I like neither of my options. Which do I take?

[justonemorego]

I work in a low paid job, part-time job with no hope of pay progression or promotion. The job is a permanent job but insecure due to its dependence on external factors. I had hoped the job would be a good development opportunity and would help me to move onto a better job elsewhere, but it has not worked out like that. I don’t feel I am learning anything in this job, though this may improve as Senior manager has just started to mentor me.

The job is quite low stress most of the time, and extremely flexible and I like my colleagues. I have junior school age children and I can work pretty much when I want and I work half my normal hours in the school holidays. I love this.
The bit of my life I like!

I also want to leave my husband but realistically cannot until I have a better job.
I am 50.

I have been offered an interview for a job I do not want. However the FTE pay starts at £2k more than my current pay and will raise to £6k more than that. It is a secure job with a good pension. I started off working in this sector 30 years ago and didn’t like it. I have no interest in the field the work is in. Although there is a part of this job I would like better than the other bits (though more if I could apply this particular skill in a different field). Overall, my heart sinks at the thought of doing this job, and I would find it depressing and, within myself, humiliating to go into this work again. I could not progress in this sector as I have not real aptitude or interest in it.

I have been trying to get another job for about two years with no success.

I also struggle to get everything done even working part-time and the house is a tip. However, I do have hobbies I go to and get plenty of sleep, and love the extra time I get with my children through flexible working. I just feel like my life will be more secure but even more miserable if I get this job, as the time and energy for the only bits of my life I like will disappear, as working in a job I hate dominates my time. I have to work hard at keeping my mental health up and worry I will not be able to do this in this new job. But then if I don’t take the job if offered, I am stuck in an insecure situation, facing a difficult old age and worry that I will never be able to afford to leave H.

I feel like I SHOULD take the job if offered but don’t want to.

So do I take up the job interview?

Stay in the same job and make a doctors appointment, you could be depressed.

What are you more unhappy about? Doing a job your heart isn't it in, or living with your dh?

Others are right - these are two separate unrelated things. You've tied the two together, made one dependent on the other.

Frankly, doing a dull job in order to be free of an unhappy marriage is easily a price worth paying surely. You and your dcs will have more financial security to boot.

The FTE is £2,000 per year more and rises to £6,000? Presumably that would be pro-ratad for part time hours, and would it affect any benefits or tax credits etc?

In short, no, I would not make my working life much more miserable for that money.

I understand wanting to improve your income and job security but this is not the route I'd take to do it. Realistically you could make close to £2,000 per year from monetising a hobby, doing surveys, decluttering and selling some bits from the house etc. I get that it's longer term gain but it's not worth it to me.

Being miserable in a job affects your whole life and your well-being enormously. Keep looking for something more secure and better paid.

Good luck.