Help me find a job that I don't suck at

November 2, 2020 2:00 PM

Anonymous due to risk of co-workers on here. I have been fired or left when I started failing at almost every job I had. I started off as an admin but it was a disaster. After a couple of admin jobs I ended up working for a charity where I was supporting people as part of my administrative duties. I loved it - it was my longest role up to that point, but it was still an admin job and it's clear that I don't possess the organisational skills for that.

So I trained as a teacher - first of adults, then as teenagers. I am great at delivery and great at one to one support, but my lack of organisation lets me down.

I have severe anxiety which could be a factor, but it is controlled by medication. For various reasons I don't want to mess with the medication I'm on - I'm functional on it which is the best I've ever managed.

So - I'm brainstorming. I want my work life to be less of a source of stress. Can you recommend any jobs where I can still work with people but that don't require strong administrative skills. I'm in the UK if it makes a difference.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (7 answers total)

I have a UK friend in a similar situation who worked as a teaching assistant for a while, because it had a lot of the good parts of teaching but not the stress and admin burden.
posted by quacks like a duck at 2:03 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]

What's been the problem with lack of organization? A lot of jobs require more organization in some areas and less in other areas, so it might help to know the details.

I'm thinking about freelance tutoring, for instance — in some ways, there's less admin work than teaching, since you don't have so many rules and processes to follow; in other ways, because you're your own boss, you have to be more on top of things like scheduling and planning. Or there are a lot of jobs that require stronger attention to detail than teaching, but let you focus on one thing at a time instead of having a roomful of teenagers and a parent to remember to call back and tomorrow's lesson planning on your mind all at once. Would that be easier or harder for you?

Also, for whatever it might be worth, I'm not going to tell you to change your meds, but please keep taking anxiety seriously as part of this. I feel like "my symptoms are under control, so I must just suck" is a sentence that is rarely true, you know?
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:27 PM on November 2, 2020 [6 favorites]

You are describing my ADHD self. I am terrible at organization, but have been able to fake it through a lot of jobs because I'm pretty smart and capable overall. But TERRIBLE at organization.

And I've realized that anxiety is a coping method I've used for a lifetime of undiagnosed ADHD. By constantly worrying about what I might be forgetting, I got used to running lists of things I might be forgetting in my head, so I would forget fewer things. The worry became the structure for my organization, and now it's its own freestanding edifice that is not good for me.

As I said in another recent thread, what I am best at is customer service stuff, or any job, really, where the task to be done is immediate and finishable. I can't plan or track over long periods (or not without heavy support and a lot of focus), but I'm really good at individual interactions and tasks. I work at the front desk of a library and it's been great for me, but I was also good in a (loosely defined) customer support role, where my job was to take each message/ticket/problem and work it through in a relatively short amount of time while maintaining a positive relationship with the client.

I hope this info helps!
posted by gideonfrog at 3:28 PM on November 2, 2020 [9 favorites]

When I started reading your post, I thought maybe hotline work would be good for you. It would allow you to provide the one on one support you're good at, without requiring much organization. Mainly you show up, pick up the phone when it rings, and talk to people, with a small amount of paperwork.

But if your anxiety would be triggered by suicide or domestic violence topics, maybe you could do online tutoring from home?
posted by Flock of Cynthiabirds at 5:33 PM on November 2, 2020 [1 favorite]

Something in a call centre? They have a bad reputation, but I've spent time in a couple of water company call centres, and the work itself is fairly regimented but you're mostly helping people resolve issues and because of the essential service nature it's got a different feel to an exclusively commercial outfit (there's also no sales element). There is a lot of structure and the admin is very 'do at the time' rather than requiring organisational skills. Customer support call centres in good companies also have a reputation for having very friendly colleagues. The main downside is that it's pretty regimented with targets to meet and you effectively have to account for your time.

In a similar vein, but much more on the public service side, you could work in a Highways England control centre helping motorists on the road, or train for 999 work with one of the emergency services. Those are less regimented, and are shift-based. 999 work is obviously stressful. Again, there is paperwork but there are generally systems to organise things rather than you having to be self-organising.
posted by plonkee at 2:00 AM on November 3, 2020

I'm reacting more to the title of your post than the specifics. It made me think of the workbook Discover What You're Best At. It's a series of aptitude tests, and depending on your particular combination of aptitudes, it lists a bunch of job and career ideas that match your particular skill set. I used this years ago and it directed me to a job/career I love.
posted by smokyjoe at 6:14 PM on November 4, 2020

I’m very late to this so you might not even see this, but if you do, my experience could be relevant. I too am good at delivering teaching but find admin stressful to the point of impossibility. The job which suited me the best was as a commercial IT trainer. Other people were responsible for organising my diary & bookings. I would just be told something like, ‘Next week you’ll be on site, teaching Excel 2016 level 2 on Mon & Tues, then a 3 day advanced PowerPoint. The week after you’ll be at Mega Corp in Nearby City, delivering 2 lots of advanced Excel.’ There were no assignments to be marked. I just had to keep my knowledge & qualifications up to date, sort out my own travel & get good reviews from customers. Might this sort of thing suit you?
posted by cantthinkofagoodname at 11:39 AM on November 8, 2020 [1 favorite]