What job do you do? Being nosy!

[OnTheJourneyOnwards]

Basically what it says on the title!

What job do you do?

I'm trying to work out a new path for myself - I've been a teacher (too people-y and long hours), and spent the last 8 years in marketing, getting quite senior but I'm now looking for something new.

So tell me what you do, and if you like it, and why!

Bonus points for jobs that let you drop off and pick up kids from school or be flexible around school holidays 😁

I'm a jeweller, I mostly enjoy it although it can be stressful with tight deadlines. I like restoring, repairing and polishing old jewellery or making things wearable for someone, if it's been broken or the wrong size, but I also make new things.
I don't work with the public so not too peopley, although i get on well with my colleagues!

Fun! I work in Digital Accessibility so a lot of the events I go to online and in person will have interpretation. Cool job!

When they do surveys, hairdressers rank of some of the happiest in their work.
I think it attracts happy people too. Good communication skills etc.

I’ve definitely become happier from doing it! It’s funny because I’m naturally quite shy and introverted (until I get to know people) but it’s like doing this job forced me to fake it until I made it, and now it comes naturally and I love it.

I also have ADHD and it’s good because it’s a very active job so it suits how my mind works. A busy day goes by in a flash.

I would encourage any young person to consider it as a career. I believe there is actually a shortage of people training to become hairdressers.
(https://stylespeak.com/news/uks-hair-salons-in-recruitment-crisis-as-gen-z-turns-away/#:~:text=Reportedly%2C%20UK's%20hairdressing%20industry%20is,struggling%20to%20hire%20new%20stylists. )

I don’t think we’ll be taken over by robots or AI any time soon. And you can do it anywhere! One of my fellow trainees moved out to Sydney and another is a hairdresser on a cruise ship.

I run 2 refreshments kiosk on parks in east anglia.
My history is pubs before which I wouldn't go back to. I love my job, it's great looking out of the window and seeing the swans and ducks float by!

Wine taster.

entails everything from end to end project life cycle… putting together initial documents, resource planning, discovery work, planning out milestones, interdependencies, comms plans, running exec update meetings, running project level catch ups to chase actions, coordinating business analyst support for testing if it’s a systems project, liaising with third party suppliers, escalating issues, all the admin in between… but worst of all firefighting when people constantly don’t do the actions they say they’re going to do by the timeframe agreed. And then if I ever complete a project, managing all the project closure and review side of it too.

got to wear multiple hats all at once and often across multiple projects and programmes.

I’ve got line management responsibility as well which adds to the sheer stress of managing the projects.

re. Groups of people, I work in a smallish company so me and the other PM are constantly butting heads trying to utilise the same people as we only have a limited number of people and of those specialists in the project areas… that’s partly why it makes so hard to progress any actions.

and mixed messages from above about what the priority projects are… they’re all a priority apparently!!

I’m a sexual health nurse. It’s very people-y.

I love my job though, and no two days are the same! I’ve never once regretted leaving acute care; nobody dies in sexual health, I don’t get physically and verbally abused, I’m not juggling ten very sick people at once with very little help and burning myself out working all the shift patterns under the sun. DP admitted after I left acute nursing that I’d become unbearable to live with because I was so exhausted, miserable and angry all the time

I now treat a bit of gonorrhoea, fit a couple of implants, teach a few medical students and go home with a quiet, happy brain. It’s truly the best job I’ve ever had and I don’t think I will ever move on to a different area of nursing now.

Funeral celebrant. The best role I’ve ever heard in 45 years of working life. It’s very peopley!

Emotionally rewarding but not financially, and being SE it can be quite stressful. But I love it, looking towards retirement now so I won’t be looking for anything else.

Accountant for a small business. Not the most exciting but I do enjoy it. The team are lovely. I work flexibly and mostly remote. Not a massive salary but over average and feels fair for what I do. I expect I could be earning more by now if I'd stayed in a large corporate but I didn't enjoy the environment.

My DM has spent the last 15 years in sexual health after various other NHS roles. She absolutely loves it too, and has only just put her notice in to retire at 70.

Teacher too and following this thread with interest. I'm retiring next year at 56 and need something part time to top up my pension.

Paraplanner for a small pensions and investment business.

Basically I write a report and research investments to back up what the Financial Advisor has advised!

May sound boring to some, the company I work for are amazing. Flex Time, wfh if I want to. Really lucky. About £17.50 per hour I think.

@WetBandits is it definitely ok now to keep a Mirena Coil in for longer than the original 5 years?

Imteresting that the hairdressers, nail techs and cleaners are all reporting high job satisfaction. When I was at school they were considered quite lowly careers for the "less able". My own cleaner, hairdresser and nail tech all love what they do - and are intelligent, compassionate, fantastic women who excel at their jobs and I respect hugely.

My DC are both academically able but far prefer the more practical subjects - I'd be be very happy for them to go into any of these areas (also less risk from AI than many office type jobs!).

I sometimes wish I'd gone into something more hands on (and people-y 😁) myself. But then I became very unwell so now I thank my lucky stars I can earn a decent, regular wage sitting with my laptop at home.

I work in a pharmacy as a dispenser. It’s long hours for minimum pay but I find the work really interesting and I love helping people. I didn’t quite realise how intense the dispensing course would be though - over 25 tests in less than a year’s time with no chance to revise during work hours. Cramming it all in around the family life, birthdays and now Christmas too. But I wake up on a work day and feel almost happy to be going in to do my bit. It’s amazing how much people rely on their pharmacies nowadays and most are truly grateful to us for how we drop everything to help. It’s really rewarding.

I’m a Higher Level Teaching Assistant covering classes for teachers on PPA and sickness etc. Love the variety as I cover all primary years and no day is the same. Love that I get the best bits of teaching without all the planning and extra meetings. Love the hours and holidays but the pay is not great for what I do.

Teacher! Love it, but it takes over my life. Trying to find a way I can do it, but still have a balance… not sure how yet!

Global headhunter

surprisingly dull, zero travel

however I wfh most days and hours are flexible. I have lots of meetings but have control over when they are so can work around kids pretty easily

I agree with this. You can't be a teacher half heartedly. When you have the time and the energy to put everything into it it's a wonderful job. I've been part time now for 10 years and had a terrible time. You just can't be a decent teacher part time imo. I'm looking for a way out until I can commit to full time again.

I'm an independent reviewing officer and also a child protection conference chair...they're two sides of the same job basically but two titles 🤣

For the past 12 years I've worked in Social Media, I'm now solely a content creator. Great job, totally flexible, always there for school runs etc and it's fun most of the time. I've seen the rise of the commodification of social media which has been...interesting to say the least. I plan to quit the day job next year as my 'hobby' publishing company has taken off and I'm finding myself a bit too busy

Chartered Surveyor. Not flexible around children, but my husband is flexible so he picks up the slack. First two jobs after graduation I hated, it took me a very long time to find my specialism and a job I enjoyed. I got my qualifications as a youngster (Chartered at 23) - RICs accredited degree followed by two year APC (on the job training with an interview at end).

Oh but it is flexible...ish. if I have afternoon conference then I'm not going to be out in time for school run but otherwise I can schedule things as they suit me. And the money is quite good. Its very very very busy though and very high stakes

A senior lecturer in nursing. The upsides are I basically manage myself and can work flexibly and I love the students and subject.The downsides are I've had to study for most of my life, it can be quite isolating and intermittently pressured.