Readers had an incredible dialog the opposite day about non-desk jobs, so we thought we’d gather all of their recommendation into one place. Curious what non-desk jobs are on the market, or the right way to get right into a profession discipline the place you aren’t chained to a desk all day? This submit is for you.
First, right here was the query that sparked the dialogue:
As I sit chained to my desk for happening 8 years, I generally daydream about having a job that isn’t a desk job. It’s by no means a selected job in my daydreams although, as a result of I’ve no need to enter the medical discipline or be a policewoman, firefighter, plumber, and so on (what all these “non desk job” lists include). Who right here has an enchanting non desk job? Or is aware of somebody who does? How did you/they get into it?
Readers got here up with a TON of nice concepts, so we thought we’d spherical them up. Some individuals who HOLD non-desk jobs weighed in, whereas others knew individuals who had been in particular non-desk careers (similar to forrestry)!
Have you ever ever thought of non-desk jobs? What are your greatest tips about the right way to get a fantastic non-desk job?
The right way to Discover a Nice Non-Desk Job
Artsy Non-Desk Jobs
One reader famous that you may be an “[a]rtist, seamstress, clothes designer, inside decorator, dietitian… something the place you go to shoppers’ houses or workplaces!”
Jeweler. However, the reader who steered this famous, “I’m obsessive about jewellery, particularly pearls and semiprecious gem stones. Tremendous eager about lab created valuable stones as properly.”
Stage supervisor. One reader famous, “In my fantasy life, I’m a stage supervisor for dwell theater (like performs or musicals, not rock reveals).”
Museum jobs. Not fairly an artsy job, however in an analogous vein, one reader famous that her favourite job working at a museum, “particularly on the ground interacting with friends. Pay was absolute sh!t however I cherished it.”
Occasion Administration/Coordination. (I’ve really heard these are nice jobs for former theater managers!) As one reader famous, whilst you’re on the occasion you’re working round caring for every part, however there’s quite a lot of hands-on prep work, similar to “scoping out the occasion house, assembly with distributors, and so on. There are corporations that do that full time and a number of other giant corporations have a full in-house occasions group. Likewise, many customer expertise jobs are primarily occasion administration jobs in-house for a venue (NFL stadium, museum, live performance venue).”
Instructing Non-Desk Jobs
One reader got here up with a ton of nice concepts, together with instructing. “Whereas there’s quite a lot of prep work, grading, remark writing, and school conferences, the time you’re bodily instructing just isn’t at at desk. It’s after all grade and topic dependent, however instructing a science class with a lab element can be arms on, as would instructing elementary schoolers.”
Readers additionally famous that daycare/preschool academics ought to be included in addition to Ok-12 academics!
Non-Desk Jobs That Are Not Docs (However Are Drugs-Adjoining)
One reader got here up with a bunch of nice concepts for medicine-adjacent non-desk jobs:
– Therapists similar to specialists in bodily remedy, occupational remedy, or speech remedy. Readers famous, “I’ve mates who’re all 3 and they’re all so proud of their careers. You are able to do these jobs in so many alternative settings. For instance, I’ve two mates who’re OTs. One works in a hospital with sufferers recovering from survey whereas one other works with toddlers and younger youngsters of their houses and colleges completely.” (Observe that you could be want a BS to pursue this path — I had one buddy who had a BA in performing and determined to not pursue occupational remedy as a result of she would have wanted to mainly redo her whole school training.)
– Medical system gross sales. One reader famous, ” I’ve a couple of mates in medical system gross sales and so they all like it and make actually nice cash. They’re totally on web site at hospitals after which somewhat WFH for the admin a part of the job.”
– Medical analysis coordinators and lab scientists. One reader famous: “Undecided what your background is and/or when you’re prepared to return to highschool, however I’ve a number of mates who work in labs doing various things (don’t ask me what) or as scientific analysis coordinators that appear to be desk and non-desk. Likewise, some engineering jobs are all desk work and a few engineering jobs are very arms on and a few fall in between.”
Non-Desk Jobs Outdoors
Forestry. One reader famous, “My ex husband was a forester. He labored for a state forestry fee. Received into it by going to forestry faculty.”
One other reader steered working for a public lands company or changing into a backcountry information. “I had non-desk jobs within the first decade of my working life, although it’s been nearly a decade of desk jobs now. They had been largely within the hospitality / out of doors training / environmental consciousness house. My mates who nonetheless work in that space typically are some kind of backcountry information or work for a public lands company.”
Yet one more reader famous that she’d like to get right into a wilderness search and rescue with a canine group.
“Skilled” Non-Desk Jobs
One other reader got here up with quite a lot of nice concepts for non-desk jobs that had been in corporate-adjacent fields:
– Industrial pilot. Readers famous that you may be a industrial pilot till you’re 65 — and there’s discuss that age might improve as a result of total pilot scarcity.
– Company coaching. There are a ton of company coaching jobs on the market, together with orientation, onboarding, technical expertise coaching, administration coaching, DEI coaching, and extra. One reader famous that:
when you like the thought of instructing however don’t wish to work with children or in a faculty, there are many company and authorities coaching groups. My first job in my discipline was working for a big emergency administration company on their coaching group. We didn’t do onboarding or orientation (that was all HR) however we did coaching on totally different emergency conditions for our workers and workers from companion companies. I used to be the coordinator, so I didn’t develop or give the trainings, nevertheless it was a fantastic group.
– Authorities jobs with group engagement roles. One reader famous, “There are quite a lot of authorities jobs that contain working with the general public / group engagement roles. Clearly, that isn’t everybody’s cup of tea however there’s a group of three in my present workplace who do it and so they appear completely satisfied.”
– Lobbyist. Loads of desk time, however a number of going locations: conferences with lawmaker workers, conferences with shoppers/coalitions/stakeholders, fundraising occasions. (Fundraisers are generally fancy such as you think about them; different occasions it’s consuming a stale danish at 7:30 am in a cramped restaurant occasion room.)
One reader chimed in along with her expertise in native authorities emergency administration:
I’m an area authorities emergency supervisor. I’ve loads of desk work: common admin work, writing studies, emails and telephone calls with companions and distributors, managing grants and distributors, writing plans. Nonetheless, there are quite a lot of conferences, trainings, group engagement work, logistics work, and naturally, emergency response. Emergency administration just isn’t for everybody (and I’m at present extremely burnt out), nevertheless it’s total a fantastic match for me.
Why Non-Desk Jobs Could Not Be a Good Match For You
One reader added a giant caveat to non-desk jobs: “One factor I’ve discovered about non-desk jobs is that almost all of them require in-person work all or nearly all of the time. So, when you worth distant or hybrid work then these jobs should not seemingly an excellent match.”
One other reader steered staying away from analyst positions in order for you a non-desk job. “At an outdated job of mine we had an analyst who just about stayed at her desk and made dashboards, trackers, maps whereas others obtained to go do “cool” issues.”
Yet one more reader had a fantastic quip that defined why she selected her desk job: “I really feel prefer it’s both take care of the general public, be good at math, or have a desk job. I can’t do the primary two, so I settled for a desk job.”
Readers, what are your ideas? Have you ever ever thought of non-desk jobs? What are your greatest tips about the right way to get a fantastic non-desk job?
Inventory photograph by way of Deposit Images / deniskalinichenko.
