Readers had an incredible dialog the opposite day about non-desk jobs, so we thought we’d accumulate 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 subject the place you aren’t chained to a desk all day? This publish is for you.
First, right here was the query that sparked the dialogue:
As I sit chained to my desk for occurring 8 years, I typically daydream about having a job that isn’t a desk job. It’s by no means a particular job in my daydreams although, as a result of I’ve no want to enter the medical subject or be a policewoman, firefighter, plumber, and many others (what all these “non desk job” lists include). Who right here has a captivating 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 (akin to forrestry)!
Have you ever ever thought of non-desk jobs? What are your greatest tips about the right way to get an incredible non-desk job?
Easy methods to Discover a Nice Non-Desk Job
Artsy Non-Desk Jobs
One reader famous that you possibly can be an “[a]rtist, seamstress, clothes designer, inside decorator, dietitian… something the place you go to purchasers’ houses or workplaces!”
Jeweler. However, the reader who instructed this famous, “I’m obsessive about jewellery, particularly pearls and semiprecious gems. Tremendous involved in lab created treasured stones as effectively.”
Stage supervisor. One reader famous, “In my fantasy life, I’m a stage supervisor for reside theater (like performs or musicals, not rock exhibits).”
Museum jobs. Not fairly an artsy job, however in an identical 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 beloved it.”
Occasion Administration/Coordination. (I’ve truly heard these are nice jobs for former theater managers!) As one reader famous, whilst you’re on the occasion you’re operating round taking good care of every little thing, however there’s a variety of hands-on prep work, akin to “scoping out the occasion house, assembly with distributors, and many others. There are corporations that do that full time and a number of other massive corporations have a full in-house occasions crew. Likewise, many customer expertise jobs are basically occasion administration jobs in-house for a venue (NFL stadium, museum, live performance venue).”
Educating Non-Desk Jobs
One reader got here up with a ton of nice concepts, together with instructing. “Whereas there’s a variety of prep work, grading, remark writing, and college conferences, the time you’re bodily instructing isn’t at at desk. It’s in fact grade and topic dependent, however instructing a science class with a lab element can be palms on, as would instructing elementary schoolers.”
Readers additionally famous that daycare/preschool academics needs 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 akin 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 kids 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 complete faculty schooling.)
– 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 slightly WFH for the admin a part of the job.”
– Medical analysis coordinators and lab scientists. One reader famous: “Unsure what your background is and/or in case you’re keen 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 medical 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 palms on and a few fall in between.”
Non-Desk Jobs Exterior
Forestry. One reader famous, “My ex husband was a forester. He labored for a state forestry fee. Acquired into it by going to forestry faculty.”
One other reader instructed working for a public lands company or turning 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 have been principally within the hospitality / out of doors schooling / environmental consciousness house. My mates who nonetheless work in that space usually are some sort 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 crew.
“Skilled” Non-Desk Jobs
One other reader got here up with a variety of nice concepts for non-desk jobs that have been in corporate-adjacent fields:
– Industrial pilot. Readers famous which you can be a business pilot till you might be 65 — and there may be speak that age could improve because of the total pilot scarcity.
– Company coaching. There are a ton of company coaching jobs on the market, together with orientation, onboarding, technical abilities coaching, administration coaching, DEI coaching, and extra. One reader famous that:
in case you like the thought of instructing however don’t wish to work with youngsters or in a college, there are many company and authorities coaching groups. My first job in my subject was working for a big emergency administration company on their coaching crew. We didn’t do onboarding or orientation (that was all HR) however we did coaching on totally different emergency conditions for our employees and employees from companion companies. I used to be the coordinator, so I didn’t develop or give the trainings, nevertheless it was an incredible crew.
– Authorities jobs with neighborhood engagement roles. One reader famous, “There are a variety of authorities jobs that contain working with the general public / neighborhood engagement roles. Clearly, that isn’t everybody’s cup of tea however there’s a crew of three in my present workplace who do it and so they appear joyful.”
– Lobbyist. Loads of desk time, however a number of going locations: conferences with lawmaker employees, conferences with purchasers/coalitions/stakeholders, fundraising occasions. (Fundraisers are typically fancy such as you think about them; different instances 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 a neighborhood authorities emergency supervisor. I’ve loads of desk work: common admin work, writing studies, emails and cellphone calls with companions and distributors, managing grants and distributors, writing plans. Nonetheless, there are a variety of conferences, trainings, neighborhood engagement work, logistics work, and naturally, emergency response. Emergency administration isn’t for everybody (and I’m at the moment extremely burnt out), nevertheless it’s total an incredible match for me.
Why Non-Desk Jobs Might Not Be a Good Match For You
One reader added an enormous caveat to non-desk jobs: “One factor I’ve discovered about non-desk jobs is that the majority of them require in-person work all or nearly all of the time. So, in case you worth distant or hybrid work then these jobs aren’t probably a very good match.”
One other reader instructed staying away from analyst positions if you need a non-desk job. “At an previous job of mine we had an analyst who just about stayed at her desk and made dashboards, trackers, maps whereas others acquired to go do “cool” issues.”
Yet one more reader had an incredible quip that defined why she selected her desk job: “I really feel prefer it’s both cope with 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 an incredible non-desk job?
Inventory photograph by way of Deposit Pictures / deniskalinichenko.
