Took a sick day as I'm burnt out

[Henrietta1000]

I work between 44-50 hours a week which I know isn't even as much as some people on here must do, however working 6 days a week is draining.
I have no children so I know it could be worse, but I'm fed up. So I've called in sick today, luckily my last sick day was a year ago and it's not a job where they'll be short staffed.
I'm in the Civil Service as an AO. Whilst I enjoy the role, an AO salary is not great for a person living alone..I've applied for 3 EO roles but have come to understand how unbelievably slow they are. I sent 2 of my applications 3 months ago and still waiting to hear if I have an interview!
So I've currently got a second weekend/evening job. There's no guaranteed overtime in my civil service role, it used to be unlimited now it's capped.

I'm a qualified teacher, but gave up trying to get a job. I'm in languages, was turning up to interviews with 5 others and failing every time, got put on a support plan in one so resigned, or just not getting interviews. So I did supply, which was fine and paid better but I wanted something permanent and stable.

Please do not tell me it's worth it because of the pension, when you have a low salary and are quite young, you're obviously not going to put up with that for 30 years!
I've had a very productive day so far, cleaning my home and tidying, also just catching up on TV.
It's hard sometimes! I went to a hen the other week and all of my schoolfriends are now band 7 or 8 NHS, manager of xyz, and I'm in an entry level admin job despite going to uni.
6 days a week isn't sustainable much longer!
It's not even an AIBU, just a rant. Even EO roles are very competitive, I'm so fed up.

and so judgmental and sanctimonious

Weird as fuck isn’t it! Lol

That's good then! You know about SEND so it's one thing you can rule out. There's no need for the sarcastic emoji- i was being sympathetic that your life seems to feel super hard and wondering if there was anything behind it, you'll know from your work with people who struggle with executive processing that they can sometimes stagnate in their roles, or find things hard, or get burned out, in situations that others might take in their stride. I am just wondering what is it about your life that's too challenging for you to take in stride or to change, and thinking whether anything needed unlocking for you. Best of luck.

So what is it you want? Sympathy? You’ve taken a day off sick, you’re not sick. You’re in the wrong job and resentful of other people climbing the greasy pole. Maybe post on the work board for careers advice.

It was the Op who told us she'd been to a hen party. It's there in the opening post.

Permanent employees have annual leave to be able to recharge. Everyone needs a break at some point.

I assume you don't get annual leave if you're a temp but the annual leave element is paid to you?

In which case, can you not ask for a few days off to recharge, seeing as you don't get annual leave?

Keep applying for perm jobs, look at companies that promote work / life balance and have generous annual leave.

I think posters mention the hen party as it gives part of the bigger picture. OP has said that she failed to find a job in her career choice, got put on a support plan in her next choice of career so resigned and is now taking sick days in her entry level role as she is burned out. But well enough to go on hen do. She has said that she is young. Sometimes people do not enabling, they need a kick up the arse.

The worst job I ever had was an admin role for a young people's drop in centre. I was the only admin worker for a multi-disciplinary team of 25 staff and each one of them thought I was their personal secretary. Worst job I have ever had. I was very unwell at one stage and when I realised that having an emergency hospital admission, being in agony and on two IV drips was better than being in work I made plans to leave. Admin can be really stressful

She's taken one sick day today.
The hen do was a few weeks ago.

'Kick up the arse' is such a vile and outdated thing to say, tbh. Stop jumping on the fact that I attended an event a couple of weeks ago, so what? It has zero to do with work, get over it.

Also, stop assuming every single AO role is very easy and low-stress, you have no idea! Stop commenting on things you have no clue about.

Sorry OP doesn’t sound alike you are burnt out but that you are just fed up. The first can be a debilitating condition and the second is self fixable. Gwt your cv sorted, figure out what you want to do and start aiming toward your goal of making more money. Using the day to do that would have been far more effective.

AO salary varies but mine works out as around 26.4k a year for 37 hours.

Look I'll leave it here as you do not want my advice. I am not claiming AO roles are stress free, most roles have an element of stress, often IME more the lower you drop down but if you want to spiral and carry on down that path, you'll need to get used to that long term. Kick up the arse is a term that is often used to describe DC when they need to get on with it. If you want genuine advice re your career, maybe share the feedback from your last role, why you were moved onto a support plan etc.

This ^

'I've had a very productive day so far, cleaning my home and tidying, also just catching up on TV.'

Op, next time book an annual leave day.

Nothing wrong with having a day for mental health/burnout. However what is it going to solve? You are working an average number of hours that many do with little responsibilities outside of work. I think you need to own it a bit more 3 applications to 1 sector 3 months isn't exactly proactively trying to improve your situation your dream job isnt going to come knocking at the door. Even if you couldn't get a job with your teaching degree you could be tutoring, online school, international work. Supply is a good way to get your foot in the door I supply at a couple of schools on my day off once you are known schools generally prefer to use people they know I get regular offers of work from schools where I established relationships

I haven’t read the full thread, so not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but if your languages are good enough for you to be a teacher of them have you looked for translation jobs?

Or for jobs at multinational companies that need people doing the sort of work you’re doing but in more than one language?

Or could you do language tuition as a second job? It’s not everyone who could do that.

If it’s civil service they will cap overtime as it’s an additional cost. I know how you feel - I was in a job with unlimited overtime twenty years ago and was a single parent, and when they stopped the OT (without warning) I was so used to the money that I really panicked as my basic wage wasn’t enough to live on.

Ot took a couple of months but I managed to find a job where they paid what I had earned with OT within my flat rate.

All I can suggest is to keep looking, tweak your CV, see if you can find another qualification to top up what you have to make you more employable ?that’s what I did - it was a hard slog but it was very much worth it and I’m now on three times what I earned with the basic wage plus OT, plus I don’t do OT now).

Good luck.

I am wholeheartedly validating your sick day. Enjoy 😀
Keep knocking on enough doors for a new job, one WILL eventually open.
Good luck
X

This - I worked in the Civil Service as a 7 but I’m painfully aware that AO roles are not the bundle of easy fun that they’re made out to be. Usually a cobbled together bunch of drudgework or tricky jobs that no-one else wants to do, and being Civil Service, you overwork every week without a real break. And the pay for that particular daily joy is terrible.

FWIW - I’m doing the same as you today. The last few weeks have been absolutely brutal at work and I had completely burned out by the weekend. Something about the sheer number of hours and the high risk of the work I was doing just clobbered me. I’ve taken sick yesterday and today…because I am sick. Being burned out is a mental health issue which is just as important as coming down with a viral infection or breaking your arm. If I don’t want my team to also work themselves to burnout, I have to show them that I recognise and accept when I do it…and put measures in place to recover effectively if I don’t manage to stop before it happens.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back and will be the stronger for it. My team are fine, and the work is still there waiting for me lol. There are no prizes for working yourself into a breakdown but the public sector is known for long hours, excess working, unrealistic deadlines and a very poor work life balance, all in the name of public service 😁

Glad you’re getting your head back on straight, having a productive day and I’m sorry it took to this point to get the rest you needed!

I also promise, as someone who has been around this for a while, that your career will develop no matter how stagnant it feels at the moment. Try not to compare to friends - I was working in entry-level jobs until my early 30’s before a chance job advert while working at the council’s call centre made my career take off. The last decade has seen it turbocharge way past many of my friends. It will happen but I agree - it can feel WAY too slow and frustrating when you aren’t there yet!

Translation jobs are extremely hard to come by these days. AI is doing most of it.
I used to have a translation business but the majority of my clients have switched to AI. "Thanks for your great work over the years but we can now save money by using AI instead".

@Henrietta1000 I have worked in the civil servoce and civil service type roles for most of my career. I have done public facing roles at AO/EO level or equivilent. I then worked in policy at SEO and grade 7/6 in the civil service and I am now the equivilent of a grade 5 in a public body. You need to be prepared to look around for opportunities, seek advice and look at similar organisations for career development. Non departmental bodies and regulators can be a good choice as they can be less hierarchical and, of you are keen, can allow for sideways moves in to private industry.

I get all roles have their stresses. The point people are making is AO is an entry level role. If you are keen to progress an thinknyou are ready to, you should be handling this role well. It is not clear what your problem is - the hours ), the low pay or the stressful nature of the job?

I would recommend a good think about what it is you want to do and why you want to progress. If the civil service/public sector still tbe right choice then find a mentor and have a chat about what you can do to prepare for the next EO opportunity that comes along.

I'm in languages, was turning up to interviews with 5 others and failing every time, got put on a support plan in one so resigned, or just not getting interviews

Why were you on a support plan?

Where are you in the country because I thought there was a shortage of language teachers? Or are they all being cut because fewer pupils are taking languages?
Anyway, if you are a good teacher there's no reason why you can't set up a language tuition business or offer conversation classes for adults who want to learn the language or teach online and have access to customers from all over the place.

You could dump the second job and use those hours to work on building up a business and see how you go. You might even get enough business to do it full time and ditch the CS job.

But you will need to put in a lot of effort, be good at teaching, get results, have a good business head etc. and make sure you manage finances (such as keeping aside money for tax bills, save for a pension etc).

A lot of people have been quite rude to you but you have been rude back and I do wonder if you need to take a look at how you come across to others and also analyse the reasons why you haven't been successful in teaching and in getting interviews.

No we haven't all done it.