Dream Jobs

In these days of right-sizing, hiring freezes and salary adjustments, sometimes we can’t help but dream a little about career what ifs. And more than a few of us are still puzzling over what we want to be when we grow up. Some interesting observations were sent on that very topic by our friend Keena D. Lykins, a public relations senior account supervisor at  Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications. (Although working in public relations for nearly 10 years, she mentioned her first job was serving breakfast to early birds at Aunt Mary’s diner in Brookville, OH, and claims that she can still carry a full cup of coffee without spilling a drop.)

—Lynn A. Kuntz

An interesting conversion arose at work this week: the dream job vs. the dream job phenomenon.

We discussed how our dream jobs and our escapist jobs are often opposite ends of the same spectrum. For example, for me, my “dream” job would be to oversee communications for a global food company. I’ve managed a client’s global consumer media relations program before and found it to be challenging, exhilarating and exhausting. And downright fun. The dream job would enable me to meet lots of new people, keep a pulse on global trends and still be a foodie.

On the other hand, after one of “those” days (you know the type, nothing goes right, it all goes south at the same time and at 10 p.m. you still have a dozen emails waiting responses), my escapist job is to wait tables in a diner in a small Southern town on the coast or in the Keys.

Slinging hash or pulling beers in a tourist trap would let me meet lots of new people, keep a pulse on global events (especially in the Keys) and still be a foodie (diner food tends to be really, really good or really, really not).

I know I’m not alone in this. A former newspaper editor of mine used to say she was going to restock shelves overnight at Kroger. Meanwhile, my current boss has been known to wax poetic about life as a Wal-Mart greeter.

Not surprisingly, my newspaper editor was extremely organized, planned everything to the last detail and could find story notes on anything in less than a minute. She would’ve been a great shelf stocker. And my current boss is probably the friendliest, most outgoing person I know. He’d make an excellent greeter.

Because the three of us are former reporters and editors, I’m not sure if this link between dream jobs and escapist jobs is another trait that writers share or if it’s fairly common experience.

Does Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, dream of running a small, used bookstore in upstate New York?

After a long day, does Michael Tattersfield, president and CEO of Caribou Coffee (which gave away free decaf coffee Jan. 30 in response to the Starbucks cost-cutting decision to not brew decaf in the afternoons), dream of switching lives with Juan Valdez?

What about you...is your dream job vs. your escapist job opposite ends of the same spectrum or are they not even in the same realm?

—Keena D. Lykins