Does your job fulfil you?

[ImABroccolii]

What do you all do for work? (Moreso what industry are you in?)

Do you find the job fulfilling, does it genuinely give you purpose?

I have an adult DS who has been working for a year after university. He enjoys the career and industry he's in, but is feeling a sense of emptiness after leaving education.

What does he do now? What would he choose to do if there was no financial imperative?

I was in a management position (nothing fancy) in a well known letter & parcel company pre-children. A few years out, did a degree, volunteered & now a secondary school TA & start teacher training next year. I love it, some days tough but lots of laughs & fun too. Wish I hadn’t put it off for so many years.

I'm a teacher. Fulfilling, but it's running me into the ground atm. I don't know how long I can carry on doing it full time. The workload is making me despair tbh.

Another teacher here. It is very fulfilling but I can only manage PT, the workload takes over my life if I work FT.

I'm a lower management civil servant and it's sucking the life out of me. So, tell him not the civil service 😑

I work for the NHS. Not clinical. I am proud to do so and I think my job is worthwhile. It's not quite the same as saying my job is fulfilling, but I'm not sure I would find any job fulfilling.

He works in a consultancy in an industry he'a passionate about. But I think he'd love to do a second masters degree. There's this specific course he just would have loved to do, but DH and I mistakenly discouraged him from doing that and suggested moving to a different city for his postgraduate degree.

I think he'd love to work at a university afterwards.

He was considering the civil service so I'll advise him against that now

That’s what he should work towards then. He’s probably got 40+ years of work ahead so taking a year to do another masters is nothing.

@ImABroccolii to be fair I've had civil service roles that I've enjoyed but by and large, especially in frontline operations, it's poorly paid and poorly appreciated. I'm based in N Ireland which is different to the civil service elsewhere but it's not a route I want my ds to go down.

I work for a housing association in an antisocial behaviour specialism. I have a manager level role.

I love it. I think working in social housing is an amazing career choice. People tend to fall into it, and then never leave. The variety of roles within a large housing association are varied.

I am a midwife and I genuinely love my job and get a lot of fulfilment from it. Yes it can be hard, stressful etc but I always leave after a shift with my heart full.

What was it like the first time you delivered a baby?

In these circumstances I often suggest a book called What Color is your Parachute? It has some really good exercises which make you think about exactly what skills you have, and which of them you enjoy using (which may not be the same).

I spent 20 years as a management consultant, eventually specialising in change and communications, but starting out with project turnaround (I.e. if a big project is way over budget/time, going in to help sort it out). Some of it was great fun, some of it was soul-destroying. Now, after redundancy and serious illness, I work managing charitable activities for a small but rich and philanthropic company, and I really enjoy most of it - and use my former skills far more than you might think.

I guess what I'm saying is that life is long, and if you're curious and open to trying new stuff, you may end up as a square peg in a square hole.

I work in financial services, director of a (small) national firm of financial advisers. I wfh full time, earn a fair wage, and have full autonomy - the business is small so yes, I know what needs to be done and I enjoy doing it under my own steam. I do find it fulfilling, probably because I'm not forced to meet arbitrary corporate standards and pander to the hierarchy in Big firms.

The weight of responsibility, however, is enormous. It occasionally threatens to overwhelm me, and there are times when I feel almost frozen with stress and anxiety.

But when the cause of the stress passes (and it usually does) I am filled with pride at surviving the challenge and motivated to face the next one.

I think brief spells of stress are good for us, it teaches us resilience and strength and keeps us motivated. But I certainly couldn't cope with it if it were relentless, daily. My job seems to have about the right balance.

@ImABroccolii surreal! It still completely fascinates me that a baby can be born vaginally.

I often get emotional at a birth (discretely) and it’s usually dads reactions that set me off!

I get the absolute most of of bereavement care and although it’s hard and terribly sad, I always go home knowing I made that families horrendous day that tiny bit more manageable and that I have made memories for that family with their baby.
I have candles for each stillborn baby I’ve cared for and I light them each evening.

It gives me so much pride to be a midwife.

NHS clinical and I think it'll be the death of me. No it does not fulfil me.

I work in peacekeeping and peacebuilding and find it very fulfilling. You probably do have to feel that trying has value and not only success, though.

I'm in the CS, and I love my role. Although it's a very specialised role where there are only 5 of us in 3 counties doing it, but it's very varied and exciting.

I’m a director in a huge corporate/ private healthcare company. Sometimes it’s satisfying and enjoyable, other times frustrating AF but it’s not particularly fulfilling. I do it because I find it mostly interesting and because I earn a decent salary. I often think about doing something else - I’m a charity trustee too and I think I’d be good at running a charity or managing charitable projects. I’d love to work for WHO or somewhere similar and perhaps retrain in public health. Problem is I don’t want to take a pay cut or have a gap in earnings whilst retraining!

I was a teacher and beyond unfulfilled, I was miserable! Crying every day, on anxiety medication etc. I now have my own small business and feel like I genuinely WANT to do it, even if I didn’t need the money.

The problem is my business doesn’t really make enough money no matter how hard I try and I’m kind of trying harder and harder rather than admitting defeat with it 🤦🏻‍♀️ I still think being fulfilled is more important than money though because if I died tomorrow I would be so glad I left my job when I did (even if I’m skint)!

Management position on the operations side in a large multinational.
It's not fulfilling but I have a great work life balance and decent salary so happy to stay at it for now.

I work as a resident doctor in Psychiatry and I find my job so fulfilling (when I am able to support patients). I work 60% which is very very unusual for a resident doctor. I think working LTFT helps me appreciate my job role more.

The underfunding of the NHS really hurts but overall I love my job.

Is this about his job or his life generally, do you think? I work for HMRC, and I mostly enjoy it, particularly the other people, but work isn’t the centre of my life. I would say I look for fulfilment in life more through other things, eg as a mother, leisure activities, voluntary work, relationships with other people - I got a new cat 2 months ago and he’s definitely a real source of happiness.
I know your DS is at a different stage of life, but maybe he’s expecting too much from work.

Cost control. I used to love it when I worked on sites around the world and we made the site team a family. Hate working in corporate, working from home at the moment and it’s for the money. Wish I could undo the last 10years and have fulfilled my dream. Ah well