Four out of five people job seekers believe in the concept of a dream job, with more than half of claiming to have known what their dream job was when they were a child, according to a candidate survey by Matrix Recruitment.

However, two-thirds of the 800 respondents in the survey expressed regret at not chasing their dream job, with almost a quarter believing a lack of confidence prevented them from doing so.

Of those affected by low confidence, 83% are women.

"Our experience supports the findings and while things are changing, it’s really disheartening to witness the apprehension still felt by many women, particularly if applying for senior roles for which they are clearly qualified," said Matrix's Recruitment's Joanne Foley.

"Lack of confidence is caused by personal experiences, such as being overlooked for a role previously, being paid less than a male colleague in a similar role or returning to the workforce following a career break to raise a family.

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"Such factors can impede a person’s view of what they are capable of, and this is something that needs to change.”

Half the job candidates polled by Matrix have fallen out of love with their job in the past 12 months, with disillusioned workers either feeling stuck in a rut (48%), wanting a job with more flexibility (32%), or feeling they're not being paid enough (37%).

Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Office published the third and final publication on the results of the Personal and Work-Life Balance Survey, which was carried out in Quarter 3 2021.

The CSO research found that four in ten  employees had been remote working at some stage during the pandemic.

Professionals had the highest level of uptake of remote working (63%), followed by managers, directors and senior officials. Only 1% of skilled trade workers benefited from remote working.

At an overall level, full-time workers are nearly twice as likely to work remotely – 43% compared with 22% of their part-time equivalent. As the size of the organisation increases, so too does the uptake of remote working amongst full-time workers.

Of those working remotely last autumn, four in ten had worked off-site most of the previous four weeks. Of these, nearly four in five worked completely from home, compared with just over 2% pre Covid-19.

Most workers in large organisations were still largely remote working – just one in eleven (9%) were not remote working in the 4 weeks prior to interview, compared with more than four in ten of workers in organisations of between 20 and 99 personnel.

CSO statistician Maureen Delamere commented: “Very high job and life satisfaction levels were reported by workers irrespective of working arrangements, with very little difference in satisfaction levels based on what type of hybrid working was availed of.

“Workers who were working mostly from home with a mix of office, hub or travel or remote working completely at home were most satisfied with both their job and life as a whole.”

Work-life balance

Other research conducted by Kellogg, which has its European HQ at Dublin Airport, has found that employees are now looking for greater work-life balance.

In research of 1,000 job seekers conducted with jobs website Indeed, nine out of ten candidates said they would like to work for an employer who supports and encourages work-life balance.

Four out of ten respondents said they would be unlikely to take a job with a company that did not have a flexible or hybrid working policy in place.

Half the candidates are of the view that working remotely on a full-time basis would have a detrimental impact on their career progression, with men being more concerned about this factor than women.

When it comes to choosing an employer, 50% would forfeit flexible working in favour of a higher salary. The top five benefits people look for from a potential employer are flexible working, a good pension scheme, bonuses, health insurance, and professional development.

Sinead Colins, HR Director at Kellogg Europe, commented: “What is interesting about the research is that while flexible working is very much top of mind for people now, there is a nervousness that this will somehow impact career progression.

“I think the onus is on employers to build flexible working models that support progression across the board and allow people to work in the environment that they find most productive.

“Other interesting points include the priority that was placed on gender equality and community engagement by respondents.”

(Pic: Getty Images)