Most people’s professional lives are like that of a hamster – they go on and on, days blending into nights blending into days, excel sheets, meetings, targets and deadlines. Like that ABBA song, I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay...’’ most people do just that. But ask the banker, the diplomat, the teacher what are their fantasy professions and you will be surprised by their responses. Why, ask yourself that question and see if your response comes anywhere close to what these people told us.
Harini Easwaran is a management professional who has lived and worked in many countries. Harini’s dream job is that of... wait for it... a pizza delivery girl. Ask her why and she says it combines her love for cheese and mopeds.
Pratima Umesh heads sales for an e-learning company in the Middle east and would love to own an dessert truck which will slowly expand into a mobile bakery. ``I want a big fat dessertmobile, like a food truck, not the ting ting 'ice-ice!' bicycle. I would love to open the first one in Bangalore.’’ That’s not exactly a profession one would associate with an e-learning company sales head, but the heart wants what it wants.
Shobhana Aiyer, works in a senior management role in a large pharmaceutical company but what she would be doing if she didn’t have to earn money to support her child is interesting. `` I would work for a volunteer organization, like Doctors Without Borders or the Gates Foundation. In fact that's what I want to do when I am done with the responsibility of my son. Travel where required, do volunteer service, no matter what kind of work. ‘’
Andrew Smith (name changed), a diplomat, says he would love to be a bicycle mechanic. He’s never quite outgrown his love of bikes despite his high powered job. ``I love bicycles. I love to repair and fix them. I would love to do that for other people too.
And while I put together all these responses, here’s my confession. I’d like to be a waitress. Fishnet stockings and all. If a career counselor in a school heard these responses, she’d have a fainting fit. But when it comes from well-established career professionals, it doesn’t sound that bad, does it?