To ask if you’re satisfied with your current job?

[ceitidhb]

Relevant background info: I’m a secondary school teacher and I really, really love my job - it’s very hard, especially right now (we’re open for kids of ket workers and those who need extra support, but still running online learning at the same time, so it’s quite hectic). But I was having a conversation with DD1 (who’s 18 and currently on a gap year; she’s at a bit of a crossroads re what she wants to do as a career) about the various places I’ve worked and it made me realise that as much as I love teaching, I really miss working in politics and being surrounded by other adults all day...

I worked in the White House for a while in the nineties (amongst other places, but that stands out for obvious reasons) and it was honestly the time of my life. It’s making me quite sad that I’ll never get that sort of opportunity again. I wouldn’t say I preferred it to teaching, they’re both obviously very different and have their respective qualities, but I think I also miss the youth & freedom I had back then! (although I don’t miss living in the US, especially with kids )

So MNetters - is your current job your ‘dream’ job that you can see yourself in for the foreseeable future? Or do you find yourself pining for a completely different career field? Is it normal to suddenly feel slightly dissatisfied and ‘stuck’ or am I having a midlife crisis?

Yes. My job itself isn’t the most exciting or glam, but the company I’m with pays decently and they have a lot of decent perks (good pension, Friday afternoons off in summer, pro flexibility, decent mat leave pay). My career is only one aspect of my life and I very much work to live rather than the other way around. As long as I can pay the bills with enough leftover to afford a bit of fun, and my job isn’t a sea of stress and awkward micromanagement - I’m satisfied.

Mostly I like my job but it's not my dream job. I was getting very close to my dream career when I became pregnant and took a sideways move because I needed the stability. Now it's proving very difficult to move back. I just have this sense of disappointment about not fulfilling my promise. I could have been a contender!

I really don’t care about my job, I smile and nod but I care verrryyyy little!

I'd like to know more about the job in the White House!!! Time of your life how? What sort of things did you get up to?

This was back in the 90s when I was in my twenties and childfree, so I had a lot of freedom that was clouded by old age and motherhood!

I started off in an entry-level government department but through the art of knowing someone who knows someone I ended up working in the WH correspondence department. It was a lot less glamorous that it sounds I had no authority and it was mainly sorting and organising mail and categorising relevant constituent correspondence and forwarding it to the relevant industry. But I’m a MASSIVE political nerd and it was just my dream come true working in essentially the heart of world politics. It was very fast-paced and we had a high staff turnover but I worked with some amazing people who I’m still in contact with today. Very very fond memories

Op, something to consider, could you sign up to organise educational school trips? You could organise an educational political trip to America. We took students to America on the Obama campaign trail. They loved it!

Oh, haven’t considered this but it’s a brilliant idea, thank you!! Might have a word with my HoD after covid settles a bit about it.

I don't hate my job. Its something I've done for a very, very long time and extremely corporate.. But I want to do something more rewarding, been looking at Probation Officer jobs something to that effect.. I'd love to retrain completely but I'm a single mum who has no support so it would be very hard. Just fed up of the corporate world.

Also, sorry to see so many of you stuck in jobs you don’t enjoy. Imagine if life was about more than just paying bills and surviving :( as easy as it is to say it’s never too late to change, so many of us are stuck in positions where we can’t. Maybe one day...

That's it exactly sometimes people get stuck, because they can't afford to take a hit on money or give up work to retrain.
So many jobs have changed in the last 20 years too.

Yes, I do. I've done a similar sort of thing for a while, but moved sidewise from a charity into government a couple of years ago, which has given me the opportunity to specialise in something slightly different and opened up some exciting new opportunities. I'm good at it and it's interesting. I don't love line management but it's ok.

One of the things I have realised over the last couple of years is that I'm happy to focus on what is interesting rather than seniority. Totally fine with sideways moves.