New research reveals interesting insights into Brits’ career aspirations*, including that the majority of Londoners don’t like their jobs.
Findings include: Only 15 per cent of employees living in London are in their dream job; Money, location and lack of skills are the main reasons people living in London are still in a job they don’t enjoy; Only one in 10 Londoners who don’t enjoy their job are looking to change it in the next year; No capital, lack of regular income and fear of failure are the main things stopping people living in London from starting their own company.
The research shows that business owners are six times more likely to be in their dream job than employees (74 per cent saying they’re in their dream job vs. just 13 per cent of employees). It seems Brits have taken to starting their own company to create their dream job rather than searching for it elsewhere; 39 per cent of side business owners say that their side business is their dream job and 31 per cent of full-time employees want to start their own company rather than staying in employment.
The top 10 cities in the UK for business owners:
1. Edinburgh
2. London
3. Manchester
4. Newcastle
5. Norwich
6. Cardiff
7. Bristol
8. Southampton
9. Nottingham
10. Birmingham
Sixty-eight per cent of side-business owners in London won’t take it full-time due to money. Other reasons include friends at work and family arrangements, which echoes the reasons for employees not starting their own business, which were: No capital (56 per cent); Lack of regular income (47 per cent); Fear of failure (44 per cent)
Despite not being in their dream job, 22 per cent of employees do want to stay in their current job, with the top reasons for staying being:Money (34 per cent); Location (29 per cent); Lack of skills required for dream job (21 per cent); Hassle of finding new job (19 per cent); Family arrangements (18per cent).
Age seems to have an impact on changing career with over 45s are most likely to fear it’s too late to change careers, although surprisingly 10 per cent of 18-24-year olds also fear it’s already too late. Almost half of 65+ year old employees aren’t in their dream job with 35 per cent thinking it’s too much hassle to find another.
As a third of employees admitted to secretly wanting to start their own company, they were also asked which products or companies they wished they’d invented, with technological advancements being the most popular: Internet; Facebook; Mobile phone; Jobs; Computer; Apple; Amazon; Dyson; Google; iPhone.
Paul Mizen, Managing Director at Recruit Venture, comments,
Initially we predicted that more employees would be unhappy in their job over business owners, but we didn’t expect it to be that high. It seems that many people could be happier by starting their own company and looking at the statistics we have got back from business owners, employees should think about their options and work out if their dream job is feasible by creating their own business and if so what the next steps towards this goal could be. There is always another option and a different career path has no age limit, especially when looking at setting up your own company.
*Research carried out by The Recruit Venture Group
Aphrodite is a creative writer and editor specialising in publishing and communications. She is passionate about undertaking projects in diverse sectors. She has written and edited copy for media as varied as social enterprise, art, fashion and education. She is at her most happy owning a project from its very conception, focusing on the client and project research in the first instance, and working closely with CEOs and Directors throughout the consultation process. Much of her work has focused on rebranding; messaging and tone of voice is one of her expertise, as is a distinctively unique writing style in my most of her creative projects. Her work is always driven by the versatility of language to galvanise image and to change perception, as it is by inspiring and being inspired by the wondrous diversity of people with whom paths she crosses cross!
Aphrodite has had a variety of high profile industry clients as a freelancer, and previously worked for a number of years as an Editor and Journalist for Prospects.ac.uk.
Aphrodite is also a professional painter.
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- Aphrodite Papadatou
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