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.

Probably not a job for your son but I am a midwife and absolute job fulfillment. I leave work feeling like I have made a difference. I saw a lady today in clinic and when she saw me she whipped out a photo of my holding her 2 year old who was there that I assisted her to to birth and she was praising me and how much she remembers. We recreated the picture today! Moments like that make me tear up and make me feel so grateful. Days where I genuinely feel I have contributed to saving someone's life give such a purpose.

I had a fairly well paying job before being a midwife. If I stayed in that industry I would have had the potential to be earning well into 6 figures by this age but I had no job satisfaction. As much as I would love to be paid more, I wouldn't change a thing!

I've work in the charity sector. It does fulfil me. I started in the corporate sector and it makes a huge difference to me that I don't make people rich, I'm part of an organisation that makes a positive difference in people's lives.

I work for a charity in the community sector. I love my job. It is basically supporting people to live better lives. Through their own endeavours. I love it. Been doing it for about 15 years and hopefully will until I retire. May it continue long beyond me.

I'm a mental health nurse. I LOVE the patient side of it. Helping people does fulfil me. The paperwork and endless stress from staffing pressures do not.

Tbh, I quote my dad 'The only good job is no job', lol. I'd much rather spend my life learning, travelling, and pursuing hobbies, and then volunteering with mental health a couple of days a week!

We all work for one reason- money.

I work for a social housing charity and I love it and feel very fulfilled. Never the same day and always training opportunities

Just about to leave a role in education. It is very fulfilling but at the cost of everything. The pay is also crap.
I'm moving to a flexible, WFH role in a start up. It's a risk and nothing I've ever done before but I'm looking forward to starting.

Sod the fulfillment, I go to work for the money. If I didn't need the money I wouldn't be working.

Civil service and no.

I work in a totally non essential industry and earn around 200k. I wouldn’t say it is fulfilling in terms of making a difference to anyone but I enjoy it and it has given me and my family lifetime security so I’ve no complaints.

I'm a safety auditor.

I loved it out in the field, managed my own diary, different place & people every day.

Yes, sometimes people get shitty - it's always the auditors fault, not that people aren't doing their jobs properly... But usually people are super nice to your face.

I like being nosey, investigating, digging & validating the info & it's great to give out green audits.

There's an appetite for safety ATM especially fire safety.

I think life in generally. He genuinely enjoys the works he's doing but says he's trying to find a sense of community and belonging.

He finds it hard at times when the office is empty.

@ShiningforLeeBertie I was in a specialist role for 4 years and loved it but a change in process meant the role was moved to England and I was moved sideways into a position that was thankless and boring. I've been promoted since and the amount of pressure I'm under daily is awful. Bearing in mind I earn just about £30k and have a team of 7. It definitely doesn't fulfill me but I know there are roles within the organisation which are great.

I’m a fraud investigator in the civil service and love it. Can’t say what I actually do but very interesting.

I’m a structural engineer working in consultancy. I find my job fulfilling. It can be stressful, it can be challenging, but it’s great to see the product of the stress finally constructed!

I think that happens a bit to young people once the novelty of full time paid work wears off after a year or two, sort of 'is this it?'.

With school and university, there is always something to work towards; striving to the next thing - the next level, the next exam etc. There is a defined pathway, so they don't have to think about it too much.

Once you have finished that conveyer belt - and are out in the wild, as it were, some people can feel a bit lost and flat. Especially if they are results/ target oriented people.

You can reassure him that it's quite normal to feel a bit meh once you realise being an adult is not as much fun as you thought. He may be best trying to find that fulfilment in other areas of his life.

I think you described what DS feels quite well.

He needs to think about what would make him happy. I left uni and went into quite a corporate job, the money was good, it was cut throat, but I was pretty good at it. The company I worked for got taken over but a bigger one with a less generous commission structure. I was made redundant with a non compete clause for a defined period. I took stock and thought, this has no relevance to what I studied, I like the money but I'm not passionate about the job , what do I do? I applied for a pubic sector role in a field adjacent to some volunteering I'd done and was related to my degree, took quite a pay cut to do so. I still work in the justice sector. I've had all kinds of opportunities, secondments and promotions. I do sometimes think what could I be earning now if I'd stayed in the first industry, but I'm financially comfortable and the work is so rewarding albeit draining and at the whim of government change!

DS has the idea in this head that working at a university provides a sense of community and belonging.

DS works in sustainability and environment consulting and enjoys it, but he absolutely loved the academic and scientific and economic side of this at university. But he himself agrees with me that he found the research modules hard.

A lot of universities will have sustainability roles, that could be an option? It's not the same working at a uni as studying there though

Yes, I think he just likes being in the academic environment. He thinks that at a University there's so many events to go to etc.

The second masters he wants to do is a sustainability one.