Poll: Most US Workers Want to Change Careers

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Photo courtesy of VOA News
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Photo courtesy of VOA News

Reuters – NEW YORK — So much for a dream job. Only 14 percent of U.S. workers believe they have the perfect job and more than half want to change careers, according to a new poll released on Monday.

A Harris survey for the University of Phoenix in Arizona showed that the most coveted jobs are in the arts and sciences, business management, technology and healthcare, and that younger employees are more eager to find another type of work than older workers.

“It is not uncommon for working adults to consider one or multiple career changes,” Dr. Bill Pepicello, the president of the University of Phoenix, said in a statement announcing the results.

“Choosing one career path after high school or college and sticking with it for the rest of a career is becoming less common as the pace of business and technology quickly change jobs and industries,” he said.

Nearly 80 percent of workers in their 20s said they wanted to change careers, followed by 64 percent of 30-somethings and 54 percent in their 40s.

Although the majority of workers said they had career plans when they were younger, 73 percent of them had not landed in the job they had expected.

Women were more likely than men to be in a different job than they had anticipated, according to the poll, and college graduates tended to follow a planned career path more than non-graduates.

Even people running their own businesses were not happy, with only 20 saying they were in their desired careers.

Location was also important. Sixty percent of people living in San Francisco said they did not want to change careers. Twenty-two percent were likely to be in a dream job, compared to just eight percent of employees in Dallas-Ft, Worth and Los Angeles.

In New York City 62 percent of workers were somewhat interested in changing careers, compared to 67 percent of workers in Atlanta and 60 percent in Los Angeles.

Of the 14 percent of workers overall who were in their dream job, nearly 20 percent worked in business management, followed by 16 percent in healthcare.

Harris questioned 1,616 U.S. adults for the online poll between April 18-26. It gave no margin of error for the survey.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. Have you gleaned this from merely looking at job ads, or is this the constant refrain you've heard after sending 100 resumes to every concievable employer within a 25-mile radius of where you live? If you go by ads alone, of course you're going to feel out of your depth.Or you can take a look at firms like Des Moines , this might be an opportunity . Get in the door, talk to people, and prove you can learn something. You'll never know who is willing to give you a chance, so long as your expectations are reasonable.

  2. I have the same job since college, of course I want to change it. My dad used to be a track driver and from time to time he used to take me with him. That's one of the most wonderful jobs I've hear about. You're article made me want to do the next step in "Changing my career" path. What do you think of get fast pallet delivery through borderpallets.com? Is it a good place to work at? I'm used to driving small sporty cars. Do you think I could get a job there?

  3. Choosing one career path after high school or college and sticking with it for the rest of a career is becoming less common as the pace of business and technology quickly change jobs and industries

  4. Young kids are forced to make a choice too soon, in my opinion. When I finished highschool, I had no idea which way I wanna go so I made a terrible choice (worst decision I made till now) regardin my college. Still regret it.

  5. In New York City 62 percent of workers were somewhat interested in changing careers, compared to 67 percent of workers in Atlanta and 60 percent in Los Angeles.

  6. Choosing one career path after high school or college and sticking with it Juegos de Pintar for the rest of a career is becoming less common as the pace of business and technology quickly change jobs and industries.

  7. A Harris survey for the University of Phoenix in Arizona showed that the most coveted jobs are in the arts and sciences, business management, technology and healthcare, and that younger employees are more eager to find another type of work than older workers.

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