After polling more than 4,000 singles, It's Just Lunch discovered that nearly 70% of professional singles preferred dating someone outside their industry completely rather than dating someone in a similar profession or position as themselves (10%), or someone with different position but in a similar line of work (10%), or someone in the same industry regardless of title or profession (10%).
Despite the fact that more than 2,800 singles agreed they’d prefer dating someone in a completely different industry than themselves, every relationship comes with its own unique set of challenges relative to the two people in a relationship together.
In Your Same Field of Expertise
Dating someone in the same profession can be a lot of fun, granted. It can bring the two of you together in an intimately close way that wouldn't be possible had you been working in completely different fields. You are able to share the same frustrations, the same work woes and you might even have quite a few colleagues in common. However, the novelty of it all may wear out sooner rather than later if you don’t have anything else in common besides your job. It will feel like your are surrounded by the office, even when you are no where near it.
This can also lead to unhealthy competition, especially if even just one of you is the really competitive type. You might find yourselves in a secret contest over who can outdo each other or get promoted faster within their respective organization. This can ultimately lead to heated arguments based from feelings of insecurity and unchecked resentment.
Dating Outside Your Profession
On the flip side, dating someone who works in a very different field can be just as exhilarating, giving you a glimpse into a whole new world outside your realm. A real estate agent dating someone in law enforcement is going to see that profession in a whole new light just like a marketing executive dating someone in the medical field is going to see health field from a very unique perspective. From this perspective, you’d feel like as an outsider looking in, but through the lens of an insider.
Dating someone in a different industry can bring fresh and new conversation to the table, creating a more interesting and stimulating dialogue. While sharing different careers can make things exciting, it can also be hard to understand where your partner is coming from at times, especially when you know so little about her field of work making it all the more challenging to relate to her and help her with frustrations at work. This can create a lot of misunderstandings if neither party feels comfortable communicating their needs to each other.
The key takeaway here is that any relationship can work with if you have the ability to empathize with your partner and put yourself in their shoes, even if only for a moment in time. The more you communicate how you really feel about this here or that there to your partner, the easier it will become to understand where each of you are coming from during moments of potential or actual conflict.
Remember, your career is just a small part of what makes you unique. Don't boil your relationship down to just one aspect of it.
A professional with an MBA, this curvy lady (30s) enjoys the finer things of life, such as theatre, dancing, travel & wine tasting. Fond of the great outdoors, you can find her camping or hiking Maritime trails. Movies, music & dogs hold a special spot in her heart. She's searching for an educated, professional man in his 40s who loves to travel & hopes to have a family one day.