1 Discuss the questions below in pairs or small groups.
These are the top ten ‘dream jobs’, according to a UK survey.
sports trainer or coach | actor | journalist | working for a non-profit organisation musician or singer | photographer | writer | artist | pilot | racing driver
1
What does the phrase ‘dream job’ mean?
2
What order do you think the jobs came in?
Practice
2 Read the magazine article. Then complete the tasks on page 69.
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Reading
Modern Living | Dream jobs
A survey of 3,000 workers in the UK has revealed the top ten dream jobs. Being ‘dream’ jobs, a certain amount of fantasy is involved, but what is the reality behind the dream? We asked some professionals what doing these jobs was really like.
Airline pilot, James Hutchings
‘They didn’t really make this the first choice, did they? I’m not sure my job is what people were thinking of. They probably wanted to be jet fighter pilots. The work isn’t as exciting as people think. You don’t see the world, just the insides of airports. There isn’t much job security either. There are lots of ways you could lose your job. It suits me at the moment because I’m young and single, but I wouldn’t want to be still doing it in ten years’ time.’
TV and theatre actor, Jane Nicholson
‘There’s nothing I’d rather do. The feeling you get is like nothing else, and it outweighs the many negatives, like the pressure, the stage fright and the long periods without work. Unless you’re a big star, you never know where the next job is going to come from.’
Pianist and singer, Amina Kureishi
‘Almost anyone can become a musician, but the trick is to make a living from it. I mean, there are singers, there are good singers and there are successful singers, but they’re three different things. For most of us it’s a life of late nights, long hours practising and travelling from place to place, being paid just enough to put food on the table. The majority of professional musicians need other incomes, usually from teaching.’
Charity worker, Ben Harper
‘I can understand why this work comes so high in the list. It’s the job satisfaction, isn’t it? A lot of people probably feel they’d rather do something to help others than work for a company making money for someone else. But the thing is that for most charity workers, it’s just an office job. Even non-profit organisations have to be run like businesses these days. The people at the top are paid well, but those lower down are often volunteers.’