With the right mindset, an entry-level role can fulfill you just as much as your dream job, says Indeed CEO Chris Hyams.

Much of his career path was shaped by a piece of advice from his maternal grandfather George Spota, Hyams says: "Every job is the most important job in the world, and you should treat every job as if it's the most important job in the world."

Hyams took an unconventional path to his current CEO role, which he's held since 2019. Along the way, he gave each job the same effort, dedication and "love," he says. It's what his grandfather preached: Spota had a successful career as a writer, producer and talent manager, working with entertainment professionals like Carol Burnett and Jonathan Winters.

After graduating college, Hyams worked with young addicts and alcoholics in a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital. He later moved to Vermont and couldn't find another role in the recovery industry, so he spent two years teaching special education at a public high school, he says.

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He tried multiple other jobs, too. He worked full-time at his grandpa's small production business while being a drummer in five bands on the side. "Tried to become a rockstar. Failed. Would do it all over again," Hyams' LinkedIn profile currently reads.

He went back to school, getting a master's degree in computer science, and worked as a software developer at a tech company called Trilogy — where he rose to become vice president of product development, according to his LinkedIn profile. He launched and shuttered a tech startup before landing another VP role at Indeed in 2010.

"[My grandfather] told my brothers and I, at a very young age, that work is a sacred thing ... It's more than a paycheck," Hyams says. "It's where you find meaning and purpose in your life ... It doesn't matter if you're an astronaut or sweeping the floor at NASA. [Work] is where we get pride and dignity."

On the surface, Hyams' career journey is scattered, but there's a connective thread, he says: a "desire to be useful and helpful." This kind of outlook — following your purpose instead of a set career plan — is how people truly find their dream job, according to bestselling author and millionaire entrepreneur Seth Godin.

Godin never followed a career path, he told LinkedIn's "The Path" newsletter in 2023. His advice: Continually pursue decisions that make you happy, instead of following a preset career plan that may or may not eventually lead to a dream job.

Your choices may not always work out how you expect, but you'll learn enough from any failures to eventually succeed, Godin added.

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