The UK would be full of nurses and scientists if Brits had followed their childhood dreams, according to research by Friends Reunited about what people wanted to be when they were young.
The website asked its members to remember back to their first day in secondary school and say what they wanted to be when they grew up. Old stereotypes rung true with nurse coming out on top (23 per cent) as the most dreamed of job for girls and scientist for boys (18 per cent). Teacher and hairdresser came in second and third for girls respectively with soldier and then footballer for boys.
However, little over a quarter of the 40,000 respondents said they had fulfilled their childhood ambition. Half of those that missed out on securing their dream job said they had simply 'changed their mind', 14% said they 'failed to meet the grade', while 10 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men cited 'family commitments' as the reason. Overall 6% had not given up on their early plans and were still working towards a career in their chosen field.
Interestingly 60% of respondents had had at least one career change in their working lives and 26 to 35 year olds had had more shifts in focus than workers approaching retirement age.
Steve Pankhurst, founder of Friends Reunited, says:" 'What do you do for a living?' is one of the first questions people ask when they've not seen someone for years; it's a way of them checking how they measure up to their old school mates. In a recent survey on school reunions our members actually said one of their biggest fears about how they would come across was not having had an interesting job or having done anything exciting with their lives.
"We wanted to find out how many people went on to fulfill their dreams and how many had followed a different course entirely in life. I wanted to be a farmer when I left school, but changed my mind when I found out the pay was rubbish!"
Asked if they were happy in their work only 40 per cent said yes, 56 per cent said they had good days and bad days and 4 per cent said they were never happy at work. Men aged between 26 and 35 are the most discontented, with only one in three saying they were always happy at work and as much as one in five saying they were never happy in their job.
Mark Gaisford, head of Friends Reunited's new job site, said: "The research offers a fascinating insight into how people's working lives unfold. The older generation may not have moved careers so much, but the stability seems to have lead to greater happiness as 59% of 55 plus year old workers said they were happy in their jobs compared to only 33% of 26 to 35 year olds.
"But the experience of some of our members goes to show it's never too late to follow your dreams or set yourself new challenges."
Matthew Fine's childhood ambition was to become a dentist but he discovered at secondary school that science just wasn't his forte. Instead, influenced by his dad - a successful estate agent - he followed a career in property.
He says: "The opportunity was there so I just took it. My ideal career change now would be to sell my company and run a bar on the Costa del Sol in Spain. I will do it one day too, but I am in no hurry. I may not have realised all my career ambitions yet, but I have achieved my personal ones: I'm married with two beautiful children."
For as long as Colin Briggs could remember he had wanted to be a journalist. He started off in women's magazines 'even writing the knitting pages ...' before moving into motoring journalism and finally broadcasting.
He says: " I love not knowing what I am going to be doing each day and the buzz of seeing a story that I've put together go to air. In my career so far I have enjoyed verbal sparring with politicians, reporting from all manner of places and situations and meeting some of my heroes.
"Short of being a test driver for Ferrari, flying Spitfires and fronting Led Zeppelin I really cannot think of a better job, even when the alarm goes at 04:00 hrs every morning."
In his Friends Reunited profile he writes: "I am still wondering if it's time to grow up.."
Founded by North London based husband and wife team Steve and Julie Pankhurst and their business partner Jason Porter, Friends Reunited was launched in July 2000 so that people could get in contact with their old school friends. A combination of word of mouth and immense media attention has propelled the site to phenomenon status, expanding beyond the school friends proposition to include workplaces, teams/clubs and streets. The site has over 12 million members, representing 43% of the adult internet population in the UK.
Friends Reunited Jobs was launched in March 2005 after Friends Reunited acquired the online jobs board Top Dog Jobs. It allows candidates to sort vacancies by category, location and wage for free, while offering companies a great value service for posting jobs and searching candidates. There are over 200,000 CVs and 30,000 jobs on the site, with an established employer base offering a broad range of jobs from across the UK.
40,200 people responded to the survey aged from 18 to 70
| Males: | Females: |
| Scientist (17.9%) | Nurse (22.9%) |
| Soldier (10.6%) | Teacher (22.3%) |
| Footballer (9.5%) | Hairdresser (7.5%) |
| Train driver (9.0%) | Popstar/actress (6.8%) |
| Policeman (7.9%) | Policewoman (6.4%) |
Did you fulfil this ambition?
| Men | Women | |
| Yes | 32.2% | 26.2% |
| No changed my mind | 38.2% | 48.0% |
| No because of family commitments | 5.1% | 10.4% |
| No didn't make the grade | 17.5% | 9.7% |
| Still working towards it | 7% | 5.7% |
Have you had a career change in your working life?
Men
| Career change | 18-25 | 26-35 | 36-45 | 46-55 | 55-66 | 66+ | Total |
| no | 60.4% | 44.1% | 37.5% | 36.7% | 30.0% | 40.5% | 38.0% |
| yes, once | 29.7% | 29.8% | 31.2% | 25.9% | 29.8% | 25.0% | 28.9% |
| yes, twice | 6.6% | 15.6% | 16.7% | 19.6% | 21.8% | 18.5% | 18.0% |
| yes, thrice | 3.3% | 10.5% | 14.5% | 17.8% | 18.5% | 16.1% | 15.1% |
Women
| Career change | 18-25 | 26-35 | 36-45 | 46-55 | 55-66 | 66+ | Total |
| no | 66.1% | 46.5% | 35.7% | 35.5% | 36.0% | 48.9% | 40.8% |
| yes, once | 21.7% | 32.4% | 34.2% | 29.9% | 29.5% | 23.0% | 30.9% |
| yes, twice | 6.1% | 13.9% | 18.9% | 20.2% | 18.3% | 17.8% | 17.0% |
| yes, thrice | 6.1% | 7.2% | 11.2% | 14.4% | 16.2% | 10.4% | 11.3% |
Are you happy in your job?
Men Age
| Happy | 18-25 | 26-35 | 36-45 | 46-55 | 55-66 | 66+ | Total |
| mostly | 34.1% | 30.2% | 41.6% | 44.5% | 41.6% | 30.4% | 40.7% |
| no | 9.9% | 19.4% | 4.5% | 3.9% | 1.7% | 1.2% | 4.3% |
| Sometimes | 5.5% | 17.3% | 16.0% | 16.1% | 9.7% | 9.5% | 15.2% |
| yes | 50.5% | 33.1% | 37.9% | 35.4% | 46.9% | 58.9% | 39.8% |
Women Age
| 18-25 | 26-35 | 36-45 | 46-55 | 55-66 | 66+ | Total | |
| mostly | 39.7% | 43.0% | 43.1% | 44.4% | 43.8% | 37.0% | 43.1% |
| no | 4.7% | 3.6% | 2.8% | 2.4% | 2.1% | 1.5% | 2.9% |
| Sometimes | 16.6% | 15.6% | 14.7% | 13.3% | 12.4% | 7.4% | 14.2% |
| yes | 39.0% | 37.8% | 39.4% | 40.0% | 41.7% | 54.1% | 39.9% |