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 find out how to get right into a profession area 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 generally 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 area or be a policewoman, firefighter, plumber, and many others (what all these “non desk job” lists encompass). 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 recommendations on find out how to get an incredible non-desk job?
How one can Discover a Nice Non-Desk Job
Artsy Non-Desk Jobs
One reader famous that you might 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 instructed this famous, “I’m obsessive about jewellery, particularly pearls and semiprecious gem stones. Tremendous inquisitive about lab created valuable stones as nicely.”
Stage supervisor. One reader famous, “In my fantasy life, I’m a stage supervisor for stay theater (like performs or musicals, not rock exhibits).”
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 company. Pay was absolute sh!t however I cherished it.”
Occasion Administration/Coordination. (I’ve truly heard these are nice jobs for former theater managers!) As one reader famous, when you’re on the occasion you’re operating round caring for all the things, however there’s numerous hands-on prep work, similar to “scoping out the occasion house, assembly with distributors, and many others. There are corporations that do that full time and several other massive corporations have a full in-house occasions staff. 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 educating. “Whereas there’s numerous prep work, grading, remark writing, and school conferences, the time you’re bodily educating is just not at at desk. It’s after all grade and topic dependent, however educating a science class with a lab part can be palms on, as would educating elementary schoolers.”
Readers additionally famous that daycare/preschool lecturers needs to be included in addition to Okay-12 lecturers!
Non-Desk Jobs That Are Not Medical doctors (However Are Medication-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 various 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 faculties completely.” (Observe that you could be want a BS to pursue this path — I had one buddy who had a BA in appearing and determined to not pursue occupational remedy as a result of she would have wanted to principally redo her whole school schooling.)
– Medical gadget gross sales. One reader famous, ” I’ve a couple of mates in medical gadget gross sales they usually all find it irresistible 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: “Undecided what your background is and/or should 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 palms 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. Bought into it by going to forestry college.”
One other reader instructed 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 have been largely within the hospitality / outside schooling / 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 staff.
“Skilled” Non-Desk Jobs
One other reader got here up with numerous nice concepts for non-desk jobs that have been in corporate-adjacent fields:
– Industrial pilot. Readers famous which you could be a business pilot till you might be 65 — and there may be discuss that age might enhance because of the 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:
should you like the concept of educating however don’t wish to work with children or in a college, there are many company and authorities coaching groups. My first job in my area was working for a big emergency administration company on their coaching staff. We didn’t do onboarding or orientation (that was all HR) however we did coaching on completely different emergency conditions for our workers and workers from associate businesses. I used to be the coordinator, so I didn’t develop or give the trainings, however it was an incredible staff.
– Authorities jobs with neighborhood engagement roles. One reader famous, “There are numerous authorities jobs that contain working with the general public / neighborhood engagement roles. Clearly, that’s not everybody’s cup of tea however there’s a staff of three in my present workplace who do it they usually appear glad.”
– 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 a neighborhood authorities emergency supervisor. I’ve loads of desk work: common admin work, writing reviews, emails and cellphone calls with companions and distributors, managing grants and distributors, writing plans. Nonetheless, there are numerous conferences, trainings, neighborhood engagement work, logistics work, and naturally, emergency response. Emergency administration is just not for everybody (and I’m presently extremely burnt out), however 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, should you worth distant or hybrid work then these jobs aren’t doubtless match.”
One other reader instructed staying away from analyst positions if you’d like 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 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 recommendations on find out how to get an incredible non-desk job?
Inventory picture by way of Deposit Images / deniskalinichenko.