The Path to Your Dream Job

From executive chef to chief financial officer, here are 20 enviable occupations and the job paths most statistically likely to lead you there

By Douglas MacMillan

You know what job you would love to have, but do you know what job will take you there? For many top positions, employers and headhunters are most likely to pluck candidates from one or two specific gateway jobs – posts where people have had a chance to demonstrate their abilities and prove they've acquired the skills they need to move up. The best way to identify the path to your future dream job? Ask dream jobbers where they were five years ago, and what they did to move on up.

That's where salary research site PayScale's (www.payscale.com) database of more than 10 million income profiles comes in handy. Each time people report their employment and salary information on the site, PayScale asks what position they held five years prior. Using this data, this BusinessWeek.com slide show identifies the one job path that’s statistically most likely to lead to each of 20 dream jobs, as well as some alternatives that have also paved the road to the promotion of a lifetime. (Median salaries throughout this slide show represent total cash compensation, which includes bonuses, profit sharing, and commission, but excludes equity and stock.)