‘Cypriots are not ambitious’
Few of us are doing what we wanted to as children, especially in Cyprus.
The passions we had when we were kids rarely translate into a sustainable job. And, on this island, parents often dictate their children’s careers. According to one study, just four per cent of adults have made their childhood dream job a reality – though almost three quarters of them wish they had.
Depending on your age, that dream may have varied. Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), often imagined being astronauts, inspired by the space race. Generation X (1965-1980) often hoped to become pilots or lawyers or marine biologists, heavily influenced by films such as Top Gun and A Few Good Men and Free Willy.
Millennials (1981-1996), encouraged by the age of reality TV, wanted to be entrepreneurs or actors. And Generation Z (1997-2012), who are just now entering the workplace, likely fantasised about becoming TikTokkers or video game developers.
What’s doubtful is that any of us grew up dreaming of a job in telemarketing or office management; no six-year-old sits around imagining a future in customer service or data entry! The only exception to the rule seems to be teachers and lawyers: often a family vocation, many of those who dream of a job in law or education actually make it a reality in later life.
“My gran, my mum, my dad, and three of my aunts were teachers,” says 33-year-old English educator Anna Pantelides. “Education is in my blood, and I love it because I get to make a difference in students’ lives every day, just like my family did.”
But what of the rest of us? Are we unhappy in our jobs?
If we are, there will be signs. Perhaps we get anxious every Sunday evening, or we’re tired throughout the week. Maybe we’re finding you just don’t try as hard as you used to, or are having trouble focusing on our work. In the worst-case scenario, job stress might be causing physical ailments: aches and pains that spring from nowhere but disappear when we’re on holiday.
Interestingly, the European Data Journalism Network suggests that 61 per cent of people in Cyprus is actually happy in their work – one of the highest figures on the continent, and up nearly 20 per cent from 2017. That’s a drastic increase in the space of just a few years.
“But there’s a reason for this shift,” says Katerina Andreou, founder and owner of Nicosia-based recruitment agency HR Innovate.
“In the last five to 10 years, a new generation has entered the Cyprus workplace. They don’t put duty and responsibility above all else; they don’t believe in following the herd or pleasing their parents. Cypriots are not ambitious in the same way anymore.
“Growing up, this is a generation that was told they could have a job for life, just like their parents,” she explains. “Then the banks collapsed; the government let them down; there was a pandemic of sci-fi proportions. And suddenly, we’ve got an entire generation who won’t take the first job they’re offered; won’t put up with workplace abuse or a toxic atmosphere.
“Instead, they’re looking for a fulfilling career. They’re seeking jobs that allow them to travel, to work remotely, to make a difference. They’re taking full advantage of the post-Covid era to explore what they’re good at. And they can – because for the first time in decades, we’re seeing more vacancies than candidates.”
Even older people are picking up on this trend, Katerina adds.
“We’re seeing a lot of C Suite executives quitting their careers to chase their passions – taking on jobs that, for the first time in their lives, actually make them happy.”
Research suggests that the factors that make us unhappy at work include a lack of recognition, provide little independence, create stressful environments, discourage interpersonal relationships, and fail to provide a sense of purpose.
Conversely, jobs that make us happy deliver a sense of accomplishment, provide a certain amount of autonomy, offer positive reinforcement, foster good relationships with co-workers, and create a sense of pride. Jobs where we feel heard, seen, appreciated and have room to grow make us feel good.
And that, primarily, is what new recruits are after. They don’t care about promotion (earlier this year tech giant Dell told remote employees that those who didn’t return to in-house work would not be eligible for advancement. Nobody cared. Over half the staff preferred the autonomy of remote work to the potential of promotion!)
And they’re not that bothered by pay, even with the island’s notoriously low salaries. Everyone, it transpires, has a set level of happiness at which they operate. Once you have the basics, anything above and beyond doesn’t make you happier – in work or life.
In Cyprus, the best-paid positions include CEOs, IT directors and financial managers. The worst-paid jobs include kindergarten teacher, counsellor and social worker.
But research suggests that, despite the low salary, many of these low-paid positions are highly fulfilling. Employment giant Indeed.com has kindergarten teacher listed as the job with the highest level of satisfaction.
“I won’t make a fortune,” smiles Simi Georgiou, a kindergarten teacher from Limassol, “but I feel like what I’m doing is meaningful. And that’s the most important thing to me. It may be exhausting, but every day is different and you never get bored!”
“We spend a third of our lives at work,” Katerina concludes. “So, it’s a huge factor in our overall happiness. In the recruitment sector, we’re seeing a clear trend: those who are truly happy at work are the people who are doing exactly what they always wanted to.
“And often, these aren’t the people with the penthouse in Limassol, the flashiest Mercedes, or the dynamic social life. Instead, they’re the people whose families support their desire to follow their passions.
“If you want to find a job that makes you happy, do what you wanted to do when you were a kid!”