The New Dream Jobs

Hashim Syed, former JP Morgan intern who moved on to have stints at Facebook and now Microsoft, explains why the best and brightest minds now dream of career in big tech as much as traditional industries.Hashim Syed

The new dream jobs will be hybrid, focused on doing good, and embedded in performance culture.

Bio

Hey everyone, My name is Hashim, or Hash for short.

I am 24 years old, born in London, grew up here & in The Hague, with strong cultural roots to Pakistan.

I work within Sales & Marketing, having previously been at Facebook, and now at Microsoft as a Client Partner Lead. I studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at The University of York, and initially pursued a career in banking with an internship at JP Morgan. However, it was my love for startups and technology that I discovered through building and leading a non-profit consultancy as a study, that led me to seek out a career in Tech!

Having given a TEDx talk a while back on ‘unlocking your inner leader’, I am passionate about all things growth, business, start-ups, performance culture and wellness.

Dream Jobs Are Glamorous

The battle for talent between ‘tech’ & ‘finance’ is real and live. In The UK, 2019 was the first year at London Business School where more graduates chose to pursue a career in the tech sector (28%) over finance (21%). Examining the qualitative insight, it’s not all about the money.Dream Jobs are glamorous. Gen Z & Millennials have blended work & life into one. ‘Work’ is now measured through empowered impact, wellness and perks. There is a heightened craving to find and own projects that have meaningful impact on results. To be building something new, or changing the fundamental nature of a given process.During the pandemic, the two big industries (Wall Street & Silicon Valley) have taken a divergent approach to managing employees. Wall Street has been bullish about the return to work, whereas Silicon Valley companies are handing out $2000 work from home bonuses and encouraging a hybrid working model. It is proven that increased well-being, and a strong sense of purpose correlates to higher productivity, better problem solving and increased collaboration.Tech companies have become synonymous with offering equity/share options to employees to make them feel included in the wider picture and protect retention. Given the positive link between mental and exercise, the pandemic has accelerated our demand for employer health insurance policies and wellbeing perks such as additional days off, resilience training and exercise packages.Traditional sectors will always continue to attract top talent. That is the power of the brand and value of the industry and learning. However, to be adreamyplace to work, these organisations will be challenged to adapt to new working environments and offer employees incentives and perks.

Dream jobs of the future will be in organisations focused on CSR.

2020 awoke our personal and social consciousness to a new level where we value social purpose, agility and wellness. Social purpose is a hot topic. Accused of being “too woke”, The Cone Communications Millennial Employee Study found that 64% of Millennials won’t take a job if their employee doesn’t have a strong CSR policy. Gen Z goes one step further, as a study by WeSpire found that Gen-Z is the first generation to prioritise purpose over salary.Given that Gen Z & Millennials will make up the majority of the global workforce in a few years, to attract and retain top talent, companies based in both Silicon Valley & Wall Street will be challenged to do more to unite society. One just needs to look at the mission statements of the leading Tech companies to see this.“Give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” - Facebook“Empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more” - Microsoft“Organise the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful” - GoogleThat is not to say that finance organisations headquartered on Wall Street are doing any less, it’s more because of the central position technology companies have at the heart of our daily lives, they are closely judged to ensure they are empowering the world.Whether that is through providing a platform for businesses to shift to e-commerce through digital payments and advertising, empowering work from home through cloud and communication software, or launching a VC fund to support BAME founders. The ‘new’ workforce will challenge companies to have a proactive response to the world around them and take a leading role.

Dream Jobs are embedded in Performance Culture

Performance culture is the lightning bolt of human capital management. Often associated with elite sport, its principles are applicable to the workplace. It is a set of behaviours embedded within an organisation that drives high performance across financial and non-financial results. Employees working in a high performance culture are motivated with the ‘why’ factor, and are empowered through to execution.Many wrongly associate performance culture with the word ‘sacrifice’. That is to give up your personal life, in pursuit of a professional reward. This can be a promotion, salary increase or title. Whilst there is no playing down that hard work and perseverance leads to success, employers will now be challenged to channel ‘wellness’ into performance. That is focussing on impact, sleeping, exercising and reflecting.In my view, dream jobs are those that empower employees with the ‘why’ are we here, and help them build personal association to the movement. Second, it’s doing less. We need to prioritise. Either companies will need to hire additional staff, or partner with employees to map out what work will drive the most impact. Finally it’s a shift in how we work. Exercising, meditating, reflecting and/or even having standing up meetings, to embrace a more mobile and agile way of working.In conclusion, dream jobs are purpose led .They embrace flexibility, and are embedded in a performance culture that focuses on people, wellness and impact.