If you were to look up the dictionary definition of the term “dream job,” you would unfortunately come out empty-handed, despite the many attempts people have made trying to define the very term. Although this word is common and used frequently in our daily lives, there is yet to be a set-in-stone definition; even words like “hangry,” “instagramming,” and “adorbs,” have been assigned a definition and added to the dictionary before the recurrent term, “dream job.” This does not mean that countless people have not tried to define the two words. In an article by Evoloshen, it is defined simply as, “doing what you absolutely love to do that supports the lifestyle you choose to have.” Perhaps there is truth to that statement. In an article written by The Top Tens, the top dream jobs include music star, actor or actress, professional athlete, jet pilot, author, CEO of whatever you created, inventor, video game tester, and video game designer.

Some walk through life, unable to articulate what their dream job is. Some are baffled by the simplicity of the term, despite its ability to change a life for the better. It is hard for people to break it down and even describe their ideal job due to the many factors that come into play, such as location, paycheck, boss, work environment, commute, life insurance, and these are just scraping the surface. The idea of having a perfect job sounds intriguing yet impossible to most. That is why people rarely pursue their dream jobs. But what comes with these dream jobs is compromise and being able to take the good with the bad. People are stereotyping the term “dream job” altogether. They believe that everything that requires a dream job has to be perfect, but there is no such thing. People need to understand this and find a career that they are not only good at, but makes them happy and feeling fulfilled. That is the criteria for someone’s dream job. In an article by The Muse, Lily Zhang simplifies this uphill battle and breaks it down into three parts or questions. She first asks, “What skills do you want to use?’ then, “What interests you?” lastly, “What are your values?” These three questions can help a person, who is struggling to find something that they love to do for a career, and map out their future. In Benjamin Todd’s article for 80,000 Hours, he explains his specific criteria for developing a dream job. To find your dream job, Todd says to look for “work [that] you are good at,” then “work that helps others,” and lastly, “supportive conditions: engaging work that lets you enter a state of flow; supportive colleagues; lack of major negatives like unfair pay; and work that fits your personal life.”

Sophomore Sophia Chow surprised me when she responded with, “Realistic or…?”, when asked what her dream job was. Sadly, people have this persona that their dream job is either unethical, silly, or impossible. Chow says, “I think when you’re little, you don’t see as many restrictions and you don’t really see the realistic side of things, or maybe, you see the realistic side of things, [but] you just have more exposure to the big fun and magazines and seeing famous people, you think ‘I’m going to be like that’.”

When freshman Tanner Dutra was asked what his dream job was, he responded with a basic and simple answer; “My dream job is to be a professional soccer player.” Even though this dream job may be a dream job of many other people across the globe, his reasoning for wanting to become a professional soccer player is specific to him and his background. Dutra says, “My dad is the main person who has influenced my job because he was a professional soccer player and coach, and I want to follow in his footsteps.” Although Dutra’s and many others’ dream jobs are to become a professional athlete, it is very hard to succeed in that occupation. Dutra says, “I love soccer so much, but it is also something that I see myself having a future in because of how hard I work.”

The very reason the general and broad term has no concrete definition is because we cannot define a term that has a completely different meaning to everyone across the globe. This does not stray from the fact that there are some jobs out there that tend to be admired more than others, but that does not mean you can categorize “music star” as everyone’s dream job. Your dream job may be a professional athlete, a lawyer, marine biologist, chef, or a barber. Whatever it may be, you chose that job because the job makes you feel content, which is one of the most important things in life.