The Odds of Achieving Your Dream Job

What are the odds of achieving your dream job?

Many of us spent our childhood dreaming of heading into outer space, flying planes, performing on stage, or even saving lives! In a world where we were told we could be anything we wanted, what is the likelihood that we are actually able to land our dream job? We decided to crunch some numbers and find out exactly what the odds are of getting some of the most popular jobs in the world.

The most popular dream jobs

 

The top 18 dream jobs, based on Google Search data, include:

1. Pilot – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 3,440
2. Real Estate Agent – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 1,556
3. Model – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 6,708
4. Actor – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 1,141
5. Doctor – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 200
6. Youtuber – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 179,361
7. Software Engineer – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 144
8. Lawyer – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 274
9. Psychologist – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 1,443
10. Data Scientist – the odds of getting into this profession were not available
11. Teacher – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 41
12. Police Officer – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 535
13. Firefighter – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 1,979
14. Therapist – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 337
15. CEO – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 604
16. Singer – the odds of getting into this profession were not available
17. Astronaut – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 27,856
18. Nurse – the odds of getting into this profession were 1 in 133

It’s little surprise that some of these jobs have seen a rise in popularity. For example, becoming a pilot is the top dream job on our list, which may have been influenced by some big cultural events this year – a month after Top Gun: Maverick’s premiere, the 11th highest grossing film of all time, searches for ‘how to become a pilot’ increased by 22%. 

Coming in a close second was becoming a real estate agent, a role that has been majorly dramatized by the hit Netflix show, Selling Sunset. Reality shows have made a lot of these jobs, which are actually very hard to get into, seem achievable. You could also reasonably guess that shows like ‘America’s Next Top Model’ influenced a lot of people to want to turn to modelling – although hopefully avoiding the embarrassing challenges that Tyra Banks sets up! 

But out of all of the dream jobs, which ones are actually the hardest to achieve? 

The hardest dreams jobs to achieve

Although becoming a pilot or a real estate agent are some of the most popular searches, out of all the dream jobs we analysed, they’re actually not among the hardest roles to get into. It turns out, becoming Prime Minister, a YouTuber, a Premier League footballer and an astronaut are some of the hardest dream jobs to achieve – in fact, did you know you’re twice as likely to be struck by lightning than become Prime Minister?

Here’s our list of the top 10 dream jobs that are the most difficult to reach:

1. Prime Minister – odds of 1 in 67,081,000.
2. Youtuber – odds of 1 in 179,361. You are nearly 18 times more likely to have triplets than to become a Youtuber with more than 500,000 subscribers. 
3. Premier League footballer – odds of 1 in 134,162. You are 13 times more likely to find a 4-leaf clover than to become a professional footballer in your lifetime.
4. Member of Parliament – odds of 1 in 103,202. You are 11.67 times more likely to win an Oscar than to become an MP in the United Kingdom. 
5. Nasa Astronaut – odds of 1 in 14278. You are 1.43 times more likely to parent triplets than gain a STEM master’s degree and successfully become a Nasa Astronaut.
6. Archaeologist – odds of 1 in 9,583. You are nearly five times more likely to need emergency treatment from an injury involving a pillow, mattress, or bed than to become an archaeologist.
7. Spy – odds of 1 in 7,208. It’s a slim margin, but you are actually 1.44 times more likely to die from an electric shock than to become a spy.
8. Dancer – odds of 1 in 7,136. Professional dancing is no joke, and you are actually nearly 30 times more likely to parent twins than to become a professional dancer.
9. Model – odds of 1 in 6,708. You are more likely to become a model than a professional dancer, but you are also 27.95 times more likely to die in a road accident than become a model.
10. Nutritionist – odds of 1 in 6,648. You are over 30 times more likely to write a bestselling novel than to become a nutritionist. Get to writing! 

Why is it so hard to become an astronaut?

So why exactly is it so hard to get into some of these roles? Well, if we take astronauts as an example, there are lots of different stages that need to be reached before you can take on the role, and some of them are extremely difficult for most of us to achieve. 

NASA received more than 12,000 applications for the 10 spots they had available to train astronauts in 2021. To be eligible to even apply for a spot, you had to have a master’s degree in a specialist subject. Only 843,450 students in the entire USA gained master’s degrees in 2019/20, proving that even completing the first step is far from easy!   

Next, the Astronaut Rating Panel reviewed each application to narrow down the most highly qualified applicants (approximately 500 people). Then, they have to run reference checks on each applicant to make sure they have clean criminal records and are known as having the desired characteristics for an astronaut. 

The Astronaut Selection Board then narrowed that group to 120 applicants, who were all invited to Johnson Space Center for interviews and medical tests during the course of six weeks. 

About 30 of those candidates were then invited back for the second round of interviews and additional testing. The final 10 were selected following those interviews, and went on to become NASA astronauts. So it’s easy to see why you’re more likely to become a parent to triplets than to become the next person on the moon! 

 

The easiest jobs to get into

So, we know what jobs you’re unlikely to get into, but what jobs are you actually able to get into pretty easily? Here are the top five jobs you would have less competition for:

1. Teacher – odds of 1 in 41. You are nearly 25 times more likely to become a teacher than you are to crack an egg and get a double yolk!
2. Salesperson – odds of 1 in 43. You are nearly six times more likely to become a salesperson than to parent twins.
3. Builder – odds of 1 in 96. You’re 2.5 times more likely to become a builder than to die in a road accident.
4. Nurse – odds of 1 in 133. You are more than 16 times more likely to become a nurse than to win even 4 lottery numbers.
5. Software Engineer – odds of 1 in 144. You are 1.5 times more likely to become a software engineer than to date a millionaire.

 

Methodology 

Sources:

• UK Population – [https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates]
• Event Probabiliites – [https://www.lottery.co.uk/lotto/odds https://www.torro.org.uk/research/lightning/incidents https://www.finder.com/uk/find-out-your-odds-of-dying], [https://www.reproductivefacts.org/news-and-publications/patient-fact-sheets-and-booklets/documents/fact-sheets-and-info-booklets/multiple-pregnancy-and-birth-twins-triplets-and-high-order-multiples-booklet], [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16118149] 
• Job Data – [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35103788], [https://hypeauditor.com/top-youtube-all-united-kingdom/?p=8], [https://profilingtheprofession.org.uk/1-1-size-of-uk-archaeology/], [https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ISC-Annual-Report-2019%E2%80%932021.pdf], [https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/british-fashion-brexit-collapse-models-one-work-permits], [https://www.hcpc-uk.org/about-us/insights-and-data/the-register/registrant-snapshot-2021/registrant-snapshot—1-january-2021/], [https://biid.org.uk/news/how-many-interior-designers-are-there-uk], [https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/datasets/aps168/reports/employment-by-occupation?compare=K02000001]
• Astronaut Data – [https://www.statista.com/statistics/828915/number-of-stem-degrees-awarded-in-the-us-by-degree-level/], [https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/how-to-become-an-astronaut]

Data looking at the number of people in a range of popular occupations was collected from the NOMIS database. The number of people in each occupation was then divided by the total UK population (67081000), to give the probability of a randomly selected UK citizen of having that occupation. Where data for the job was unavailable, other sources were used.The number of UK channels with 500k+ subscribers were used to calculate the probability of becoming a youtuber. For spies, the number of employees in Mi5 and Mi6 were used. 

For astronauts, a masters degree in a STEM subject is required. The number of US college students achieving a masters degree in a STEM subject in 2020 was compared with the number of applicants for the 2021 astronaut class, and the number of people who were accepted into the class. The probability of entering the astronaut class after getting a masters degree in a STEM subject was then calculated.

After this, data looking at events with similar odds was pulled from different sources, and was then compared against the probabilities of achieving certain jobs. The odds of achieving certain jobs were also compared against the odds of achieving other related jobs.