Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If you love your job, what is it you do?

184 replies

C1239 · 22/04/2023 18:39

Really not enjoying my job at the moment, and wasting quite a bit of time thinking about how im not enjoying it. If you really like your job on the whole what is it you do?

OP posts:
firsttimemum1230 · 22/04/2023 22:40

Lunchtime supervisor/1-1 SEN in nursery in a primary school and I love it. Never found a job where I like everyone ( even the ones questionable Aren’t that bad) and I love working with children.

Hariborrrrr · 22/04/2023 22:46

Nurse manager/specialist nurse. Obviously the usual nightmare of working for the NHS and trying to do both roles can be challenging (it's 2 full time jobs really). Never enough time in the day and often feel like I'm drowning, but I get real job satisfaction from my patients and the team I manage. Both really do make it all worthwhile

MouseMinge · 22/04/2023 22:48

Pollyanna58 · 22/04/2023 18:44

Upholsterer. Retrained at 50. Best thing I’ve ever done.

I'd love to do this. Did it cost a lot to do the training? I've been looking to see if there is anywhere to do it locally or really just how to go about it!

Pollyanna58 · 22/04/2023 22:48

MavisTheMonkey · 22/04/2023 20:34

Oooh so interesting. I was reading recently there is a real lack of upholsters at the moment and it appeals to me.
Is it very physical (ie needs manual strength)? How long did it take to train? Where do you do your training?

Show quote history

I trained in traditional upholstery at The Upholstery Workshop in Meidrim, Wales. I did it over three years. Look for AMUSF courses in your area. Some places run a weekly one day course, but I did mine in two/three week bursts.

HundredMilesAnHour · 22/04/2023 22:50

As someone who grew up in a family where no-one had ever been to university or has a high flying job I sometimes still can't believe someone would pay me to go to Paris.

@Alaimo I totally get this and agree with you. I come from a working class background and was the first in the family to ever go to university. I did my 3rd year abroad studying in Paris and OMG my mum was so proud. My grandmother told me that my mum was boasting to everyone (and my mum was not a boasty person at all, and was usually very critical of me). What makes me really sad is that only a few years later my employer sent me to New York on business, staying in a 1 bed suite in a fancy hotel opposite Central Park and flying me back on Concorde (I'd never even been out of Europe before, and neither of my parents had even been on a plane). It would have blown my mum's mind. (It certainly blew mine!) She would have been beyond proud. But tragically she died from cancer the year before. So that trip was bittersweet for me.

Mama2six · 22/04/2023 22:50

Tarantullah · 22/04/2023 18:56

I work in cyber security, it's probably not that interesting to a lot of people but I enjoy it and I figure it's a secure career and pretty future proofed!

I retrained though after having DC, I was a teacher previously and although I loved working with children I hated all of the other crap. I am looking into volunteering at one of the local schools to run an after school coding club, they seem very interested especially I suppose as I am supplying the equipment too! Perhaps it'll combine both of my passions, hoping it doesn't get halted by red tape and whatever else.

Please could you send me info too about how to train for this? Thank you

TwinkleTwinkleLittleCat · 22/04/2023 22:51

Neonatal Nurse, only part time now but love it!

Ali1702 · 22/04/2023 22:51

Thehop · 22/04/2023 18:53

Childminder. Love it. (Just not OFSTED and the paperwork haha!)!

I am expecting them soon.....

springbabydays · 22/04/2023 22:54

Patient facing in our local maternity dept. Crap pay and rubbish hours but the time goes quickly, we have a great team and I love being with the mums and families at such a special time in their lives.

Itawapuddytat · 22/04/2023 22:55

Interpreter. I love my job.

BrutusMcDogface · 22/04/2023 22:56

BarbaraVineFan · 22/04/2023 19:54

I'm a head of department in a secondary school. Been teaching die nearly 20 years and I love it more and more each year!

This is refreshing to hear! I have a very passionate love-hate relationship with my teaching job.

boodacious · 22/04/2023 23:02

Freelance Translator, and forever student.

Pollyanna58 · 22/04/2023 23:02

Slatternalia · 22/04/2023 19:20

I have always been interested in learning how to reupholster. How did you get into it? Did you do a training course?

Show quote history

I’ve always loved fabric and if I’d known the careers that were available in textiles when I was younger I might have gone down that route. However, I reupholstered six dining chairs which impressed friends and family so much I thought I’d look into training professionally. I love it ! It can be physically hard, but you develop muscle memory and over time you find your fitness levels and stamina increase naturally. I would say the downside of my age is that I am slower than people 10/20 years younger. C’est la vie !

Charlize43 · 22/04/2023 23:05

Since being made redundant (mid 50s) I've started doing casual work in events hostessing and love it! Basically, I'm paid to chat to people. The hourly rate isn't fantastic but sometimes I only work a couple of hours but I am paid for 4.

I've been thinking of looking for something else casual with English Heritage.

At an event, I was approached by a patron who asked me if I'd like to hostess at private views at a Mayfair Art Gallery, welcoming guests and checking guest lists, etc.

MyView2 · 22/04/2023 23:10

I’m an Executive Coach and help professionals find fulfilment in their careers. I might have some tools that could help you Op. We spend too much of our lives working, to be in a job that doesn’t bring us joy.

Dyra · 23/04/2023 00:19

Love my job. Work in emergency obstetrics theatres as a band 2. Get to watch babies being born, and surgeons doing their thing. Very cool. The other positive is that, so long as everything is clean, checked, stocked, and I'm present and ready to go at all times during my shift, I can spend it doing whatever I like. I read books. It's great. Obviously the amount of work we do can vary wildly. Sometimes we can have back to back cases for the entire shift, others we can do literally no cases. And then everything in between. Once my kiddos are a bit older, I'm hoping to go on to do ODP training.

Dreamingofasandybeach · 23/04/2023 00:20

I work for a well known bank in the financial crime department and I love it 😀

queenofthebongo · 23/04/2023 00:49

hereiamagainn · 22/04/2023 19:23

What sort of non-teaching roles are there in schools, other than TA / admin / midday supervisor?

Technician, cleaner, learning support, reception admin, pa, curriculum supervisor. Sport support staff, marketing, groundsmen, porters, police. Some schools are huge! 😉

BritInAus · 23/04/2023 00:50

Marketing / PR / comms / fundraising for a well-known charity. Love it but have done it for many years so now retraining for a new career.

queenofthebongo · 23/04/2023 00:52

Forgot the accounts, bursar, kitchen staff and estates team.

JackiePlace · 23/04/2023 00:58

Tarantullah · 22/04/2023 18:59

Agree with PP it's worth thinking about what aspects of your job you dislike and what you think you'd enjoy as it's so individual for everyone. I'd ask myself:

Can I afford/do I want to retrain?
Is money important and if so what's the minimum salary I'd be happy with?
What working hours- flexi, office hours, shifts?
Work from home, from an office/other setting or hybrid?
Do I mind working with members of the public?
What's the job market like round me- any particular sectors locally that appeal?

This is a good point. I was a writer/editor for magazines and loved it. Prior to that I was a librarian and hated it. I thought I would like library work because I loved reading, but that was completely irrelevant. I eventually realised I enjoy "project based" work (where you finish a job and then move on to the next one) rather than the day to day routine/drip of tidying shelves and filing books. Nothing was ever finished in that place!

bunsen · 23/04/2023 00:58

@Tarantullah would you PM me too? Just finished a degree in computing and psychology and wanting to apply this learning to something rewarding

dresstime · 23/04/2023 01:37

I am an English Language and Literature teacher and Head of Year in an international school. I get paid really well with lots of benefits, I'm doing what I love, and my students are generally delightful.

MouseMinge · 23/04/2023 02:06

Thanks @Pollyanna58 !

Thebestwaytoscareatory · 23/04/2023 02:28

MrsTulip · 22/04/2023 21:21

1:1 teaching assistant for an amazing little girl who has taught me so much about the world and how to live life in all its fullness ( part of our school vision from John10:10) in a brilliant CofE primary school.
Although as some as you know I’m currently going through the discernment process with the Church of England to see if I will be accepted to start training to become an ordained priest.

Can I ask how you have decided that
Anglicanism is the correct religion to follow?

Swipe left for the next trending thread