Careers for highly sensitive people

[Wearegettingthere]

DD is an orchid child; highly sensitive and creative. What careers would be good for her? She likes acting, fashion. She wouldlike to be an actress but that is a very competitive career. She is in performing arts sixth form at the moment studying theatre.

It's worth her aiming to try ordinary employment, just to see what it's like. Jobs are increasingly more adaptive, but she would need to be prepared to not be the only one. In my work, one person is sensitive to the lighting (dizziness and nausea) but another is hard of hearing, has hearing aids, and needs to bright lights to help "hear".

If she does become some sort of 1:1 therapist then she can do this by video and have complete control over her sensory environment.

@BelzPark , the terms you are looking for are sociable and unsociable. Anti-social means 'contrary to the laws and customs of society, in a way that causes annoyance and disapproval in others'

If she is keen to be an actress has she actually joined an am dram group or is it pie in the sky like the 16 year old who told me he wants to be a professional footballer but doesn’t even belong to a football team. As for being an orchid child- utter garbage. Perhaps less mollycoddling would help her develop the skills to explore a multitude of other careers.

As a side note, orchids tend to do worse the more you fuss over them - in the wild, they grow on the side of trees, with no need for sticks, fancy soil mixes, ice cube watering regimes, their own TikTok account, etc etc etc

She sounds like she wants to work in the creative & performing arts in some way, however performing is fraught with difficulties, not least of which is the constant need to audition and be resilient enough to cope with many rejections along the way. That might not suit her personality.

Since she is already at performing arts school and likes acting & fashion, the obvious option to look into might be a backstage role, costume design or working in the costume department of somewhere like the RBO or a film studio. The RBO offers apprenticeships, and they also do tours of the building, and also at their props & costume stores.

She doesn't need to join an am dram group, she's already getting professional training at a performing arts college.

Another thread? I think it would be good for this delicate little flower to get a job, if only temporarily, in something like retail or hospitality where she can gain experience and toughen up.

No! She needs to grow up and learn to think of others not herself - most people who say they’re “sensitive “ are just self-absorbed.

"I was thinking something like..."

@Wearegettingthere Why are you trying to think of careers for her? She's already chosen a field she is interested in, so surely it is now up to her to think about what she wants to do, and whereabouts in the performing arts industry would be a good match for her skills and attributes.

From the perspective of someone whose dc trained in the performing arts and is now embarking on another career entirely, it is up to them. Stop thinking about all the things you don't think she is capable of, and start listening to her. There will be people at college whose brains she can pick about avenues to explore.

She'll have to get out there and face the workplace full on in order to get the qualifications and network she'll need to make a decent living self employed.

Tell her to put her big girl pants & hard hat on!

I think the careers that many think would be good for sensitive souls- like charities- are actually awful for them, because they are pressured environments and bullying can be high in them.

Similarly creative industries can be stressful if you need to be creative on cue.

I feel like working for large companies with known names and whole teams of HR can be really fulfilling for these people- they often have lots of social events, the culture is positive and well established. Maybe the events or marketing side of one of these?

Exactly.. this is the second thread I’ve read in a week about this ‘orchid’ child. OP - stop labelling your child as a flower and encourage hard work and independence instead. This shy, little ‘sensitive’ soul will have an awfully hard life if you continue thinking that being antisocial and lacking confidence is something special to be nurtured..

What is an ‘orchid child’? And do you have more than one orchid child?

And as someone who trains people for careers in the arts, an “orchid child” is never going to make it.

People in the creative industries need huge courage, resilience, and amazing talent. They need to be outward looking and pragmatic. They need to be prepared to sweat and push themselves. They need to have discipline and be adaptable and actually like other people.

Acting, for example, isn’t about expressing yourself. It’s about making your audience feel something important

And if they think they’re special and behave like it, their first job will be their last.

This.

But you only get paid if you pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and get back out there again. Self-employment means everything depends on you - no paid holidays, no pension contributions, no maternity leave, unless you earn the money to give yourself the time off. That mental pressure alone can be stressful, before the deadlines, feedback, business planning, late payments, Inland Revenue and so on.

I’ve worked in creative industries for 30+ years, and the most successful people I know would have been CEOs/govt ministers/consultants in other fields, had their talents been different - they’re just driven, focused hardnuts people who happen to be creative. Which is not to say there aren’t a lot of other opportunities in the sector, but the freelance life is not for the faint-hearted.

I agree.

After years of struggling with office politics I am now self employed and it’s so lovely.

Has she thought of speech therapy or occupational health. If she specialised with working with children that could be very creative.

I know people who have several skill sets, e.g. reflexology and mindfulness/yoga practitioner. Having both means you can combine the regular income of working for an organisation plus being self employed for the flexibility.

Speaking as an AHP, any sensitive souls who want to work in healthcare are in for a very rude awakening - it simply isn’t a suitable environment for anyone without a good amount of resilience and ability to compartmentalise. Even in paediatrics it is anything but sunshine and rainbows and you need to be able to deal with challenging family dynamics, devastating illness etc.

My mum has loads of orchids. She just waters them once a fortnight, other than that she hardly touches them. They are often tougher than you think.

It's not the young person describing herself in this way, it's her mother who's doing it.

Point taken @taxi4ballet but I wonder if the mother’s preciousness has rubbed off on her DD?

or is it @Wearegettingthere who derives some sort of (imagined) status or self-importance from having a “speshul” child?

That's a bit of a fallacy really. Clients can be very demanding and awkward. Fine if you're happy to tell a client to "bog off" if you can't accommodate their needs/wishes, but if you don't have a limitless supply of potential new clients, you do have to bend to accommodate them, even more so when it's not just a "one off" and there's a sequence of appointments. You do need to grow a backbone if you're self employed and need to quickly learn conflict management etc. But you also need flexibility, especially at the starting up stage, as not all potential new clients can meet your schedule if it's too limited, so you could find yourself wasting a lot of time and money on marketing your services, only to find your potential clients (who you've invested in just to get them to want to book your services) find your availability schedule isn't convenient.

I think you're getting some harsh replies here OP, mainly because of the way you describe your daughter. She's not an orchid child, she's probably a normal 16/17 year old, who can sometimes be quite sensitive/lacking in confidence and not know what they want to do with their lives.

Is she interested in going to university? What subjects is she studying as well as drama, or is her course fully drama/acting? Does she have any work experience, a part-time job, volunteering? What classes/hobbies does she do outside school? I'd encourage her to move outside her comfort zone and hopefully she'll start to believe in herself a bit more.

Why the need to label your dd OP?
It just makes her sound feeble and wet. I'm sure she isn't and doesn't need mum fluttering around her like a butterfly so much. You love d but fussing and labelling just buys into the 'helpless me' thing.
She sounds like a normal teen who is finding her way in life, needs a guiding hand sometimes, but primarily needs to tread their own path and make their own choices and learn from them.

Heh, they thrive on a bit of neglect. Peace lillies on the other hand. Proper drama queens.