Okay wise MNetters help me choose between the two please! Name changed as potentially outing with other posts.
Job A
Been doing for last 8 years. Three breaks in service - 2x internal transfers, 1x external transfer all of 11 months. Heavy workload, individual caseload, busy +++ which I love. Totally WFH which fits caring responsibilities. Organisation couldn't care less whether I'm there or not. Direct LM is amazing, above him the incompetence simply gets greater the higher you go. Requires a professional qualification which I have had for almost 18 years. Fairly senior role, public service. Team is small - 80% of them are great, 20% are bullies including bullying me and my LM directly. Team meetings often end in arguments. Mediation has been tried 3x each more unsuccessful than the last. Colleagues on same grade checking you've worked your hours, auditing your work (against their own standards - there is a formal audit undertaken by LM, he has never authorised their audits). £1800 take home pay.
Job B
Unqualified position but in an area I have already decided I want to break into. The qualification takes 2 years plus a work placement like hen's teeth. I've completed the first year, about to start the second, and work with qualified professionals who assess the applications for those hens teeth placements. Faaaaaarrrr less busy - think 200mph to 45mph. 3 days a week work from office. £1500 take home pay per month. Been there 8 months. In my second month I received a bonus in my pay check for a project I'd done. Lots of praise - feels undeserved as it was a very simple project. I feel like I'm being paid to not do much, and although the MD seems quite blaze about that I feel guilty! Team are great and regularly suggest coffee mornings, after work drinks. Nobody notices whether you're at your desk or not unless they actually need you. Job B May get busier next year. I'm also conscious how it may look on placement applications if I've been doing a lower grade version of the job then returned to my previous profession that might stand out as me not being committed.
Both are private sector, both long-term/permanent contracts.