What job could I - I love researching

[Hazbeen]

Im doing a job I hate.

I want to find a job that gives me real joy. I’ve been thinking about all the things I love/require.

I have worked remotely for last 5 years so would love that to continue.

I have a science degree. I think what I miss most is using my brain. I barely think in my job. It’s just following SOPs. I currently work for a science technology company in a client facing role.

I love researching stuff! I love going through information, digging through stuff to find a piece of information. If I could have my time again I’d be a detective or private investigator. Or realistically, a policy researcher or something like that. I love finding stuff online. E.g. if my friends want info on a new boyfriend I can usually find it in minutes.

Ironically I have been researching jobs and just can’t see what I am qualified for that would meet these requirements.

I also want a job that helps people and makes me feel good.

As someone pushing 40 and requiring £30k+ salary what the hell can I do? I am so bored in my current job.

I also don’t drive at the moment so remote is a must for now.

Any scope for learning to drive? There’s nothing to stop you becoming a detective at your age. The police recruit directly for that these days so you don’t have to do your two years on the beat. They also have civilian roles as things like digital investigators which could be interesting to you.

Take a look at policy jobs in the Civil Service. With your science degree, you would be in high demand for certain depts such as Defence, DSTL and NHS

There is a real need for cyber security analysts if that’s your thing?
Data analysts?

Intelligence analyst with the police - although you can't do that remotely

User researcher - lots of these jobs on the go and quite a new profession so it's not unusual for people to move in to i t from other types of job role. Can be done remotely mostly.

Credit controller, delving through info to prove who people really are when they give different names and address then tying it all together

I would say quantitative market researcher. I work in a related field.

GCHQ were recruiting recently.

In the short term what about private detective? Or private genealogy research?

Or with one of those heir finder companies that traces relatives of people who died intestate.

How do you feel about accountancy? There are forensic accountants

Look at pharmacovigilance jobs in CROs

Some jobs in medical writing / pharma require pulling lots of different pieces of information together. Lots of different types of roles so speak to a med comms recruiter

Exec search researcher, partner with someone in a life sciences or healthcare practice.

Genealogist, but I'm not sure you'd achieve that salary.

What about DEFRA the government environmental agency, investigating companies who pollute etc

Lots of people are good at finding information & it doesn't require a hard to obtain skill or qualification, so while you might find jobs with an element of this activity its likely to be badly paid unless there's an angle to it that makes it trickier - eg knowing multiple languages or having advanced computing skills.

I work for the EA. I was going to suggest this, environmental enforcement.

How about a more research focussed science job that would use your degree?

Look at consumer/testing organisations like Which. Can you demonstrate any copy writing skills? Or learn them. Research and testing would only be part of the role I think.
Science journalism? You'd be researching different stories obviously and it's a competitive feild (you might find a way in through the masters in science communication at Imperial).

Career shifters is a good organisation, but I think you need some specific careers advice.

It should be achievable though.

I second med comms, especially if your background is biosciences, although I know some excellent med writers who came from other science disciplines.

I write scientific software (wfh for decades) - there's a lot of 'going through information, digging through stuff to find a piece of information.' involved. It's pretty niche and most if not all our new hires into development have relevant postgraduate experience. But there are other roles such as customer support

Look at clinical coding. Research, attention to detail, and the information you become knowledgeable about is never ending with no risk to life. Love it.

I had an amazing temp job when I finished uni. It was for an ‘innovation’ department of the local NHS service (private sector but attached to the public sector kind of thing). People (medical staff, members of the public etc) used to send them ideas they had had for improving healthcare and the organisation would research and develop them, ultimately bringing in money for the NHS as they came to some deal with the person with the idea so that they would both benefit.

My job was to basically spend all day online, in copyright databases, searching through blogs, forums, websites etc to check that the idea was new and unique and prepare reports on how good/unique the idea was.

I loved it but it was sadly only a temp job - it wasn’t what I wanted to do long term and once they sorted out their graduate programme the jobs went to them.

Internal fraud investigator in financial services.

Prospect researcher in the charity sector.