The professional dreams and dream jobs of adults
Children name astronaut, locomotive engineer or actress as their dream jobs. And what about adults? More than two-thirds of German-speaking Swiss would like to swap their current job for their dream job. And here, women and men have their own favorites.
On behalf of XING Switzerland the market and opinion research company Marketagent.com surveyed around a thousand working people in German-speaking Switzerland on the subject of dream jobs. We have summarized the most important results for you.
71 percent would trade their current job for their dream job
Swap your current job for your dream job? More than two-thirds of the German-speaking Swiss (71%) would jump at the chance if age and education were irrelevant. When asked why they would like to swap their current job for their dream job, almost half of respondents (49%) cited more fun at work as the reason. A meaningful job was a contributing reason for about one-third (32%) of respondents. Other important factors were the intellectual challenge (30%) and the realization of a childhood dream (29%). Only then comes the salary: around a quarter (26%) would want to swap jobs for the money. Public esteem and prestige, on the other hand, are of little interest. Only just one in ten (11%) say that fame and honor would persuade them to change jobs.
Women would like to be veterinarians, men professional athletes
When it comes to dream jobs, there are - not surprisingly - differences between the sexes. Women would most like to switch to being an animal keeper (9%), doctor (7%) or psychologist (5%). Men, on the other hand, would prefer to earn their bread and butter as a professional athlete (8%), followed by pilot (6%) and lawyer (5%). Animal caretakers are just eleventh among men (2%), on a par with mountain guides. For this, sweating at work usually goes down badly with women: Professional sportswoman is far behind in 16th place (1%), well behind less glamorous professions such as teacher (2%) or policewoman (2%).
18- to 24-year-olds dream of a career as an archaeologist
But different dream professions are also named depending on age. The most popular professions are fairly constant across the various age groups, with two notable exceptions: In the youngest age group of 18 to 24-year-olds, of all people, archaeologist comes in second (5%). On the other hand, in the 60 to 65 age group, writer appears at the top of the ranking (6%).
One in three would choose a different profession in retrospect
Almost one in three German-speaking Swiss (31%) are unhappy with their actual career choice and, looking back, would choose a different career direction. In contrast, slightly more than half of the respondents (55%) are satisfied with their choice. Satisfaction with their chosen career is highest at the beginning and end of their career. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of young respondents between the ages of 18 and 24 and 70 percent of those between the ages of 60 and 65 are convinced of their own career choice. At the age of 40 to 49, just under half (49%) would choose the same career direction again.
Only one in four would recommend their own profession to young people
When it comes to the professional future of their own offspring, the German-speaking Swiss are much more critical of their own career choice. Only just under a quarter (24%) would recommend that their child choose the same career direction. 42 percent would advise their child to choose a career direction other than their own. Respondents in management positions would choose the same career direction for themselves more often than other hierarchical levels (69%). Nevertheless, the proportion of respondents in this group who would advise their offspring to choose the same career direction as their own is the lowest at 22 percent.
