Job specific misconceptions which persist

[housemdwaswrong]

An acknowledgement to @whatusernameshallihavenow for totally ripping about their thread for general misconceptions that persist. I've tried linking to the thread but I can't. Sorry.

I wondered which job specific myths there were (and hopefully thus avoiding brexit or covid).

Proofreader: You don't need any training as it's just checking spelling.

In my past life supply-teaching: supply teachers get paid more than 'proper' teachers. Prevalent view around here. I never, never understood it (or was working for the wrong agencies).

@akerman

That university lecturers do nothing in vacations. Same for teachers in schools.

Or that they go home at 3pm 😂 that's whe the work really starts!

@LovingCountryLife that's very good. Is that usual? or is it similar to the small % of lawyers that earn millions?

That public sector pay rises are direct percentages of salaries. This is not true and is not even understood by lots of people working in the public sector.

A 1.5% pay rise is 1.5% of the department's pay budget. This determined how much money they have to spend. This is then parcelled up to address management committee priorities - this can mean that if they want to retain relatively senior graded staff with lots of experience but don't mind churn at lower grades, then the money can be weighted towards the higher grades to encourage them to stay, at the expense of lower grades, so a grade 6 (grade below senior civil servant) could potentially get more than 1.5% of their salary and an AO (lowest grade) may only get 0.5%.

It can also be given as a flat rate pay increase so, for example, everyone gets £500. More of a % pay rise for someone earning £19k than someone earning £49k. It isn't a flat % on top of everyone's existing salaries.

I've worked in both the private sector and the public sector and my private sector pension was considerably better than the one I have now working in the public sector. And my maternity pay was better too (although that's not personally relevant to me because I haven't taken and won't be taking maternity leave in my public sector job because I'm older now).

Or, to put it differently, there is a wide range of terms and conditions within private sector employment and public sector employment, and it's not as simple as saying 'the private sector has this' and 'the public sector has that'.

Re teachers
My DB is one & earns 60k which I've being accused of lying about when I posted on here. His partner earns 87k as a deputy head. They do work over the holidays but not excessively so. I think a lot depends on the school.

That all solicitors are well paid.

Re high salaries same true for accountants i think. Some earn 50k even in London & then some earn ££££.

That everyone who works in an investment bank earns ££££ & gets a mega bonus.

[quote gongy]@LovingCountryLife that's very good. Is that usual? or is it similar to the small % of lawyers that earn millions? [/quote]
For City based/Mayfair based senior EAs who work in finance for the top bods, who are well established, and work 1-1 with long hours and a lot of responsibility, I would say my package is not unusual.

However, there are disparities between industries and location. A London based PA who works for say a marketing firm for a team would expect to earn c £45-50k with a bonus of around £10k. (She would probably have a lot of fun and go to lots of glamorous parties while I'm stuck in a grey office...) and a home counties based PA would earn around £30k but would most likely have more of a 'traditional' 9-5 PA role.

As a PP said, that hospitality is easy.

Most people only last a few months. You need to be intelligent, organised, have a high tolerance for dickheads, be able to think on your feet. You need an excellent memory. And you have to do it all with a smile on your face for up to 12hrs a day, 48hrs a week, for not much more than min wage.

Two of my colleagues are doing master’s degrees and another two speak several languages. It’s certainly not a job for stupid people.

@hopeishere

Teachers I assume get paid in the holidays because whatever they are paid is spread over 12 months. Does that mean if you see a teaching post advertised that you need to pro-rata it?

No because teacher pay is determined by the point on offer on the salary scales. You only need to pro rata if it is part time.

That your school experiences make you an expert on current educational practices and problems.

Anyone in IT can immediately solve your Smartphone issues without having to see it or know which model it is. Likewise games console issues, your home broadband & WiFi problems and why your laptop is running slow. They will be delighted to deal with these queries ahead of any other work they may have on hand because they really don’t have that much to do.
Worth ringing them direct at home on Christmas Morning when you’ve forgotten to get batteries to go with your kid’s toys because “Computers use batteries, don’t they?”

That if you like ‘working with people’ you’ll do great in a job in HR...

@Purplecatshopaholic

That if you like ‘working with people’ you’ll do great in a job in HR...

I'd have thought that thinking the worst of people was the bare minimum for working in HR

That if you like ‘working with people’ you’ll do great in a job in HR...

This ^

If you’re going to work in HR you have to be prepared that people won’t always like you very much.

I also sometimes find that people think HR are there to be general dogs bodies and pick up all the extra admin/housekeeping work. Um, no, I’m very busy, sort out your own cake sale thanks. I assume it’s because we’re mostly women.

DH is a solicitor and the main misconception of his job that I’ve noticed is that people assume all solicitors know all of the law. His job (like most solicitors) is quite specialised, yet he gets family and friends constantly phoning up for advice on such a huge range of things, expecting him to be an expert in divorce law, property law, criminal law, intellectual property, etc. They’re always quite surprised when he has to say he can’t advise and to contact a specialist.

That Health Visitors are a bunch of badly trained busy bodies who don't know what they're doing and aren't proper health professionals

All HVs are qualified nurses or midwives (sometimes both!) first of all. We then have further specialist public health nursing degrees or post grad diplomas to work as HVs. We're all registered as specialist nurses and have to maintain our core nursing/midwifery registration alongside our HV registration. Many of us are independent prescribers aswell. We go through blood sweat and tears to become nurses and midwives before even getting to the point where we can train as HVs.
We work autonomously covering caseloads of hundreds of families, and often may be the only health professional engaged with a family. We identify post natal depression, developmental delay, safeguarding concerns, domestic violence, vulnerable and isolated families, and sometimes we are the ones to notice signs of serious underlying illness. Most of the homes we go in to we go in to alone and with little clue as to what is behind the front door.
Despite all this HVs continue to get an absolute slating on MN!

@Persistentenquirer I’m always surprised at how badly slated HVs are on MN. I really valued my HV after DD was born, she was the only person who was focused on my health and recovery as much as on DD.

When my second child was born, my 'health visitor' actually turned out to be a health visiting assistant, not a qualified health visitor or nurse at all. She was perfectly nice I'm not actually complaining about her. But I think there was fault with my local health trust for verbally referring to my health visitor in all our interaction when in actual fact no health visitor had seen me or my baby at all. I was on a health visitor's caseload for paperwork purposes, but the visits were delegated to the assistant. Obviously I could have accosted her on her first visit and demanded evidence of her qualifications but I think it's fair to say that when someone arrives on your doorstep and introduces themselves are your health visitor you just assume they actually are one.

Presumably if she had had concerns about my ability to parent or my baby's health she would have referred it on to the actual health visitor.

I think it is cost cutting measures like this that get health visitors, dieticians etc a bad name. A lot of patient interaction can be with the assistant who whilst perfectly competent at what they are doing, are not professionally qualified.

Oh @PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle YES! A thousand times yes.
"I'm an avid reader"
"Wow this place is wonderful, you must spend all your time reading"
Etc etc etc

Please look at the job spec!

And just to clarify, I'm not bashing health visitors. The health visitor I had with my first child was fantastic and very knowledgeable. And the health visiting assistant with my second was perfectly nice.

That social workers don't do anything anyone else can't do; I get so sick of teachers, police officers, nurses etc saying that they do the job of a social worker alongside their own. You don't and it's just daft, please stop.

Despite all this HVs continue to get an absolute slating on MN!

I think that's mostly due to HVs entering your life at a time when you are vulnerable, exhausted, dealing with enormous change and constantly feeling inadequate: if you have had a poor experience with a HV you will remember it.

Mental health nurses just play pool and drink tea / coffee (no paperwork, no medication, no training etc etc)