What is your steady, secure and fairly paid job?

[NW2SW]

There are loads of careers out there that I’ve never heard of. Possibly not the most exciting on paper, but in reality offer job satisfaction, fairly paid and life balance. What are they?

I’m approaching mid 30s, earning £40k in digital marketing and I hate it. Between the constant imposter syndrome, toxic work places, unrewarding work and very few hard skills - I just cannot see myself sticking this out for another 30 years.

I’m happy to retrain, so long as it’s possible part time and isn’t massively pricey. I have a BA/MA related to my current job, so I’m not looking for another degree. I’d like to keep as much of my salary as possible, or at least know I can progress back to it fairly quickly.

Some of the careers that I’m looking into are; dental hygienist, mortgage broker, archivist...

I know the golden ticket atm is to learn to code, but I just don’t think that’s what I’m looking for. I sit chained to a computer all day as it is.

Trying to think of things that will always be needed but don't need a whole new degree...

Probation service?
Payroll and HR?

Well, mine’s secure, steady and fairly paid. Job satisfaction is varied and work-life balance can be non-existent. I teach.

Honestly don't think I'm good enough to be a children's teacher. I would consider lecturing but I don't have a PhD

I don't have one but my husband's is. He's an academic librarian. At least over here in the States you only need a Master's for a terminal library degree. Maybe it's the same way there?

I dont know what you consider to be a decent enough salary for you to move on to but there are several departments you could move into in local government which have roles that you would not need to gain extra qualifications to do but that would earn you in the 22 (bottom of scale) moving to 30k (top of scale) and with decent promotion opportunities. You could consider revenues and benefit, housing, planning, licensing or environmental health which all have roles which would be varied doing administration without needing additional qualifications but could go on to gain them via the council.

I'm a tax advisor.

Training salary of 20kish, qualify in three years and doubled to 40kish.

OP, I only say this because I struggle with the same, but I think you may benefit from addressing the imposter syndrome before you move forward

Have a look at chunkier communications roles within bigger companies.

Digital marketing and internal communications go hand in hand; sometimes sit under marketing but normally under HR, as part of the internal branding / PR for the company to be attractive.

Something like this:
www.totaljobs.com/job/communications-professional/adient-job90766994

I also agree with PP that you need to delve a bit deeper into your imposter syndrome. There’s some brilliant TED talks on it and if you can afford, a decent business coach would get to the bottom of it too.

I thought I needed to code, but companies will employ coders simply to do that and write specific instructions based on need.

I'm in forensics and every police force had their own labs. With your digital background you could get in pretty easily I'd say.
Growing area (mine is still recruiting) and considered key workers as we support law enforcement. Excellent leave, pension etc...

Civil service, scope to move around, ive done some really interesting stuff and it's reliable. Pay is ok but not terrific. However I am looking to retrain and your point about having few 'hard skills' struck a chord as that's what I feel I am lacking too.

What about a corporate function, HR, accounts, facilities, procurement etc? I don't think you would necessarily need a specific degree to get in (obviously at the appropriate level, not senior management straight away) but it would be quite specialist and very transferable between organisations.

If "steady and secure" is a significant factor in the choice IMHO I'd say be wary of the corporate world, certainly at the moment - there's a chill wind blowing and certainly some big companies have downsized (if they haven't already "offshored") significant portions of the likes of accounts, payroll, HR, and procurement. ..and yes, even significant elements of IT..

@WhereIsTheSaladDoris Internal Comms is actually on my list I think the more people (over profit) focussed aspect would be enjoyable, I actually have a vague Comms title now only it's B2C. I've tried applying to a few but got nowhere. Not sure if it's my CV or it'll there's a qualification I should look into.

@LeslieYep I have watched every episode of CSI - born ready!

Seriously this sounds great, but I have no idea where I would even find a job like this.

Im a veterinary nurse, about to qualify at 50! Its steady secure on the job training, its tough job and shit pay

HR, hmmm - I'm not sure I could handle the good cop/bad cop and internal politics.

Although I'm really not a sales person I am considering if I could hack marketing recruitment. Ironically, I really enjoy helping friends and family with job hunts - offering support, CV writing, interview advice etc.

@NW2SW go on police recruitment websites. Handy for moving around the UK if you want to, but obviously a difficult job to move internationally because of security issues.

As a pp said civil service pay isn't amazing, but there's scope for promotion and tbh, the annual leave, mat leave, pension (they contribute over 25%) and general chilled attitude balances that. Home working is difficult due to the nature of the role but Flexi time is fab and I've been able to go part time in the past, compressed hours etc. Generally just really flexible.

If I want tomorrow off, I can usually have it. I'm not a manager, just come in, do work, go home.

I'm in University administration & earn around £50k, I enjoy my job, it interests me, I have nice colleagues. Universities all have a communications & marketing department where you could look for a steady job, probably starting at around £25-30k and work your way up to £40-50k in a few years pretty easily.

How about transferring your skills to the public sector? Fairly stable and well paid (at least transparent pay structure). I'm a manager in the NHS.

I'm a criminal investigator into Organised Crime. Not Police but Govt dept. So civil service. Well paid, super child friendly (CS not my specific role as requires getting up a stupid O'clock for briefings on Operation/Arrest days)... got into it via admin officer role in the tax office.. then just moved within the CS . They advertise internally first so always get the pick.

When kids were small do term time only, Now work compressed hours full time and don't work Fridays. Work from home (except arrest days obviously) £45k .

Try looking on www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk - you could go into an internal comms to start with (there are plenty within your current salary range that I can see though may depend on where you're based). Once in you could look into moving into any other areas that capture your interest

I'm in Internal Comms for an energy company. Safe, secure, never boring and very well paid.

Bah, sorry pressed send before finishing.

It would be an easy transition from Digital Marketing to Comms/Public Relations.

Yes, agree with others re potentially making use of your marketing skills in another environment instead of starting again from scratch. I’m another one in HE on £50k (well I’m part time; that’s the full time equivalent). Higher Ed obviously a bit of a nightmare right now due to covid but a lot of industries are..

@IamTomHanks as someone in IC what do you look for on a CV? I'm in an area of the country with a lot of similar industry to yours. Is there a qualification, would you expect someone to sidestep straight into a management role or is it a case of starting from the bottom again?