Jobs you would or wouldn't reccommend to your children

[Maine234]

My son is still young but is starting to think about what job he would like to have when he is older and it got me thinking about the types of jobs I would reccommend to him.

I dont have any experience with emergency services or teaching but as an outsider looking in, it seems to me that both areas are overworked, underpaid, understaffed, underappreciated and very stressful with a poor work life balance. So I would be telling my son to think very very carefully before going down these routes.
I would also advise against anything strongly reliant on tourism as that seems to be the first place people cut back when money is tight and every recession sees thousands of job losses in tourism.

If I had to reccommend some industries I would go for phamaceitucals, waste management or food producion. They are the first industries that spring to mind when I think about stability because people will always need medicine, food and a way to get rid of their rubbish.

Interested to hear what other jobs or Industries people would or wouldn't reccommend.

I totally agree. My most recent job was with an organisation which makes a difference and it was just so much better, and more rewarding than anything else I've ever done.

I would steer anyone away from an office job - boring as!!!

So that also rules out dentists, surgeons, nurses, vets. In fact, anything that’s not a desk job?

Please don't go into-
Teaching, nursing, any NHS job. Find something you really enjoy and follow a pathway to that. I wish I'd gone into Marine biology or gardening.

There are degrees. My husband has a doctor who was a surgeon but lost a hand. So now he sees patients for office visits.

Many fields are adaptable to physical constraints. There are reasonable accommodations. There are also pivots into related jobs.

there are many fields though where statistically people are much more likely to end up on disability well before retirement age. Those are the kind of jobs we recommend against because why set yourself up for a path shown to be more brutal.

I wouldn't want my kids working in architecture. Horrible toxic industry with a huge mental health crisis problem that nobody talks about.

Wow. Teacher here and I love my job.
I'm in a lovely secondary school (it's not an academy, nor is it private).
It's a privilege to work with teenagers and see them grow and develop. I work in the evenings but I don't mind, I wouldn't know what else to do with myself and I do leave before 4pm some days. Don't work at all in the (14 weeks) holidays. In fact, we are encouraged not to - wellbeing and workload are high on the agenda at the moment.
The day has five one hour lessons and I'm usually free for one of them so it flies by. Nice supportive colleagues and management. Lots of autonomy. You see the impact of your own work right in front of you, live.

Weird q but do you have kids leccybill?

I loved teaching secondary and the buzz of it all until I a) had kids and b)got older.

I needed time and energy for things other than teaching. But while I was young I loved the all consuming nature of it!

Nothing that's just been crushed by AI obviously, so no graphic design, copywriting, web development, VFX, editing, any of those jobs because the entry level jobs have gone and the rest are in for it. But he won't need that advice in 15 years as it will be obvious.

Otherwise, find meaningful work that you can be proud of and spend your time building deep relationships that nourish you. We know that's the secret to a happy life really.

I don't think that's the same advice as do what you love. It might be closer to love what you do.

Discourage - teacher, armed service, customer service roles, NHS

Encourage - IT, Scientist, Law

My girls are both horse riders and my main advice is to find a job that pays enough to have them as a hobby's do not make them your job (unless it's something more professional like equine physio). The long hours and poor pay of a groom is a place I've been and would not recommend

I wouldn't have wanted mine to go into the armed forces or join the police force. There was no chance of either as he had definite ideas about his future career from a fairly young age and worked towards that.

Teaching. I’d like my girls to be happy and healthy, so this kind of rules this profession out in my experience.

Anything in the NHS as it just seems to stressful.

Police/Fire service etc.

Army/Navy.

I wouldn’t recommend working in a big 4 type multinational. Toxic environments and poor pay.
nor would I recommend staying at home sitting on their arses not working. I respect all jobs

In my case it's GKs, now, one wants to be a space engineer, the other a chef. I said anything on the building line, plumber electrician,they are like hens teeth. My DKs, I said I would be happy with them doing anything honest and legal,they felt happy doing. Unfortunately, one DS has rapid cycle bipolar, and lots of other health problems because of this. Other son has severe depression. Both having very high IQs, but frequently unable to set foot outside of their front doors.

Yes to male dominated roles. Pay and conditions are much better.

Speaking as an ex teacher, never do teaching.

Id advise mine to become robots. Because that’s the future.

It's interesting the comments about nursing and the NHS. There is a global shortage of qualified healthcare professionals and Nursing can take you all over the world. I had the opportunity to work in the States for a few years, including Honolulu, so not only did I get the experience of travel but when I came home we had enough cash to buy our house outright.

Sex workers will always be in demand.

It’s hard to be prescriptive..nearly everyone complains. Jobs that cannot be replaced by AI are a shrinking pool.

I was a classroom assistant. Now I work in policy. My wage is double and the work is half the effort. It's insane.

I'm a teacher and since after the pandemic I've felt jealous of the flexibility many of my friends now have. Flexible hours, working from home etc. my dd still has to go to breakfast club and after school. We're coming to the end of a long extension project on our home and trying to do that without flexible jobs has been really stressful. People nowadays seem to expect you to be able to just be at home when needed but I can't even answer my phone at work. So I'd be advising my dc to think about how important job flexibility is to them.

Recommend
Any financial services
Any tech
Dentistry
Military
Self employed trade

Nothing else tbh
Those are all reasonably flexible and well paid eg military good pension can leave 40ish

All my kids want to be in tech engineering (Im a head of data, husband is head of tech engineering) work 9-6, wfh, a bit stressful but well paid

Girls saying they want to earn £100k ish by age 30 so can afford to have kids themselves

Sadly hard up people cant afford kids these days :(

I think it does sound brilliant work/lfie balance but neither of mine are into computing.

I doubt mine will ever earn 100k (we have multiple degrees but don't earn anywhere near that!!). Thankfully they know they don't need 100k to gave kids although I agree it makes life so much easier.!

That did make me smile. I'm a single parent to 2 dc and I earn 12k a year 😆. 100k would be lovely I'm sure though!

I find this thread so strange.

I want my children to be happy, and to follow their dreams- not listen to me what they should do.

The only things I would actively not want my children to do is join the armed forces or anything I’m ethically opposed to- as I hope they will grow up with similar values. With the succession of buffoons running the country, I worry what unethical or illegal war we’ll get into.

other than that, the world is their oyster- and if it doesn’t work out, they can change their mind and their career path. They’ll work for more than fifty years and I don’t want them to be miserable!