’t work yourself to death!
Friday morning on my way to work I overheard a conversation where a man told his friend that he’s been working twelve-hour days for more than two months now. He said that he will have a two-week vacation in a month from now, which gives him something to look forward to.
That’s insane!
If you work 12-hour days for four months, no two-week holiday will ever be enough to get you back to your normal, relaxed self.
Sure, every now and then you might have to stretch a bit, but make sure it’s an exception rather than the rule. A great job doesn’t burn you out.
Read these:
3. Stay true to your values
If you believe in fair trade, you won’t happy working for a food company that exploits the poor banana farmers.
If you believe in fighting climate change, you won’t be happy working in a car company that keeps fighting against pollution regulations.
If you believe that smoking is bad for your health, you won’t be happy working for a tobacco company.
No matter how good the working environment or how much you’re paid, if your values don’t match those of the company you work for, your job can never be a dream job.
Read this:
4. Work in a small company
This is of debatable but I claim that you’re much more likely to have a dream job when working in a small company than when working for a bigger company.
In a small company you can feel that you are a key player for company success, there isn’t much of company politics and gossiping, and you get to be involved in pretty much every aspect of the business.
Read this:
Through these posts I have told you what I think makes a dream job. Now I want to ask you what you think. If you have stories to tell or lessons to share, I’d love to hear them and learn from them.
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November 18th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Hey Jarkko, I’m still impressed with the site. Nice to see you still keep writing great articles. Just wanted to stop by and say hello - i unfortunately have gotten caught up with some other projects and lost time to write. But remember that challenge you made a while ago, well it has morphed into multiple things that my very well hit the web soon and hopefully create some waves… i’ll keep you posted.
Have a good one!
November 18th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Hi Rashid, it’s great to hear from you again! Looking forward to more information on your project. :)
November 21st, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Hi Jarkko,
I would like to suggest two more items:
5. The company should have strong policy (and practice) on giving you freedom to be creative and to improve your skills and personal qualities.
6. The dream company will do tolerate your additional money making activities.
Regards and good luck! :-)
William
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 am
Those are great suggestions, William! Freedom is the one thing most creative people crave for more than anything. And it’s also one of the trickiest for the companies to give, because it requires a lot of trust.
I hope more and more companies find the risk worth taking, and their employees trustworthy, because it would make the work places so much better.
December 1st, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Hi Jarkko, this is a nice blog you’ve got here. I’m going to blaim you if I don’t get anything productive done today :)
I started working for a relatively small company (about 25-30 employees so far) in June, and I agree that a small company is the way to go. They will be more flexible and understanding about your life (ala rule #1).
I’d add one more qualifier to the small company thing, though: Work in a small, but stable, company. There are plenty of small companies that are poorly managed, require constant overtime, and have some miserable employees.
I also agree with William’s rule #6, especially in combination with rule #4. Working for a small company is bound to inspire some people to start their own small company, and the first small company should respect that.
December 1st, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Hi Paul!
Sorry for taking your time ;) But I’m glad you like my writings.
Your qualifier definitely makes sense. Working in a poorly managed company, no matter if it’s big or small, is painful - not even close to a dream job.
And in regards to rule #6, that makes a lot of sense: the people who have started the first small company probably came from some other company (maybe even worked on the side at first) so they should understand.
Any experiences on how well this has worked in real life? Anyone?
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Well, I’ve got some plans :)
We’ll see how it works out over the next few months, then I’ll let you know how well it works in real life :D
It’s going to be an on-the-side type thing, so I shouldn’t have to worry about not being able to feed myself.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Sounds good! :) Keep me updated on how it goes. It’s always interesting to hear how others are managing their side businesses.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
It all sounds very nice,but were is true,who knows…Thanks.