The tendency for folks to lapse into daydreams about their ideal job is relatively strong. Many people think about what they’d really like to be doing, and some people tentatively start to explore the concept of how to go about switching jobs. One method of exploration is to take what is called a vocation vacation. This is when people take an actual vacation to go work and learn about a dream job. They pay for this pleasure but may find out whether the reality lives up to the dream and could find resources to really make a career change.
Most often, Brian Kurth is credited with developing this concept in the early 2000s and beginning the Vocation Vacations® company. His company has offered an increasing number of specialized vacations where people can explore the job they’d really like to have. Each vocation vacation is taken with experts in the area of work a person would like to pursue and cost can range on these from a couple of thousand US Dollars (USD) down to less than a thousand USD, depending on the extent and location of the vocation involved. Other companies may exist that offer these dream job getaways too, but Kurth’s is the original and best known.
There are many potential vocation vacation options to explore through Kurth’s and other’s companies. People can become veterinarians for a few weeks or learn how to write scripts. Many people choose to explore acting and others may help run a bed and breakfast, make wine, captain a boat, farm for oysters, run alpaca ranches, or compose symphonies.
Clearly, some vocation vacation packages will probably best appeal to people with certain talents already. Becoming a composer might suggest being familiar with reading music, and a person who wants to be a singer should be able to carry a tune. Lots of folks daydream about another profession because they do have talents in that direction already, and have just ignored or never explored them because they chose to do other work.
A vocation vacation doesn’t necessarily mean people get jobs in their dream job field. Some people find they really don’t care for the dream job when practiced in reality. Others do make the jump to new work or they could continue to explore changing jobs by taking more than one of these vacations to determine the best new career. People can also become mentors for these vacation companies, and train others on vacations to do many different kinds of work.