If you like your job

[Yankees21]

What do you do, and what do you like about it?

I'm hating my job lately (which could be in part that I'm a tax accountant) and I'm stuck between wanting to find a new job and having no idea what I would possibly want to do.

[Deleted]

Um, I do environmental work and government relations for an evil oil and gas company. It's like the trifecta of fuckery.

The only thing I'm not doing is like...selling meth to school children.

[Yankees21]

Apr 4, 2013 10:36:28 GMT -5 toledo said:

I'm thinking April 4 might not be the best time to assess your job happiness as an accountant.

I know, but does it help that I don't like it when it's not tax season either?

[MWOS]

Bath salts manufacturing


I like it because I'm my own boss and I get to do science

[Deleted]

I'm an in-house physician recruiter. I love it.

It's fast paced, always changing, I get to travel and talk to people all day long.

[soleil]

I'm a project assistant at a large law firm--I work in tax law.  I like it because its a bit of pseudo position at my firm--I do paralegal work, junior lawyer work, interesting research. 

I sort of fell into it, I had no background in law or finances.  I was a Criminology major, and my previous job was at a domestic violence shelter.  I couldn't stand the commute, working nights and weekends, the low pay and the emotional toll so I sold out and applied to corporate jobs. 

My strengths are multi-tasking and research, so I really like those aspects of my job (the pay, stability and great hours helo as well).  I get to work on interesting deals, and the more I learn the more I am receiving higher level projects to work on.

I enjoy my firm so I am ultimately hoping to move up somehow into a project coordinator position or perhaps management.  My technical manager was suggesting moving into a paralegal position but I would rather move up into a position with more up-ward mobility potential (plus I really hate billable hours!).

[Deleted]

I'm a school nurse, I love it.

[princessx]

This may not be too helpful for you then - I love my job, and I'm a tax accountant.  I'm the Director for a multi-national public company.  No personal tax season for me, just lots of international corporate planning.  I assume you are with a firm, Have you considered a move to industry?

Px

[Yankees21]

Apr 4, 2013 10:48:57 GMT -5 jillianashley6 said:

Apr 4, 2013 10:36:28 GMT -5 toledo said:

I'm thinking April 4 might not be the best time to assess your job happiness as an accountant.

LOL!

Yankess- have you considered being a recruiter for some of the bigger firms? I know Deloitte, PWC, EY, etc hire full time recruiters to help them find new associates. They usually want someone with experience, but still young and fun to relate to the people they are recruiting (often college kids).

I will say- my H was a tax accountant, and worked for a medium sized firm. He HATED it.
He moved to an internal audit position for a large oil and gas company and really enjoys it. There's more travel than he likes (its about 25% travel), but its a great position, it will be easy to move up (and stop traveling) after a few years.

ETA: Oh- I'm a counselor at a college of business. I do some advising, but mostly work with freshmen on retention, orientation, etc.

Thanks, I'll have to look into that!
 
I chose accounting because I didn't know what I wanted to do and I was good at the classes, but I want a job that I actually look forward to. I fully admit, this could be a "me" problem.

[kcandbrae]

i'm an 11th grade english teacher.

i like it because it's only my first year teaching. lol.

actually, i really enjoy teaching. i would have never imagined i'd end up here but it's a good fit for my life. plus, i get to read and analyze books all year and take the summer off. not too shabby at all.

[nursewife]

I'm a nurse and love it. We check patients stats before the doc comes in. Assist male docs with paps, breast exams. Help with in office perform biopsies Anc procesures. Weigh, measure, and immunize children. Perform diabetic feet checks. Renew prescription for docs. Sometime go on house visits with the doctors. Overall interesting. Also new. Things to learn.

[fuckyourcouch]

i'm a geologist. i like rocks so i like it.

but it's not really something you go out and try without a degree in it.
keep in mind it could be your company. i love my job but can't stand my company.

[evynsmama]

I do, I am in Human Resources and I love that I can help people and no day is ever the same!

[gozf]

I do PR in higher ed. I love my boss, I have a nice office, and I get paid to write. I like working on a campus, and I have access to a lot of cool stuff because it.

[shoeless]

Engineer
I like my job because it has instant gratification (for engineers at least). Every 3-4 months I am testing a design and I know that our designs have real world impact.

[Yankees21]

Apr 4, 2013 11:04:29 GMT -5 fuckyourcouch said:

i'm a geologist. i like rocks so i like it.

but it's not really something you go out and try without a degree in it.
keep in mind it could be your company. i love my job but can't stand my company.

That's a good point..I work at a very small firm and love my boss but my main client, who I probably spend 30 hours/week doing work for, is extremely difficult to work with and the source of a lot of my frustration.

Thanks everyone for sharing, it is really interesting to see the different jobs out there.

[circa1978]

I do digital marketing and marketing strategy for a major university, which is a really fancy way of saying I get paid to spend time on the internet. It's not what I chose coming out of college but I do feel like it makes a difference in the world and it's really inspiring to come into contact with our students and (some of) the professors.

[2boys2danes]

I work for a large non-profit... I do organization development/succession planning/talent review/coaching/leadership development/employee engagement and culture. In other words, all things to make the organization and our leaders the best ever and I have loved most every minute of my almost 14 years there.

The downsides are that you know wayyyyy too much about people's personal and professional lives and where the political bodies are buried thruout the organization which can be a head game but if you can deal with it, its awesome.

Good luck finding just what you would like!

[Deleted]

I'm a computer technician and I like my job because my coworkers are awesome. I've had a job before where I was backstabbed a lot.

[carifly]

There are lots of other things you can do with accounting that you might like better. Maybe start by pinpointing what some specific things about your job make you hate it, what parts you like, and then it might be easier to see what a better position might look like. If the problem is really that your main client sucks, you might just need a new firm or even just ask to be moved to a different engagement.

I spent 7 years doing outsourced accounting for nonprofits through a mid-sized firm and really loved it. Now I'm the controller at a mid-sized non profit and while I like it, I find it a little boring compared to working at the firm because there is less variety. I'm currently getting my MPA and hope to move into a COO type role in the future.

[azurely]

I'm a special ed teacher. I work with mostly kids with behavior disorders. It's interesting and I feel like I'm making a difference.

[ginger]

I absolutely love my job.

I'm a project controls specialist. Sounds all fancy huh? Basically, it's all the fun stuff with accounting I love, and none of the things I hate. I just analyse budgets and try to make the project managers understand how things work, and it's not the same as the way they want it to work. I also get to look like a rock star when I find missing money or recover money that our accounting team screwed up.

I get paid to do math! I'm not joking. I really love my job.

[lightyears]

 recently started doing facility administration and i love it.

eat it, breathe it, want to bathe in it.

[birdistheword]

I am the project manager for a school district technology department. I like it because I get to play with all kinds of fun technology, and it's low stress. I design a lot of the district's newsletters/brochures/web graphics, so I get to play with Photoshop and Illustrator a lot. And I get summers and holidays off.

[Deleted]

I am a school counselor. I love my job and couldn't imagine doing anything else. It's a very emotional job but I love helping the students.

[litebright]

I write about the wireless industry for a trade news site. Specifically, infrastructure and network testing. It's not sexy stuff, but it's interesting and very technical -- which is one of the things I like about it, the fact that I'm always learning new things and getting a better understanding of really complex topics.

Journalism is kind of a sucky field to be in right now, but telecom is excellent, so it evens out a bit. Very fast-paced with lots of innovation. Companies in the industry are always looking for number-crunchers and/or analysts.

[Deleted]

I do physical therapy in an LTAC (long term acute care) facility.  Basically, a rehab hospital for people after they leave an acute care hospital but before they are ready to go home. I love it. Some of it is a PITA but mostly I like it. It's really great to see someone go from being on a vent and unable to walk to walking around and eventually going home.  Then you get the odd patient who has scabies and you wonder why you do this shit. Lol. 

[10outof9]

I'm the Education Curator at a zoo, and I LOVE it. I love working with children and animals, and my absolute favorite thing is getting to teach kids something new about the natural world. I get to be very silly and play with some amazing animals, and I get to show off something I'm passionate about every day. I also love working with our volunteers and recognizing them for the great work they do. And I love planning our special events - especially our Halloween event.

I don't love the crappy pay, the long hours, or being the only person in my department, but the work itself is pretty much the only think I can see myself doing.