tldr; i realize how incredibly bleak that sounds, but it's exactly true!
I saw a TikTok the other day (couldn't find it to show you so you'll just have to trust me) where the girl was literally sitting there and the text across the screen said "...I discovered that I have a passion for nothing. My dream job is *no job* and a mansion by the sea with lots of windows" and that hits home for me too.
I feel like this is definitely a mostly millennial/gen z problem (I still don't know which one I am?). We want to be happier than our parents' generation. We need to have (much) more money than them. We want to work for better companies, and actually do things we enjoy. We don't always want the 9-5, and we want the option to work remotely. We're more open-minded than previous generations, and we're a hell of a lot more vocal about the things we care about (human rights and climate change are two maaaajor ones). We've got drive, hope, enthusiasm, endless forms of education at our fingertips, and we woke up like this. We want better, so of course we expect better.
We're also a very damaged generation. I don't think this is just specific to our generation, but I do think it feels and seems that way because of how vocal we are. We come off as the most lazy, depressed, anxious and entitled generation because we demand better things, but are also trying to do our best with the bullshit that's been left for us from the 1900s: Inflation of the dollar that doesn't match wages; Everything is more expensive to buy; Housing is basically impossible unless your family is from money; and all the bad -isms and -phobias that we're trying to do away with (racism, islamophobia, homophobia, etc.) -- Nevermind constant mass/school shootings and terror attacks and war and worldwide pandemics. We can't catch a goddamn break.
I've heard plenty of opinions from my parents and their friends about how my generation is too demanding, too specific, and apparently that makes us arrogant or ignorant or entitled and whatever, as if we don't respect authority. They think we also don't want to work for what we want and expect to be CEO on our second week or for our first job out of high school. We are more competent that we're given credit for, and we somehow have to prove that our entire lives.
We were born with the constant updating of technology: from box-tv's to smart tv's, no cell phones to flip phones to smart phones, chunky desktop computers to laptops so skinny they fit in an envelope, floppy disks to the smallest USB ports you could ever think of, and CD's to online streaming... I could go on for ages. We have taught ourselves every. single. thing. because nobody was there to teach it to us, and we continue to do that as things change. We're smart as fuck and get all kinds of creative better than anyone else... because we have to. This is also why we work smarter, not harder.
We understand by observation that money and status can't buy happiness, so we create. We travel. We collaborate. We need and use mental health days. We buy plants and like having them at the workplace. We eat avocado toast (not me because ew). We do staycations. We brunch. We like working from home so we can stay with our pets, and also arguably can get more work done there. We do things like Taco Tuesdays and Thirsty Thursdays to give a mundane day of the week some meaning. We like having standing desks and cozy chairs (bean bags hello) to sit in.
So what's my ideal/dream job? Paid time off, available when you're hired, and at least 3 weeks annually (maybe this includes mental health days idk). Benefits. A pension. A good work/life/health balance, whatever that might mean (Shorter work days? More flexible hours? Better pay?). No cubicles - that shit is too quiet. A nice but casual dress code (not everyone can afford 30 strict business outfits, Sharon). I don't know about you but I like working on my own and having access to help when I need it - I can't stand a boss that hovers and micro-manages. Something that's really important for me too is making more than minimum wage ($15/hr is not survivable), especially if there's no benefits and if you don't work full time hours - equal pay for all genders!!!!!!!! Also a place that doesn't hire BIPOC as tokens, basically a place that actually doesn't discriminate on race or dis/ability or social class or gender (they usually have a fine print at the bottom of a job description because they legally have to that says they don't discriminate, but they do). Ability to work remotely. Or travel for work. As for the actual job itself, the job title, my actual work? Couldn't tell ya. I'm only 25 and things are changing constantly. Probably preferably something in my field of study (advertising, marketing, communications, management, business, social media...) but that's proving to be difficult in my town.
But enough about me - What about you? What's your ideal/dream job?
DM me or email me and let me know :)
xx
S
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