Sometime last year, in the depths of a disparaging job search, I was day dreaming about what truly are my dream jobs. People at business school are always talking about finding dream jobs. I find it hard to believe you’ll find it coming out of business school, even if the concept of a “dream job” is really valid at all. Nevertheless, around the same time, I found myself 30 some odd thousand feet above the Rockies on a fateful flight from Chicago to San Francisco. We never quite made it to San Francisco that evening due to a potential electric fire midflight, and while on the tarmac in Salt Lake City (a city I did not expect to be in that day, I assure you) with the fire trucks convened around our airplane, I came up with a list of what I would be wholly happy and satisfied doing as a profession. The list (reproduced from my personal diary) makes for an interesting read:
- International economics writer for The Economist
- Advisor for LGBTQ entrepreneurs
- Logistics director for CNN
- Travel writer of some sort
- Innovation discoverer/applier/advisor
- CEO of ChickenBus
- Teacher
- Something lovely in Nicaragua
- Creator of interesting games/scavenger hunts (could be worldwide)
- Senior Staff at Camp Shohola or some logistics at another camp-type environment
- Chief of Staff for someone I like in an important position
While I did submit some applications for roles quite similar to what I have described here, I did not directly or seriously pursue these jobs while looking for full-time employment. Some are not viable (Senior Staff at Camp Shohola, while very fun and gratifying at times, is only a summer gig, and quite stressful at times too!). I also love teaching, but find the profession so beleaguered I could not bring myself to enter it after the Peace Corps.
I’m also more of the opinion that over time I can work towards integrating into my career my dream sort of work. For instance, a few of the dream jobs have a written or creative design element. My blogging is certainly an outlet for me to do that sort of work. As for CEO of ChickenBus, I could have pursued that right out of business school. However, there is still a lot for me to learn about management and operations, so I’m working for another company full-time instead of my own. My new job is also international in nature, which lends itself as experience towards the international dream jobs on this list.
Can’t you just see me scrambling around the CNN newsroom and barking about how we need to get Anderson to the next global hotspot YESTERDAY?
If all else fails I’ll lean out of Parisian windows and people will at least think I’m important