Just The Job - Part II

[WOM]

Avoid 'The Men Who Stare at Goats'.

[WOM]

Recos upthread.

[caja-dglh]

I am a Risk Manager in a Bank, where I do pretty much everything except Credit (and actually do more of that than I wish). In any reasonable world my current role would be seven different roles.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Avoid 'The Men Who Stare at Goats'.

Appaz I've managed to do so for ten years already without knowing, so I reckon I'll be ok.

[WOM]

You've also avoided Ocean's Eleven, so you're not to be trusted. It's quite good fun.

[Sits]

O Brother Where Art Thou? is all right.

[WOM]

Hell, it's right near the top.

[Hot Pepsi]

Appaz I've managed to do so for ten years already without knowing, so I reckon I'll be ok.

I liked that one.

BTW, I write and edit for an online publication for the medical device industry. Unfortunately, it’s kinda a dead end. I know how to write in-depth useful articles about clinical trials, asking good questions of the investigators and what not, but we don’t have time for that in my current role, so I just crank out as much news as I can while rapidly editing the articles of other people without having any time to really teach them anything. It is what it is.

[Sits]

Hell, it's right near the top.

Well yeah I was being understated about it. A lot of people seem not to like it as much as other Coens but it works for me.

[NickSTFU]

Mine's changed since my OLDTF entry. I am now - and have been for 6 years - a supply teacher. I have just applied for a permanent job at the behavioural school I am working it so, God willing, I may be legit in a couple of weeks' time. Still don't know how I feel about that but supply is making me skint and I have found a place that may suit me long-term - pencil stabbings notwithstanding. Truth be told, I would probably prefer to be an educational researcher at our local university or a journalist but jobs at the former are thin on the ground and I suspect I would be under-qualified anyway and my forays into the latter haven't exactly set the world on fire.

Good luck BoE.

When I worked in SEN, I was kicked in the nuts, headed-butted, had the sleeve of my jacket slashed by a blade and spat at on a regular basis. But, it was all worth it for that tiny bit of engagement where some progress was made in achieving the statement/EHCP and the feedback from parent/carers who noticed a difference.

But, you know this.

But, please know that parent/carers will always appreciate what you do, despite not always articulating it.

Again, you know this, but still, I thought I would mention it.

[Patrick Thistle]

I'm freelance and have had a varied and sometimes mad working life. It's too all over the place to call a "career" but I have some specialist skills and knowledge areas.

It's a funny word, "career". If applied to driving it indicates being all over the place, possibly dangerous, not sticking uniformly to any discernible plan. But when it comes to work, it implies a long term plan, sticking at a job, finding your niche and excelling in it, moving up, becoming senior, taking home more money.

My career is more like the car analogy.

Started own business selling greetings cards to shops
Worked in a cinema
Briefly worked on the phones for a car insurance company
Staff writer for a charity
NHS comms role
NHS management role

No real discernible thread or plan. Just jumping from one thing to another over a 20 year period.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I'm not guaranteeing I've seen none. I just think I haven't. He's still the guy from ER, to me.

Not that I watched ER.

[Bored Of Education]

Thanks for the good wishes.

I like George Clooney for the record. I thought that "Out of sight" (which I enjoyed) was his 'proper' film but was quite surprised to see that "Dusk 'Til Dawn" which is enjoyable nonsense was before that.

[Aitch]

I'm a freelance translator (I've got a degree in it), Dutch to English, 50/50 public/private sector.

My other half is one of those faceless, unelected bureaucrats who give Nigel Farage the willies.

[Ray de Galles]

Excellent to good movies featuring The Cloon (who I will admit to having a bit of a crush on) in reverse chronological order :

Gravity
The Descendants
The Ides of March
Up In The Air
Michael Clayton (his very best and a fantastic film in every regard)
Solaris (him and Natascha McElhone probably the hottest couple in recent cinema history)
O Brother, Where Art Thou
Three Kings
Out of Sight

I've never seen an Oceans movie, strangely enough.

As for jobs, I've had a variety of jobs since I came to London.I started off running a mobile 24-hour discotheque for the St John's Ambulance Brigade. For when they have those big functions, you know.They need a discotheque standing by, just in case.We were never needed , thank God, but, you know, we were there. And after that, I set up as a freelance nudist. You know, odds and ends, weddings, opening supermarkets. Did a lot of work for Securicor, funnily enough.

Er, then came the big nudist crash of '87, and I got out and joined a removals firm in Notting Hill. We did a job for a Saudi diplomat called Nigel Havers. You can imagine the sort of stick he got, having the same name as Nigel Havers, that's rightEr, he was a nice enough chap. We moved house for him. He wanted his house moved down to the end of the street, as he said it was easier to park there. The funny thing was that we'd just finished it and put the last slate back on the roof, and this Austin 1100 came and parked right in front, so we had to move it all back again. But Happy days, happy days.

Then, erm Let me see, I had a couple of months in the white slave trade. On the selling side, I should point out. It was just, you know, telephone stuff. Mostly mail order work, in fact. It was pretty dull, but that got me my next job, which was as director of pharmaceutical research for ICI. God knows why, 'cause I don't know anything about drugs. But I did do a pretty good interview. But they rumbled me, eventually. All I could think of to say was that the pills ought to be oblong instead of round. And after a couple of years of that, you know, they threw me out. Which was just fine with me, 'cause I needed a break.

I went and joined this group of travelling loss adjusters. Because in the summer, you see, there aren't many losses that need adjusting. And what they do is that they go round the seaside resorts putting on loss-adjusting shows for children, which was great fun. God, we drank a lot, though. Those loss adjusters can stick it away. It's unbelievable. Then after that, I spent a couple of months as Princess Anne's assistant. Well, I chucked that in because, you know, it's perfectly obvious they were never going to make me Princess Anne, no matter how well I did the job. And it was a question of who you were, rather than how well you did the job, and I hate that, just can't bear that.

[Simon G]

I'm a claims adjuster for an Insurance Solutions company - we basically take on the work for clients (Reinsurance companies in the London Market) who have too much or don't have the staff, or simply think it's cheaper to outsource.

I don't actually adjust the claims, so it's a bit of a false title. It's also extremely tedious, though the hours are perfect due to the flexibility.

When I joined OTF last year I was working my redundancy in motor claims, having spent 12 years doing it. I miss motor claims.

My wife is a cleaner at the local doctor's surgery - 2 hours a night, Monday to Friday. She was an admin assistant and practical PA at a bin wholesalers until our twins were born. The cost of childcare meant that we would have been paying for her to go to work in the school holidays, so she was forced to take whatever was on offer outside of school hours.

[Incandenza]

Grant officer at a research university, reviewing and submitting applications for funding support, and reviewing and signing awards on behalf of the university. The field is called research administration, but very few people know what that means.

[Ray de Galles]

Oh, it's not mine and I wasn't trying to claim it. It's a Fry & Laurie sketch.

[Sits]

I didn't know that either.

[JVL]

I'm a freelance German->English translator, specialising in motorsport, golf, football and all the less interesting IT/user interface-related stuff that actually turns into regular work and pays the bills.