Good jobs for gentle/introverted people?

[Samamfia]

I've worked as a media/comms officer at various places for fifteen years and a longstanding urge to change career has come to a head. There are a number of reasons that I won't bore you with, but chief amongst them is that the job just doesn't suit me and never has, really - I fell into it straight out of uni and it's at the point where the bad fit is damaging my health. I have a physical health condition that's less well-controlled than it used to be and is very triggered by stress and inactivity (so pure desk work = bad, stressy job = bad).

Any suggestions based on the following? I'm 33F.

Personality:

• gentle, introverted but I do like people and need some social contact
• not good at dealing with conflict/difficult conversations
• creative
• outdoorsy
• active, not super fit but hate sitting all day
• enjoy helping others
• not particularly squeamish
• a bit clumsy

Good at/interested in:

• making things
• the outdoors
• problem-solving - quite clever
• writing (don't want it as the sole focus of my job though)
• persuasion/selling things if non-aggressive
• organising
• ideas
• initiative - would quite like to work for myself/be self-directed
• got a degree in Eng Lit - so STEM jobs might be hard to get into
• hobbies: books, knitting, knitwear design, paddleboarding, hiking, DIY, gardening

Need:

• flexibility for regular hospital appointments without anyone being a dick about it
• £27k+
• open to retraining - but can't take years or cost thousands, and I'll need to earn at same time

How do you do replies? I only know how to do quotes - am not tech savvy

You can be introverted and still like working with people.

There are lots of different types of library jobs. A huge number of staff work behind the scenes, rather than at the desk. Also depends on the type of library.

I actually could have written this myself OP! Have the exact same dilemma with comms/marketing. And i'm even the same age as you. Your thread has been very helpful to me so just wanted to say you're not alone in your predicament - and thanks for the thread.

You just scroll to the bottom of the page you are reading and it says 'add message here'. If you click 'quote', the entire message you are replying to is quoted. Not needed where the O'Ps thread is at the top of each page.
Welcome to mumsnet. 😊

You sound a lot like me, I fell into admin work after college but never progressed in any of my roles, so I am also considering a different career path. I have thought about something like ecology, I was a temp at an ecology firm and the people were lovely and it involved a mix of survey work and desk work. Or I have considered a research job, don’t know how you get into this though.

Occupational therapy?

How about something like this?

goape.co.uk/inside-go-ape/go-ape-jobs/current-vacancies#tab-4b34f590-26b2-44d0-820a-93ceeb75d305

Comms Officer for someone like Defra, Environment Agency, Natural England, English Heritage, National Trust etc. Or entry level Project Manager for similar.

Don’t forget, if you do freelance it tends to work out a bit better on tax and your hourly/day rate is a lot higher to cover pension/holiday etc.

When I’ve done it I’ve been able to work fewer hours for the same take home. It’s a good one to keep in your back pocket.

Perhaps you could do a mix of a few days a week freelance in your field and a few days doing something new.

Which elements of your current job do you like and which bits are the ones you’d like to shake off? Taking a forensic look at your strengths, skills and less strong areas would be a good place to start.

It’s nice to know there are others! Hopefully we both find something better for us.

I just signed up for a part time horticulture course starting in September 😊

For anyone interested/facing the same issues - I'm doing a bit of freelance comms, and still on the horticulture course part-time. Having a great time and got my first exam in early March (eek)!
Keeping a blog at https://crescentesempervivum.blogspot.com/

Maybe worth having a look at the development/fundraising field? I work for a very large higher education institution and they're constantly on the lookout for people with excellent communication skills, persuasiveness and the ability to build and manage relationships with others, and there will be loads of culture and heritage organisations, outdoor attractions etc looking for people for these roles.

@Paperthin yes it is

I was thinking the same. Podiatrist might also be an option

Congrats on taking the leap into horticulture. Hope it all works out for you!

Can I ask how you found your freelance comms work?

I'm thinking about picking up a few extra hours.

@Samamfia @PiggieWig

It's all been through previous employers and contacts I'm afraid. I used to be fairly senior and attended a lot of meetings with various other comms leads in my industry, so got to know a lot of people... sorry if that's not much help!

Although that said, I have some friends who've had luck approaching established local comms agencies and offering their freelance services to help with capacity crunches. Might be worth a try?