I was a driving instructor for ten years, some years ago; and I loved it, but the recession made it difficult to find enough work, and it's a very competitive industry, so I gave it up.
More recently, I've been thinking of becoming an examiner. I've been trying to find out more about it, but all I've really managed to find out online is what the training is like (six weeks full time), and the very clinical description of the job provided on the government website. Presumably there's demand for it, with it being so difficult to get driving tests at the moment.
Does anyone know about the reality of being an examiner, the stuff the websites don't tell you? Is it a good job? It is as dangerous as people make it out to be? Does it have a high drop-out rate? When I was an instructor, people often said "you must be taking your life in your hands"; but I very rarely felt unsafe, as it was a matter of matching the roads to the pupil's ability, and getting rid of pupils who didn't treat me with respect. In test centres, I often saw signs saying "abuse on staff will not be tolerated", but I can't imagine that it's worse than other public-facing roles. I expect it gets quite repetitive after a while as well, and it must be quite hard telling people that they haven't passed. I am a sports umpire so I am used to quick thinking and making "unpopular" decisions, and not being manipulated into changing my mind.