What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

What do you want to be when you grow up? Have you been asked this question when you were just a kid? But of course, you have!

It’s one of the most famous phrases that send us back to our childhood. How many times were we asked by our school teachers, parents, relatives, or even childhood friends? Many times. But how many of us have actually got to have our dream job?

Romanian job portal Best Jobs tries to answer this question: how many of us got to have the job we dreamt of when we were kids?

Romanians fail to have the jobs they dream of when younger

According to the most recent survey, only 5% of the adults had the job they wanted when they were kids. Despite this deficient percentage, it might not be a bad thing at all.

Most of those who answered the survey said they wanted to become teachers – 45%, airline pilots – 18%, lawyers – 10%, chefs – 9% and doctors – 7%.

Let’s look at the kids’ desires regarding their future jobs. We can quickly notice that the most admired profession back in childhood is not so respected in the current Romanian society. Besides the low-level salaries, teachers are also blamed for the low quality of Romanian education. In this context, who would still want to follow their dreams?

Interestingly, the respondents argued that they abandoned their initial ideas because they grew up (55% offered this explanation), and followed a different educational process (36%). Some even talked about the influence of their parents (9%).

In other countries, the percentages of those working their dream job from when they were younger are higher. In the US, for example, a recent survey showed that 43% of Americans have the job of their dreams. But we’re talking here about a different country.

The results are even more surprising, as even more have worked their dream job at one moment in life. So, it makes it 62% who have ever lived their dreams.

A new survey of 2,000 Americans reveals that 43 percent are currently living out their childhood dream and an additional 19 percent have previously worked in their dream field. On average, those respondents first landed their dream jobs at age 23.

US Survey on dream job

As June 1st is approaching, remember this: whenever you ask a child what he wants to become when an adult, have in mind that only 5% would have that dream job. Either way, don’t spoil the child’s dreams!