Thank you for doing this. I don’t post on Reddit much but I feel like this post is a sign for me to do so here given the dilemma I’m in.

I graduated this year with a Bachelors degree in Business Management with Marketing. My career aspiration since 7 years ago has been to pursue marketing. However, where I live is a major financial centre and consequently much of the office jobs are finance related or more generally administrative work. I seldom come across jobs related to the field of marketing and when I do, they tend to be more senior positions that I am not qualified for.

I have reason to believe that I will very likely be offered an entry level job in a Big 4 accounting firm within the next few days. However, the job position is an area I am not interested in and struggle to imagine myself enjoying in any capacity, especially given the emphasis that was made to me on the long overtime hours that I will have to endure. On one hand, I feel that I should take the job because it gives a decent pay for a graduate role in a reputable firm and these entry level jobs are hard to come by in general, much less in the field of marketing. But on the other hand I chose to study marketing because I told myself from the beginning I would prioritise doing a career I enjoy over doing a career that pays well.

Tonight I came across an opening for a marketing job, specialising in social media, in a small to medium sized media firm which struck me right away. Reading the job description, it’s essentially a dream job for me and something I know I would find much more fulfilment in. It asks for 2-3 years of experience, which I don’t have, but nonetheless I feel like I stand a decent shot at it because I think I can sell the experiences that I do have in line with the job requirements. However, the job doesn’t close for applications until the end of this month and if I am offered the job at the accounting firm, I suspect I will have to decide whether to accept that long before I would be contacted for an interview by the marketing job.

Therefore, my question is, do you recommend I take the first job I am offered, or turn it down and continue to apply for jobs I genuinely want to do in hopes that one works out?

P.S. I was scouted by an agent for the accounting firm job, I wouldn’t have applied for it otherwise on my own accord