And where do you work ?

[Pupuce]

My husband who thinks I spend way too much time on this website.... and was told by me that most of the messages are always by the same group of women wants to know where all the other mum work - I do work but yes I do go on this site 3 or 4 times a day (I am hooked).... and he wondered if any of you lot were as efficient as me ;-)!!!!
I work for a large multinational as a business consultant.

Ah yes, Sml, those sudden showers. And the way they leave puddles in your tarpaulin roof, poking at them with a coathanger while adjusting the tarp, and then the water cascading down to land inside your collar. Truly horrible.

As for writing encouragement, what with mumsnet and my job I write all day, 5 days a week. Problem is how to improve the quality, not the quantity. Don't know how to do this. Any ideas gratefully received.

And when I'm not writing, I'm driving to and from work, or looking after the children, or sleeping moan, moan, etc. etc. No real reading time, hence my lack of posting on the 'read any good books' message board.

Any 'proper' writers out there, who can give me, Sml and anyone else a nudge in the right direction?

Tigermoth, do we live parallel lives!
I write a lot too, but it looks like this:

make -f newMakefile 2> temp
vi temp

or else weighty design specs. The most I've managed recently is some poetry, I wrote some of that sitting on the edge of the bath while my children were in it! But you can't make money out of that! I think the key is to MAKE some time and set it aside regularly. I am eying my lunchbreaks - am soon to change job and will get only 3/4 hour, so too short for supermarket dash. Health implications are depressing though as I currently spend my entire working day in front of the computer anyway.

I'm on extended maternity leave from the BBC - where I am a producer/director. But for a variety of reasons may be having to swap TV journalism for print and try and make a go of it as a freelance journo instead - I used to work as a staff journo for the women's magazines before I got into TV so hoping that I still have the knack (and the contacts!). Don't really want to write the sort of stuff I used to though - "triumph over tragedy" the bosses coined it, essentially lots of distressing stories about people overcoming awful afflictions/relationship problems/crimes etc. etc..the nastier the better as far as they were concerned. Hardly inspiring stuff. Used to get home and want to hang myself. Heaven knows what it did to the readers!
Lots of ideas in head just got to get my act together and spend as much time working on them as I do posting here!

I used to be a teacher (secondary) before I had my 1st kiddie. I took extended maternity leave, and never went back. Best thing I ever did (not going back, that is). I guess I just got used to not been sworn at, ignored, groped, worked to death, etc etc. The most thankless task on earth. In the school I was in at any rate.

Bo, My friend has just said the same thing as you, she has only been teaching secondary for 3 years and has handed her notice in to finish at the end of this year and is looking to retrain. Something is definitely not right is it? The funny thing is out of 7 of my friends with BA's, 5 have gone into teaching and 4 are thinking of leaving already - we're only 26, it's mad!

I work three days a week as an arable consultant. I love the outdoor parts of my job and the hours allow me to spend some valuable time with my son, but I as I work from home I am unable to switch off at the end of the day and continue to get work-related calls on my days off. In fact I am job-hunting at the moment and even considering leaving agriculture - the one industry I am passionate about!

I am a secondary teacher. I do enjoy it most of the time as I am lucky enough to work at a school with relatively good discpline (there are some challenging kids though)and one where there have been oppertunities to gain promotion. The teaching is fine its the paper work and admin that take up my time that are my problem. I have to say I believe as secondary teachers we get it easy compared to those in primary. I just wish politicans would keep their big noses out and let us do our job.

I'm a freelance medical writer, writing such things as training manuals, product monographs, patient leaflets, newsletters etc for big pharmaceutical companies. I mostly work from home, with some travel to see clients. I try to only work 3 days a week and spend the rest with the kids, but it doesn't always work out that way! I love my work because there's quite a bit of variety and I get to meet people from all over the world. I used to work full time for an agency, but I don't miss it much (I especially don't miss the office politics!). I do occasionally get a bit lonely plugging away at the computer at home, which is where things like Mumsnet really help (although it can be a bit too tempting when deadlines are tight...).

I teach IT and maths in an FE college, hence the vast amount of time avaliable for reading mumsnet. I just have the internet running on my machine in the classroom while not allowing the students to have it on theirs. (I have to have my little revenge for the stress they put me through). I'm glad to see others have the same ambivalence towards teaching as I do, I drifted into it after years of wandering the world, working in McJobs and it is nice to actually have a guaranteed income after so many years of poverty. It does have it's advantages though, great holidays being the most obvious one, and it is quite flexible -especially in FE - for working mums. Having said that, I'm seriously considering not going back after extended maternity leave. I would love to have a job where I'm not expected to be a social worker, counsellor, surrogate mother, motivation expert, walking encyclopaedia, or to be responsible for the pass rates of a student body that seems hell bent on spending all it's time glued to their bloody mobile phones!!!!

I'm a management consultant (people and performance) and I work primarily from home. I quite miss the hustle and bustle of the office I used to work in, but not the endless commuting up and down to London. It's hard to find work that really fits in with the kids as even though I've got two at school the day just seems to disappear, and of course clients always want you to go to see them when you're needed down at the school! I'm interested in writing too - not sure about making it pay though - but maybe we should share our scribblings? I'm thinking of going into on-line and over the phone coaching - anyone got any experience?

Sid - kind of fell into the job by accident, I already worked for the charity in IT and then this position came up.

There are lots of charity jobs around and the salaries are getting better to - you can expect to earn about 90% of what's available in the private sector. Many are London based, but if you can commute elsewhere or are prepared to relocate, then there is all sorts. Did you know there are over 180,000 charities registered in England and Wales alone? Don't know the number in Scotland as the Inland Revenue don't publish those figures.

The Guardian is a good place to find charity jobs, or you can register with a charity recruitment agency called Charity People (www.charitypeople.co.uk) There are loads of positions from IT, HR, fundraising, marketing, sales, publishing, full-time or part-time. Also, try the websites of the charities themselves - they often advertise vacancies. National Trust are relocating to Bath so chances are they will have lots of vacancies coming up if you live in that area.

Goodness SMl, writing poetry during your children's bath time! That's what I call multi-tasking. You're so right about having to make time. As they say 'the only way to write is to write'.

Since you're obviously far more computer literate than me, I wondered if you ever wrote for the web? Mumsnet excluded! 'Proper' writing or not as the case may be. I hear web writing can pay well and that people in my profession, and journalists, have found it is a lucrative second income - or it becomes their new job. I know few copywriters outside my agency, since I no longer work in London, so I am a bit out of touch with this.

Can anyone offer any enlightenment on this?

I'm a journalist - I write features for the Daily Mail from home. It gets so bloody lonely sometimes though and I'm sure they think I'm barking mad in London because every so often I lose it big time and burst into tears down the phone to them.
I really miss the crack of an office - guess that's why I spend so much time haunting mumsnet now. I came on first through work trying to get case studies for stories and now find myself putting my two penneth in all over the show.
It's not as easy as it sounds - last night I was working til 10pm because I foolishly answered my home phone number on a Sunday and they pinned me down to find some case studies for them which I had to track down and write by lunch-time today. When I'm on deadline I feel physically sick until I meet it and then agonise over whether what I've written is good enough.
I got out for a while and wrote a book - it was a true story about a family who won the lottery and it messed their lives up. But that was a nightmare because the family didn't like the way I portrayed them - ie as complete twits.
The upside is that I can work school hours and then catch up at night. But another downside is that I work myself silly during term time so that I can afford to be off with the girls during the hols. I'll be typing away into the early hours every night for the next six weeks so I can take the whole of August off.
But it's great to be able to spend quality time with them then, and I doubt I could to that extent in any other job.
Having kids is a great asset - I write about them loads, although my six year old is now at the age where she is starting to object when she has to have her picture in the paper. I'm going to have to re-think whether it's fair to write about them anymore.
I've started work a novel - yeah, yawn yawn - every journalist goes through this phase.

What exciting lives you all seem to live. Aren't there any more civil servants out there? I work 28 hours a week for Customs and Excise and am team leader for 20 staff. Our unit closes on 31.03.02, There will be a job for me of some description, but probably not one I would choose!! I am waiting for inspiration to strike about working for myself. I have always liked the idea of having a B & B - definitely not a chintzy type though. And I do live in a very attractive town on Scotland. Althoughperhaps preparing breakfast for guests would be even less fun than getting it for the children!

Tigermoth, I don't know anything about web writing I'm afraid. In the companies I've worked in it's been done by the technical authors or anyone else who writes documentation.

Rachel 1969 I know what you mean - it's great to be at home but it's not the same in terms of the kind of social buzz you get in the office. I kind of miss going out after work as well although of course with children to dash back for there weren't that many opportunities in the last few years I worked up in town. But there's something good about going to your grown up job in the grown up city. Whatever happened to having it all??!

Eric, Customs and Excise!!!!!!!!, are you in the dreaded Value Added thatcher Department??

One question, would anyone CHANGE their job for something less paid and different?, oh and would anyone like my job for a week?? he, he.

Eric, where are you in Scotland?

Rachel, I don't envy you having to write late into the night. It must be very difficult to wind down and sleep afterwards. I'd still prefer to work from home, though. I have done this when I was freelancing. Full-time office life just isn't my thing, though there's all that business of feeling involved and team building to think about. Very part-time office life is my ideal compromise.

BTW, In an earlier posting you said you were writing an article on only children. Has it appeared yet? As an only child myself, I'd be really interested to read it sometime.

Tigger,

I would..... and I probably will I just need to figure out what I would do that would make me happier. The grass is always greener... as they say. So I need to do my "research" to see what would really make me happier.
I want to be outdoors more, work with people where I feel I make a difference, where I can have a bit more flexibility with my schedule,... doesn't everyone ?

I work for one of the larger Financial PR firms in their Investor Relations section two days a week and I am going to college one day a week re-training to be a Montessori teacher.
I no longer watch TV (apart from ER) as I have such vast quantities of homework to do. However, the course is fantastic and it is the first time anything has really captured my attention for years. My husband says he has never seen me so interested in anything and we've known each other for 10 years.
It was fascinating to see all the different Mumsnet jobs. Lots of work experiences I had never come across before.

Bugsy, Investor Relations is something I have been thinking about as a natural follow-on to my current job as a city analyst in the hope that it could afford more flexibility and shorter hours... I guess as you're looking at re-training though, you are not exactly enamoured of it??.

Tigermoth - there was a big article on only children in the Observer Life magazine on Sunday (10 June) - really interesting and quite thought-provoking.

Bugsy - wow! I had a look at the Montessori teacher training material (distance learning) - now that my son (8 months) goes to a Montessori nursery I have been really keen to get v up to speed on their methods and philosophies (partly to answer the 101 questions I get when people find out that's where he goes). I think I like my own job too much to do something different right now but it's something I would keep in mind for when I'm 40 and have itchy feet.

Bells
My problem is that I don't have the necessary City experience to really go far with it. I have come from a Consumer PR background and I enjoy Investor Relations but I'm never going to be taken very seriously by anyone because I haven't worked as a broker or fund manager.
You would be ideally placed to move across and I think you would find the pace of life much more pleasant. It is quite a specialised area at the moment and not many companies offer IR, so your timing would be good too. It is definitely one of the new growing fields under the PR umbrella as so many companies have such limited understanding of what brokers and FM's are actually looking for, how the LSE works etc, etc.
I had a huge personal career evaluation last November / December - and realised that potentially I could shamble around at the periphery of IR for years, go back to Consumer PR, which I loathed or do something completely different!

Bells,

I used to be in External Affairs/IR and the lot for a verly large multinational... It isn't such a new field (in my view) but yes it is not that easy to find competent people. If you are already in the city you will have an easier time but you might want to look at retraining and this can be done in seminars (not just big courses).
I would recommend to work in IR for a large firm/multinational not for a Financial PR consultancy (sorry Bugsy...) but you might need to start with PR firm so that you build some "PR" competencies... and then move to a large company's IR department.
That's my view at least.