Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Spin-off poll: What is your dream job?

I'm working in my dream job And I love it.

Aptitude tests... They do have their uses, honestly. I really don't trust the free online ones, though (and especially the ones that say 'send us $50 and we'll send you your full report'). Those kind of tests should be administered and interpreted by a trained assessment counsellor (I'm actually qualified to administer some career assessments, though as I've never actually done this as part of my job I wouldn't trust myself to do it! I have taken assessments, though, and I've read the results of assessments clients take).

I know what you mean about forced-choice questions, where you must choose one even if your preference is none. I don't like them either, but on studying the science behind these tests it's clear that there's a reason. If you answer too many 'don't knows' then the test can't assess you properly. So they ask you to consider it as 'least worst' - let's be honest, even in a list of three things you really don't want to do, there'll be one you like least or dislike least. And you'll find the same options turn up again, set against different alternatives - that's all to do with helping the software to rank your options.

Aptitude tests just measure aptitude - things you're good at. You then need to take your interests into account - for example, in my aptitude test I was told I'd have aptitude for being a scientist, an accountant, a salesperson a lawyer, a teacher and many other things. I'd rather slit my wrists than work in sales, and when I did accounting for one summer I found it dry and boring. That's me - everyone's got different interests and work preferences. Aptitudes only tell you what you'd be able to do with your skills and abilities.

Anyone who's not sure what you'd like to do, particularly if you're still studying or a recent graduate - go to, or phone, your school/university career advice centre. They all have LOTS of vocational assessments. Ask for aptitude and interest assessments, and maybe even work values - people value different things from work. Some value financial reward or status. Others value doing good to other people, or the social aspect of work, spending time with people you like. That can affect your attitude to your job. I hated doing research, a major part of my last job, even though I had an aptitude for it, because it didn't feed my work value of face-to-face interaction with people I am helping in a practical way.

Oh, and - unless you're within a few years of retirement - it's never too late to change career direction. Everyone's got transferable skills, and it's just a matter of working out what skills you can bring from one role into another. I've seen a lawyer become an employment counsellor and a teacher become an administrator without having to go back to college or university. Maybe there's no reason why your dream job just has to stay a dream


Wendy

I'm going well into the realm of fantasy here.

My true dream job would be a singer. Sadly, while I can carry tune in a bucket, it's full of holes and so rusty that the bottom threatens to fall out at any minute.

Like a true geek, I'd love to be a video game tester. A programmer would be better, designer not so much. If I actually applied myself more to learning programming and creating small programs, I could get a foot in the door with a local video game company. But that would mean less time reading.

It all comes down to priorities.

Ooh, or a proof reader for a publishing company. I've got the practice, so why not?

gr8shades, you are so funny! I completely agree on "none of the above!"

As for my dream job, well by going back to school next week hopefully I'll be taking the first steps. Anyway, it's to be a kid's/family doctor. But not just a regular, scary old doc either. Sorry, but this folc does not care doctors-to me especially for young children going=doom in a way and mostr egular checkups don't have to be painful and certainly not scary.

I'd love to incoprorate my teaching background and offer informal chat groups to my practice. I want kids to feel more empowered not only with physical health but social, internal, etc. I think it would be a lot of fun, too, to create that type of community.

Yes, along the way, it would be extremely awesome if my Mr Right would show up and we could start a family.

Mona

When I grow up, I want to be a writer for a television show called "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman."

ML

Well, my dream job keeps changing, really...

When I was 8, I wanted to be an astronaut. Sadly, I would never have been able to be one.

When I was 15 and worked as MC for events at school and for the improv league, I decided I wanted to work in radio broadcasting.

Did the radio thing, realized I didn't like doing it in the real world. So, when I was 28, it hit me that what I'd been dreaming of all along (even when I was in school, taking all these journalism and speech training classes) was a something to do with computer sciences.

Did the computer thing and graduated just in time to be hired to fix "Y2K bugs" for a software company. Made you want to believe in time travel...

Been working in the software world since I was 29 - that's almost a decade ago. It's not all it's cracked up to be. I've gotten quite tired of it.

My dream job now? I'm not sure what it is anymore. I'd totally love to sit here and write all day, but I'm not sure I'd ever end up getting anything published, so I'd starve to death. I would love to work for a publishing house, but with my education, there's fat chance of that happening. And I would really love to edit video clips and movies and things of the like - but you also need a certain skill set/education that I just don't have.

So, um... let's say for now, I'll keep on doing what I do and hope I can retire soon.

I once read a book that said you shouldn't try to write full-time until you're getting as much royalties from past writing as you are from new writing.

And trust me, working at a publishing house isn't all it's cracked up to be either--I work at one, and it's incredibly boring. Then again, I pretty much just keep the website updated and stuff.

Be careful about the advice you might get from 'school guidance counselors'. Most of them have no credentials or any real 'feel' for their students. Their job, especially at the high school level, is to take a quick assessment of your high school career and push you toward either college, trade school, or the job market.

Since I had good grades in high school I was told that I should go to college and pursue science or math. While I did find math somewhat interesting, it didn't fill my need for creativity, nor where there any real career paths in that field that interested me. Did my counselor try find out what I was interested in, or passionate about? No, just looked at my grades and my classes and moved me along. After all, he had a lot of other students he had to screw up.

So, I went to college with the plan to follow the Math/Science path until such time as I could make it as a writer. Of course, I ran into problems there.

I found out two very important things I didn't realize about writing. First, writing is actually work. It isn't just sitting around thinking up cool stories that will then spring full blown onto a printed page. No, you actually have to sit down and write the darn thing.

Secondly, I also had to come to the sad realization that I wasn't that good. I may be able to put together something that is slightly above average, but in the company of other writers (and I do know alot of writers; not only through this fandom, but in the comic business as well) I'm nothing special. You have to produce something remarkable just to make that initial break through; if you are lucky enough to get noticed at all.

So my ideal job needs to be able to fulfill my need to be creative, yet cater to my inate laziness.

I know a guy through the comic book conventions that has a really neat job. He builds props for movies and television. Mostly of a sci-fi nature. Stuff like ray guns and the like. That sounds like a fun job.

Tank (who still has his music, but like his writing, its something that he could never make a living at)

Oh, boy, does this resonate with me. Back when I was sent to the Guidance Counselor in high school, it was a time when every girl was naturally expected to leave school and become a secretary. Girls were almost automatically shifted into courses on typing and cooking, while boys went into woodwork. I mean it wasn't mandatory, there were some students, of either gender, who bucked the trend. But it was expected and those who didn't fall into line were kind of thought odd.

I was determined I wasn't going to work in a stuffy office - no way - and avoided typing class like the plague. When I went for my GC interview and told him I wanted to work in a career that was a/ outdoors and/or b/ involved animals he was completely stymied! Honestly, that was as specific as I made it. You'd think he could have suggested something, wouldn't you? But nope. Completely clueless. Had zero suggestions to make and was obviously completely thrown.

I'm glad that things have improved for female students since then!

LabRat

Way to be a badass, Labrat!

Training for career counsellors, including those in schools, has improved a lot since people like us were at school - yet I still hear from colleagues in the field that some of them are very poorly-informed. I heard about one school counsellor who knew nothing about apprenticeships, so had never raised the skilled trades as a possibility with kids who were hands-on learners and would have really made a success of an apprenticeship.

But overall the tools and techniques available to school counsellors are a lot better now, including online resources such as careercruising.com and computerised assessments.

And here's another online resource - free - that's worth a look. It's a really good tool for helping people work out what kind of work suits them and it's used far and wide: University of Waterloo Career Development Manual .


Wendy

DH's GC told him he should go learn to be a welder [pretty good tech school here that turned into the comm college with both teach at now and not that there's anything wrong with being a welder and they probably do make pretty good money] because he'd never make it in college. Then DH got a 23? on his ACT and the GC tried to be his best friend. DH graduated with a BS and a Masters in Clinical Psych and is now a licensed therapist, which he loves most of the time. At one time I thought I wanted to be a GC for kids like him, but then decided I'd rather be a SAHM with my kids. I'm halfway there .
Carol

Dream jobs:

Like Marcus - the writing would be nice, I already have a book published but it never sold well because the other thing you have to consider is whether or not your publisher cares enough to market your book well enough to sell it. And it is very very very hard to make money off writing these days - you might hit the bestseller lists for a couple of weeks if you are lucky but you need to shift a lot of books throughout the year to make any kind of money - after all you only get 10% of the profits. And the only thing that sells now is crime fiction, self improvement/new age and pulp fiction and harlequin romance novels. sad state of affairs but true.

The novel I am writing now doesn't fit into any of the above and I don't see myself as being able to write in any of the above genres. Of course I'll continue to write anyway and continue to attempt to get my stuff published but I am not going to expect them to do well no matter how much effort I put into them.

Else I would like to try working in a publishing firm as an editor. I really like editing. I think it is great to sit down with someone and help bounce ideas off them, cheer them up, encourage them and ruthlessly point out the flaws in their grammar for them. I want to try to set up my own firm one day so I can do my bit towards making sure that writers can make money writing in other genres as well. I want people to be able to live off what they write because I think that way we would get more scope and choice in what people read which can be a good thing. I don't know if that would mean pushing royalties up or at the very least not letting the markets dictate your choices at the initialoutset - I don't know. I am just sick of the literary fiction market coming out with the same repeated stuff just because it sells and then slowly cutting the amount of books published in that genre to make way for the others . Other genres are great and there is no denying that there is competition between the genres for a slice of the market but I worry about the authors getting turned away because their manuscripts are not ones the editors can get certain returns on.

And I also don't like how much books cost at the moment because I am such a bibliophile.

The Little Tornado.

Honestly - lottery winner! I have no ambition. I'm lazy. I like watching tv and reading books and browsing the Internet all day. I love the idea of not having to work. The problem is that every job I can think of is work.

I would love to be a full time Lois & Clark fanfic writer.

I know we don't get everything we want in life though, but sometimes the best things come from where & when you least expect.

I realized some time ago that there's no such a thing as a dream job, but whether or not you are capable of taking matters into your own hands and doing something about it when you realize you are not happy with whatever you are doing.

If you have no talent as a singer, I suggest you go to a hide-away studio and record the most dreadful tune, providing someone willingly would receive the money and monitor the record while you assassinate your favourite song. Keep it to yourself or maybe send to some of your enemies as 'Memoirs of you & me.'

If you always wanted to be a writer, then start with the most mediocre E-story one can post, providing there are enough fans in your fandom to boo or applaude. Either ways, like Perry said and I distort, 'An E-story is worth the paper it is printed on.' But it is still yours, I'd add.

If you wanted to be the Editor-in-Chief of a newspaper, then by all means... Create your own! I'd read anything that is for free. Make the whole front page the editorial and soon you will be famous, even if only around the block.

Dreams can become true if you put some effort into it and believe yourself.


MDL.

I tried once or twice to start a newsletter going to keep my whole extended family (on both sides--I'm Mormon, we have HUGE families) up-to-date with each other. 'Cause seriously, I have cousins who have had children, and I don't even know their spouses' names, much less the names of my cousins-once-removed!

Anyway, I tried to get that newsletter going (and in some ways, I'm still trying), but I came across a few road blocks:

• I don't know all of my family's addresses/e-mail addresses.
• I can't write about what I don't know, so even though I had a first issue all made up, it was basically just a plea for news about family members and since it never got sent out, I never had news to put into a second issue.
• I have so many hobbies, I would want other members of my family to write some stuff for the newsletter, but I come back to the "no news" thing.
• I couldn't figure out the best time frame to make it . . . should it be weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly? Should I make it two pages, or twenty? Would it be better just to wait until there was news, and make it as long or as short as it took? I had all those questions, and no one was giving me input. Of course, it doesn't help that the only person I asked was my dad, but he wasn't giving me input either.

So, I procrastinated. And have been procrastinating on this ever since.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with my dream job. I just saw that quote above, and it reminded me of the newsletter.

Honestly, I love what I do now, and I'm happy with the direction I'm headed. The only way I could be happier would be if I worked for a publishing house instead of being in academia--because editing is my life.

If money were no obstacle, the only other thing I would like to do would be go to law school and become an attorney who works with international justice issues and immigration. I might do that in the future should I decide to, but it really pays poorly...which is problematic.

Um my dream job...hmmmm. Fluffer? No no just kidding. My test came out the same way at 49 as it did when I was 18, it says Artist/writer. Well I am an artist and I teach Art college level which I love. I like creative writing but my spelling and grammar leaves much to be desired. I am all for getting the idea down and then letting someone else clean it up. TSK TSK bad Laura. I am also a great starter of things that I never finish. My dream is to actually publish a book one day. I'd like it to be humorous and helpful, how is that for vague! I am published for articles in local newsletters but nothing that really counts. Some day, my dream is to make money for my art work, write a book and work in film (The editing, graphics part) I have edited some stuff for department promotional CD's and I did work for the Graphics Dept at our local News station, but nothing has gelled into good money. I wish one would pan out to a full time salary. But I do love being a Prof better then hairdressing. I did that for years. It was more money then teaching but hard on the back and feet. I do keep in touch with some of my old clients though. Teaching adults is more rewarding then making them pretty. Laura