Talk me down please - remind me why this is a good job...

[dailyshite]

I teach on a health based course and sort out placements, my workload is ridiculous and (like everyone) spills out into homelife a lot. I've had enough of it, it's never ending, the stuff I want to do on a more strategic level (which would actually make a difference as opposed to dealing with admin cock ups) is totally impossible as I don't have any time to do this.

No one wants to take students because they are stressed / stretched. Students make demands which are unrealistic but have to be managed with kid gloves for various reasons. I'm covering a lot of other staff absence.

I've had enough and I want to go back to clinical work. I'm in the middle of a course (outside of work) which will give me more opportunities to work privately but I spent the last few days looking for clinical jobs online. Rationally I know this is not a good time to move (and would involve a big pay drop), but I keep coming back to feeling really angry and overwhelmed with my current job. I used to love it and be really good at it but the demands from the university have made it completely untenable and I don't want to waste my life feeling tired and ill.

Talk me down - I need to make it through another semester before I do anything!

[DoctorGilbertson]

Can you afford to give up your current job? Have you been in post long enough for it to look OK on your CV? Will leaving mean that you lose out on future opportunities.

If you know you don't want to be in post for ever, and are confident that you can find an alternative that will suit you better, and you can't see a way of improving the current role, then yes I would give notice.

On the other hand, jobs are not as secure as they once were, Brexit is a looming threat and you may have a mortgage.

But if you can take the financial risk then don't stay in a job that is bad for your health. Not worth it.

[dailyshite]

Sadly not, 5 years left on the mortgage!

I've been there a good while so no CV issues at all and kept my hand in with volunteering with various groups so potential future employers can see that my heart lies in working with vulnerable people.

I know that the sensible approach is to see another semester through (for a number of reasons), I think I just need to remember what I used to enjoy about the job to get me through it!

Ironically I just looked for the staff support page on the intranet and what I found was an offer from the HEI to offer staff support to other organisations rather than support their own staff!

(too many supports and staffs in that sentence!)

[damekindness]

I feel the pain - I'm in a similar dept and know exactly what you mean. Doing ever more with increasingly less while having to keep an ever expanding range of stakeholders on side. It's only going to get worse as the Auger Report is likely to herald further and deeper funding cuts in HE

I think I've been out of clinical work too long to have the will or financial ability to get back into clinical work at the level I'd have to go back to. Though l do fantasise about a work life that doesn't bleed so much into my home life - going home after a shift and leaving it all behind sounds fantastic.

But I'm also careful to consider the relative benefits of the academic role - autonomy, flexibility and a reasonable pay packet. So for me that just about tips the balance - and the very physical challenges of working 12 hour clinical shifts as I head towards retirement!

[nakedscientist]

I'd love to retire. But have maybe 15 years to go!

I am aware of the benefits of academic life but I also feel my life forces being squeezed out.