AIBU to ask what your WFH jobs are

[dobbyssoc]

Wondering if people could tell me what jobs they do and in what industry that allowed WFH before covid hit? I have never come across one that will even entertain the idea but with DC I would really appreciate that flexibility but they don't seem to exist (not in the immediate future but in the coming years!)
AIBU to feel like they don't exist!

@ClarkHatOn what does your job entail? Taking minutes? Shorthand? Typing up reports..?

Sorry, @clerkhaton

Yes, I'm also a Clerk to Governors, self employed and working from home all the time, apart from when I go into meetings. I started in an LA clerking service to learn the ropes, where the pay was terrible and it was a zero hours contract, then went independent when I knew what I was doing.
It's not simply a secretarial role, you have to get yourself properly educated in the law as it applies to school governors. You also have to take responsibility for continuing your education by keeping abreast of changes. Sometimes through training, often just by reading on-line. The DfE are now encouraging governing boards to employ accredited clerks, and you can sort that out by doing a National Governance course that attracts a government grant. I think I ended up paying £70.
I organise the meetings, advise on the agenda content, minute at the meetings and produce the minutes. I also do the same for panels, for example governor panels for grievances or parental complaints. You need to be an effective minute taker and able to produce clear, well written minutes.
The Clerk works for the governing board, even if they have a contract with the school. They report to the Chair of Governors rather than the Headteacher. It probably takes a good year to learn the ropes, but don't worry, some clerks are dire and get away with it... so you survive the learning period. In most parts of the country there is a shortage so we're in demand.

Oh, I semi retired myself and only support 3 schools now. When I was in the clerking service I peaked at 12 schools which was horrible and nearly drove me to a breakdown. Some do it as a full time job and are great at it, you just need to be very organised. I think in that case personally I wouldn't want to go above 10, but I'm not the most organised person in the world.

Public sector too. Communications and marketing.

Publishing. You can read a manuscript from anywhere.

Freelance translator and editor - I've worked from home for 20 years now; it was interesting at times when the children were young but I was only part-time until they went to school.

@StillSmallVoice if you don't mind me asking how do you get into this line of work. I'd love to do it and was my goal after uni but there was nothing available by the time I was looking so went into an admin role 🙈

Test analyst here, WFH till September at least.

@dobbyssoc

I came in via a marketing role, with marketing qualifications in the background. My area is very niche and I had contacts and knowledge which not too many people have. I went from there to setting up an imprint for a very small organisation, which included production and commissioning (it was very a very small organisation) and was headhunted for a commissioning role at a mainstream specialist company in the field.

It is difficult to get into, and it's not well paid and isn't actually very glamorous. You are under pressure to find books which sell and that's tough, because genuine best sellers in any field are rare. You can read a manuscript from anywhere, though.

Engineer.

HR

Customer service/training and development. Work for a call center (inbound, no selling, more an advice line) for a government body. I take calls when needed but also am a Trainer so most of my time is spent running virtual training sessions for new starters or upskill training for current employees

[quote ChesterBelloc]@CharDeeMacDennis how did you get into subtitling?[/quote]
@ChesterBelloc

Massive stroke of luck - I happened to see a job advertised requiring no prior experience. Applied on the spur of the moment, as it was something I'd always been interested in. Was accepted

I love it. For various reasons, I genuinely never thought I'd ever have a job I enjoyed and was good at. Before this, all I'd ever had was casual work / SAHM for quite a few years / more casual work.

The name change fail is because I'm signed in on my phone with my old name

Je ne regrette rien, nowt to hide here!

NHS prescription services

Isn't it increasingly likely that the 'best person for the job' will be living in a low-wage economy? After all, if location is not important, then why hire staff in expensive Britain rather than, say, in Poland or India? Plenty of competent English speaking people there ready and willing to work for much less.

This. It is ABSOLUTELY a case of being careful what you wish for. I’ve worked for businesses with Polish finance service centres. The people in them are brilliant: precise, competent, excellent English, only one hour ahead of us and less than half the price of a UK employee (and, based on my experience, a lot less needy and bolshy). Anybody in an admin or junior management role rejoicing in the prospect of working from home forever needs to wake up and plan for being back in the office building relationships!

Senior account manager in aviation. Account managers in our company also work from home full-time.

Parish Council Clerk

Civil service.

HSE

Software implementation from a technical perspective (data manipulation/migration and systems integration). The project I'm on has been on hold since March, but as I'm also a programmer, I've been doing tonnes with the development team.

I've worked from home for about 12 years now, but up to now have had regular client travel and go in the office sometimes too (office is 100s of miles away).

Civil servant - I worked from home 3 days a week before Covid - now it’s obviously every day and we’ve been told not to expect to go back before September.

The reality is most office based jobs can be done from home, what you really need is a company who embraces it. I am a Project manager, was home based in my previous job (with travel to the office usually once a week). Now I am a PM in another company who pre Covid had a culture of presenteeism.

Really I would check the company rather than the profession specifically.

Medical communications, so our clients are pharmaceutical companies. We have a very diverse workforce who can be based at home almost anywhere or in one of our many offices around the world.