Not the 9 to 5

When I first set up the website I felt that the name of the site was self explanatory and would be understood by any readers who came this way. Now I am feeling the time is right to explain what Not The 9 to 5 really means.

9 to 5 is a well known phrase, in the west at least, and is a synecdoche, it is a description of a part of the world of work which stands for the whole of work.


Hearing the phrase 9 to 5 will invoke in many people an image of commuters jammed into a train, suited men walking across Waterloo bridge to the City, people head down hard at work in offices. In the USA it will summon the image of the ubiquitous cubicle familiar to anyone who has seen the Matrix or a Dilbert cartoon. In the UK where our buildings are older they may envisage people chained to their desks. 9 to 5 is a fairly neutral statement but it conjures slightly less than positive ideas of work being a chore.

In the pre-Industrial Age 9 to 5 made sense, daylight was available during those hours for most of the year and very little work could be done by candle light. Then the invention of machinery and electricity made it possible to work through the night but tradition and the need to interact with other workers meant that change didn't happen. Now we have connectivity and can interact with workers on the other side of the planet if we wish and 9 to 5 really makes very little sense. People working in London may have to work with people in Tokyo at 7am or San Francisco at 11pm, should they really be asked to work all the hours between? If your colleagues are a thousand miles away is it necessary to be in an office in central London or can you work just as well from home in the country?

In past jobs I have often felt how strange it is that bosses are happy for their staff to clock in at nine and out at five with very little regard for what they did in between. I knew staff who were penalised for not being at their desk on time or for leaving early and yet anyone working beyond those hours was never praised and anyone who achieved a lot in that time was given no more benefit than someone who slacked through the day. Seems a funny way to run a business to me.

I recently wrote on my other blog about ways in which the world of work is changing, hopefully for the better, in that some people believe a business should be measured not just by its bottom line but also on the good, or bad, it does in the world. The way employees are treated and feel about the company would be one of these measures. For now we live in a world in which there is almost nothing that is not business. Your health, wealth and free time are all tied to someone's business somewhere. How you meet, court and marry is now monetised. How you travel is almost never free, even walking costs shoe leather. Without money there is nothing in the modern world.

And yet we are still, by and large, tied to the 9 to 5 day. From shops and schools to doctors and bankers the majority live in the 9 to 5 world. But there are others breaking out.

Teleworkers, using home technology to 'be' at work any time of day. Crafters and inventors working in their sheds building beautiful things, people with big ideas about becoming Free Range, Multipotentialites or Paid-to-Exist. For many people there is no longer a need to be a cardboard cut out, boxed and packaged automaton or cog. And these roles don't need to be for internet geniuses. Any idea, any pursuit, any handmade item can be a success with very little start up funding.

Of course, Yahoo seems to disagree. But I planned this post last night and then saw this on my Twitter feed this afternoon:

Working life isn't 9-5 any more. The world is connected. Companies that do not embrace this miss a trick. Quote of the week @richardbranson
— Part Time Jobs (@timewisejobs) March 1, 2013

 So Not The 9 to 5 is a blog about all those other opportunities, ways of working, places to work and ways to monetise your life for yourself not some remote boss who has nothing in common with you. For anyone sick of being a desk jockey, anyone who wants meaning in their work, anyone fed up of being a nameless cog in a faceless machine, anyone wanting to break out and do things their way, the posts on this blog and the links on the Twitter feed are for you, they may be inspiration, information, advice or other resources but I hope that through them you will find a new way to work - Not The 9 to 5.

Laura. (Don't forget our motto - No Link Is An Island - when you follow a link and arrive at a new website have a clickabout and see what else is on offer.)

Using this site

This blog was set up after the previous site was lost to a changing host service. The first few posts, in April 2012, were effectively pages of that site rewritten for the blog format. They can be found in the Blog Archive menu at the left of this page and include the results of a questionnaire given to people who have their own dream jobs.

The aim of that site, and of this blog is to collate information and resources for anyone searching for a job or career with meaning, getting out of the rat race, working away from the cubicle and not tied to the clock.

The idea is to gather together as much of the available knowledge and advice that is out there and to offer it up for the reader to take and use as required. Not all of it is unique to escaping the rat race but is generic and applies to all job hunts. Some is about what the recruiters, HR managers and employers are doing on the other side of the job hunt. Some is about finding a way to break out and take flight on a unique career. Some is about work in the news.

Between posts we Tweet links which you can see on the Twitter feed to the left. Those links might be from other Tweeters or sites found during research, some are from America but many are UK sites. They may be about careers advice, the world of work or the process of recruitment. Some may be about personal development, skills, entrepreneurship or about people who are living the dream already.

Some of the advice in the links contradicts advice in other links. Some sites offer great advice with poor proofreading or graphics, some offer a slick site with less useful information.  All the reader can do is read, learn, assess and make their own mind up about the best course of action for their own next steps. The more sites and advice the reader investigates the better their feel for the good and bad content will be.

The writer is not an expert in any of these areas but is just a job hunter trying to find all the best information and advice that others have offered up.

Please remember our motto - No Link Is An Island - when you visit a site have a clickabout to find what else is on offer there.

Preparing - the last part

You've done all your lists, you now have a lot of words related to your passions and skills.

Now you need to settle down with a beverage of your choosing and go over those lists and give scores to each word.

It can be whatever scoring system works for you; black marks and gold stars, graded from A - F, 0 to 10 or colours.

Focus on each word and think about all the possible connotations or ideas it represents. Think about how you feel about every possible meaning of each word and give it a score. Do you feel all warm and glowing when you consider accounts payable? Do you feel anxious and panicky thinking about sales? Are you indifferent to managing staff? Find a suitable way to score a range of reactions from very negative right up to very positive for the things you love to do most. Even if those things don't seem immediately to be work related.

Now everytime you do a job search refer to your lists. Use them as keywords to search by or for cross checking adverts to see how they match up to your responses.

Keep expanding your lists, keeping thinking about, and feeling your reactions, to each word and any that you add as time goes by.

Make sure you keep your lists handy as you go through your job searches and keep your ears and eyes open for new words, new ideas, new phrases, new skills or new things you love doing.

I wish you all the luck in the world with your job hunt or career move.

Check back here for more in the coming weeks and don't forget to look at the links posted on our Twitter feed - see left!

The Management

Recently I have had conversations with two very different people in very different careers facing a very similar issue.

The first is an artist, mostly working in metals, producing sculptures for both the monumental and interior design markets. He trained in art and is passionate about creating new art and new designs. He has reached a point in his career where he is taking on so many commissions as well as producing limited edition runs of pieces that he needs help. He has taken on an apprentice. This however means that he now has to spend as much of his time teaching, monitoring and managing his 'staff' as he does actually creating art. He also now has to deal with salary, insurance and other administrative issues he was able to avoid as a one man operation.

The other is a computer systems developer who studied business and computing and who loves designing systems and has moved up in her career to become a manager at a major international company, and has now become responsible for a team of staff. She spends most of her time allocating projects, monitoring and guiding her own staff and reporting up the chain of command, to the extent she barely has any systems work of her own to do.

It seems it is fairly common for people with a passion for their career to reach a stage at which they are no longer working to their passion but are managing others. Is this the point at which The Peter Principle kicks in?

Has your job changed beyond recognition or are you able to retain the work you love without sacrificing progress?

Very unusual jobs

There are a remarkable number of unusual jobs out there, from flying choppers to guiding rafters. Just try a web search for 'strange jobs' and see what bizarre things some people make their living at. Have a look at Dream Jobs in our tag cloud (on left of our blog).

The BBC got lots of comments from people with weird and wonderful jobs a few years ago, some of which would probably qualify for Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs.

What's the weirdest job you've ever heard of? What would you like to do that is out of the ordinary? Think outside the box, what unusual service could you offer to a paying customer?

Too much information?

People all over the world have started to take leaps into the unknown and work differently, work for themselves, work for their own goals.

Here a few of the blogs we've seen about taking the plunge.

• Sarah and Anna are embarking on what they term a series of 'work experiments'.
• One woman had to leave work to have a child but found a way to make money
• Laura believes there is work only you can do
• Being a nonconformist

It's a lot to take in.

There are more blogs on the web than you could ever read. Some are beautifully designed and written with care and passion. Others are chucked up and thrown together, full of spelling and grammatical errors. (We hope we are in the first category, we try to be). Everyone has some advice to dispense. It's up to you to read it, assess it in context, synthesise the information and take what you need and can use from it.

It may help you to distill the essence that really engages you by recording or writing down the advice you like, maybe on record cards, perhaps in a mind map, or a spreadsheet.

How do you evaluate the information you find on the web? Is it easier than taking ideas from books and newspapers?

How does society view your dream job?

There is a trailer currently doing the rounds for a new Sky One programme called 'Parents'. In it a woman has to move, with her kids, back to her parents and start over. She gets a job as a barista. Her daughter says 'that's the sort of job you get when you get out of jail.'


Being a barista may not be everyone's cup of tea (yup, pun intended) but for some people it is something they love to do, you get to meet people, watch people ( a useful occupation for wannabe writers), there are certain unique skills involved and for those with a passion they can go on to develop the tasting skills they get to become professional tasters. There are professional training schools, a trade magazine (in the USA) and an international competition.

Prepare for a flood of letters to the news papers about how offended baristas are that their chosen profession should be so denigrated in a TV soap.


So why are some professions and trades seen in such negative light? Possibly the sheer numbers of baristas you can find on any high street. People may think they are two a penny and therefore low skilled. The fact that it is seen as a temporary money making job for students and antipodeans travelling through Europe might give the impression it is a job anyone can do. The same is true of bartenders, are they seen in the same way? Why are the skills required not valued in the way a head for numbers or IT skills are?


Is your job, or your dream job, seen as below average? How does that make you feel? Does it affect your ambition? Let us know in the comments section below.


You may also be interested in our post What Is A Good Job?

The Dream and The Toil

We recently featured this speech by Bill Gates which was quite a contrast to these words we featured from Steve Jobs.


But contrasting doesn't make them incompatible. You just need to know that in order to do the work you love, you need to put in the time and effort.

We have previously discussed the need for people to go into the jobs that make the world go round, and in the USA the International Baccalaureate qualification is now offering an alternative that focuses on real life everyday jobs. This article offers a round up of training available in the UK.


We have previously mentioned that a successful job hunt can be thought of as a full time job but it is important not to let the whole process overwhelm you.

Happy at work

I just had to share this article from The Guardian about Zappo Shoes in the USA.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/zappos-shoes-profits-happiness-business?newsfeed=true

And don't forget these words from Steve Jobs.....






How important is it to you to be happy at work?

What job do you want?

I came across this American post recently that includes a table of the numbers of people in the USA employed in different jobs. Have a look through and you'll notice that the highest figure at over 3 million is General Office Clerks, there are 2 and half million nurses, 2.06 accounts clerks and 2.02 million admin assistants. (In August 2010, the American labor force comprised 154.1 million people - see footnote 1) Are any of those positions the sort of dream job you had in mind for yourself?
There are some holes in the figures, I can't see any musicians or actors listed (they may count as self employed so not in a list of employees, unless they are included in Artists).


We've already discussed what counts as a good job, and how the perceived value of some of the jobs with the most employees is lower than it should be. Indeed no company can run smoothly without Admin and Clerks doing the foundation work that supports the sales, accounts and creative teams. In certain organisations the culture is such that everyone gets to enjoy work, whatever their rank or role. 


But this blog is for people who want something out of the ordinary, something that perhaps all those admin clerks aren't doing.

The web is full of sites that are, perhaps naturally, aimed more towards those millions of people in the jobs that are common, frequently up for grabs and easy to research. We have covered some of the basics of job hunting, the kinds of things that apply to all job hunters, and have offered links to some of the websites that offer job ads, advice and tips to the general population. 


For those people looking for something more individual, more esoteric, more unconventional, finding the advice that fits is much harder. Start by looking at the tag cloud on the left of this blog and click Dream Jobs, there are number of posts there that describe less conventional jobs and employment, from musicians to monks. 


Have a look at the posts on Up To Date Jobhunting and the Changing World Of Work  for more about alternatives ways of working and of finding the for you. 


 Make sure your Google search skills are polished, get to know all the other search engines, make sure you use the .co.uk versions and learn to use the web to its fullest. Try searching using related terms to your main search, the bar tending job you want might be listed as amixologist. But don't forget your offline skills. Networking is increasingly vital as a skill in job searching, tell everyone you know about your job hunt and what your aims and ambitions are. Tell your friends, tell your dentist and tell the milkman; you never know who might have just the link you need to make your career jump. 


Is there a professional body for the job you have in mind? You might be surprised. There are organisations for Travel Writers, for Musicians, for Actors and for Clowns. Do they have a regular publication or website that might include job ads? 


Keep updating your skills and make sure your CV and online presence reflect your abilities.


Are you changing career to improve you work life balance? Downshifting gained popularity in the 90s, you might want to try supplementing you paid work with self sufficiency, even if you don't have and land. Or perhaps you are more comfortable keeping several careers on the go. Again, see the tag cloud at left for more on work life balance from this blog.


Where have you found great job advice?






NB - links are provided for information. NotThe9to5 is not responsible for content of other websites.
There is a lot of free information on the web and from other sources like libraries. Make sure you do your homework before you choose to pay anyone for help.
1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America#Economy

More Dream Jobs

Not everyone can be a Premiership Football Player, and work is not like in the movies, but not everyone's idea of dream job is that same.

Quote from the aptly names Steve Jobs

Inside Jobs has descriptions of lots of different jobs, although mostly American they will give you a feel for what each job involves.


If you want to go for a comparison, here's a list of some of the worst jobs researchers recently identified. Are any of these your dream job?


Also see our post Dream Jobs and the individual Dream Job descriptions (Use the Tag Cloud at the left to find them).

Dream Job

Dream Job - Musician

Who do you work for? What is your job? Where do you work?

I work for myself, playing,teaching music, I work in clubs, festivals, parties and rehearse at home in my cellar!

How did you start in this line of work?

I started cos music was something I loved and was actually quite good at!

How did you find out about the job? Or where did you get the idea?

i was inspired by my fave bands, if they could do it why not me?

How did you get the job?

Got my gigs by self promotion and word of mouth.

What do you do on an average day?

When gigging I prepare healthy nutrition for b4 and after, make sure all my equipment is functional, maybe change strings, charge batterries etc, load the car and drive sometimes up to 5 hours to get to the venue, once there, unload gear and prepare to set up, set up, wait to play, network, listen to other bands, play the set (usually1-2.5hrs), pack up gear, speak and make contacts, take any bookings, sell merchandise, drive home! When not gigging i spend a few hours on the pc, sorting out website and generally networking, then a few hours practice, rehearsal, writing, recording etc all in all about 4-6 hours aday(when not gigging,on a gig day im working at least 12 hrs!)

What’s the best part of the job?

Best part is doing what I love and meeting so many lovely people many of whom become friends for life!

And the worst?

The worst part is waiting around, dealing with idiots and the pressure of continuing to be 100%!

What can you not do your job without - Qualifications, licences, insurance, comfy shoes, eye for detail, sense of humour?

Job cant be done without, humour, patience, tolerance and dedication and much more! (qualifications NOT needed) also i play barefoot these days!

Is there a Society, Association, Union for people in your line of work?

I am a member of the Musicians union.

How much initial investment did you have to spend to get started in your career?

Investment is done on an as needed basis and it never ends, initially a good instrument and amplification, a few hundred quid at the time.

How does the pay and career path compare to other people you know? Can you support yourself, a family, a house on the income from this work?

Pay wise it has kept me afloat and I seem to be no worse off or better than anyone else, eg I've never been in debt! I have suppoorted myself with a bit of housing benefit for over 20 years YES if dedicated this work can provide all family needs and if v successful can make you richer than most (still waiting for that part!).

Does your organisation ever advertise for staff? Where?

I sometimes have to advertise for musicians,word of mouth or on the net.The internet has loads of site dedicated to getting musos together.

What would you be doing if not in this line of work?

If i wasnt doing this I would be teaching and or working with nature and or in some kind of service capacity.
I also have another less unusual job, father of 2 kids. That is the hardest job of all!

What is a good job?

In recent times there has been a trend towards the idea that a good job is one that requires a degree and a suit and tie. But that concept negates and stigmatises a whole swathe of totally important career choices that include the fundamental work that keeps a society moving. Recent news also suggests that there aren't as many jobs for graduates as in previous times.

Discovery Communications

Mike Rowe is the presenter of Dirty Jobs and has spent his career celebrating the work done by people in those essential positions, from the teams who replace telegraph poles to the people that have to perform AI on cattle, to other jobs we won't mention here in case you are eating. Once dinner is over though, please take time to watch Mike discussing work that makes the world turn in this Ted lecture.


Mike has also spoken in front of a US Government Committee on the same subject. You can watch him here.


This American article discusses the disadvantages of so called prestigious jobs, while The Guardian has a whole section of articles on Vocational Education.


So what does a good job mean to you? Is it just about the pay cheque or is about what skills you need to call upon every day or the impact your work has on life for other people? 

Dream Job - Hypnotherapist

Who do you work for? What is your job? Where do you work?

Myself, Hypnotherapist, West London

How did you start in this line of work? 

Was in Marketing got bored by soullessness & wanted a new career, looked at Life coaching (was a buzz thing at the time) – thought it looked like marketing but that clients would need hypnotherapy as a back up – did the course, loved it & dropped the idea of life coaching

How did you find out about the job? Or where did you get the idea?
Researched where to do the course on the web, idea – see above

How did you get the job?

Started the business 

What do you do on an average day?
There is no average day – perhaps 2 typical days would be -
Up excercise, breakfast, see clients; 3 ish clients thru day, then go do something fun in the evening
or
Up late, 3 ish clients, listen to training dvds or read training books/meet friend for lunch/coffee/network meeting or business development, do something fun in the evening 
or
I can be lazy & just watch an entertainment DVD if I'm feeling unmotivated

I always answer calls & emails on days off but very light work. Sun/Mon I have off (often do networking meetings on Mondays)

What hours do you work?

About 15 client hours per week, plus client prep, training – courses & home study 
I'm always doing training – I love it so it’s more like leisure activity 
I work Tues/wed am & pm, thurs, fri, sat (some evenings & weekends likely!)

What’s the best part of the job?
Seeing people in crisis get their lives back under control

And the worst?
Not much! – but it’s easy to be lazy re business development

What can you not do your job without - Qualifications, licences, insurance, comfy shoes, eye for detail, sense of humour? 

Qualificationss/Insurance/Empathy/self motivation/ability to focus entirely on someone else/have your baggage under control/life experience/be able to be taken seriously/humility/be unflappable/quiet professional room to work out of/means of burning CDs of sessions/being non-judgmental 

How much initial investment did you have to spend to get started in your career?
About £8K

How does the pay and career path compare to other people you know? Can you support yourself, a family, a house on the income from this work?

Pay is what you make it – it works well for me but lots of people struggle to make enough to work full time. It would be tougher outside big cities where there are fewer people & the hourly rate would be lower
Career path – again what I make it but flexible for the future – I think thats why ongoing training is so important to keep it fresh 

Does your organisation ever advertise for staff? Where?
No

Have you ever seen other jobs like yours advertised? Where?

No, self employed

What would you be doing if not in this line of work?
I’d probably still be being a marketing consultant & be really miserable

Where to go when job hunting

The obvious places to look for a job are the big employment websites.

The Guardian Newspaper's Careers section serves a variety of functions for the job hunter, from a search facility and email news on jobs to articles and advice. A high proportion of its content is aimed at graduates and professionals but a lot of the advice is just as applicable to less conventional career paths.

Monster is one of the largest such sites in the world and as such is geared to the most common types of job hunt. It was one of the first such sites, set up in America, but its UK branch is just as extensive. As well as offering job searches and lists of employers, it has a Career Advice section and Career Snapshots giving insight into jobs that are out there. They also publish the Monster Employment Index which is an analysis of what trends in online recruiting have done each month. It also hosts BeKnown a networking app on Facebook.

Similar networks are offered by BranchOut, again on Facebook, and LinkedIn is probably one of the best known networking sites. It is advisable to exercise some caution when sending your CV to any website. Make sure you don't include any personal data, like address or NI number. Never pay for job introductions and try to verify that job offers are authentic via other websites. Be aware of the types of scam you might encounter.

(See also; our post on Online Resumes for more on networking and promoting yourself)

Men at Work

More esoteric jobs though, particularly artisanal or freelance positions will not be suitable for massive job search websites. People looking for such individual employees may well be overwhelmed by large numbers of applicants and so feel that they need to advertise their position to a much smaller audience. This means though that they are harder to find, especially for people looking to move into the sector. Often these adverts will be advertised with professional societies or in trade magazines so it is worth trying to find out what resources are offered in your chosen niche.

Local newspapers are also more likely to have local adverts for jobs in smaller organisations.

Dream Job - Helicopter Pilot

Who do you work for? 
SRT Helicopters.

What is your job? 

Commercial Helicopter pilot / Flight instructor.

Where do you work? 

Meadows Field Airport, Bakersfield, California, USA.

How did you start in this line of work? 
I have wanted to fly helicopters since I was about 16 years old, then finally at 35 I was made redundant from a good career in IT. The money from this settlement was enough to pay for my retraining as a helicopter pilot. It was now or never!

How did you find out about the job? Or where did you get the idea?

I found the job by doing lots of searching on the Internet and by sending out my CV to as many places as possible.

How did you get the job?

With a sit down interview in New Orleans and a flight test in Bakersfield.

What do you do on an average day?
This can vary tremendously, but typically I fly with students and perhaps a photo or sight seeing flight. Ensure aircraft and student records are kept up to date, and talk to potential new students on the phone and via email.

What hours do you work?
Again this is quite variable. Usually its fairly 9 - 5 time wise, but often times can vary and weekend work can often occur.

What’s the best part of the job?

I get paid to fly helicopters - what more do you want?!? My office is usually either hovering 5 feet above the ground or at 500 feet and 100mph - It's just the coolest thing!

And the worst?
The days when you don't get to fly, or flights get cancelled at the last minute.

What can you not do your job without - Qualifications, licences, insurance, comfy shoes, eye for detail, sense of humour?
All of the above, well nearly! The insurance and comfy shoes are optional.

Is there a Society, Association, Union for people in your line of work?
Helicopter Association International (HAI) is one of the main ones. There are smaller regional/specialised associations.

How much initial investment did you have to spend to get started in your career?
About £35,000 (gulp!) for all the flight training.

How does the pay and career path compare to other people you know? Can you support yourself, a family, a house on the income from this work?
Like a lot of careers it's often difficult getting that first break as initially you have no experience in that field. Once you get going though it has reasonable career progression prospects and can certainly pay enough to support me and my family.

Does your organisation ever advertise for staff? Where?
Our company is only small at the moment so has not needed much in the way of advertising for staff (and definitely not for pilots). We have been advertising for a aircraft mechanic without luck as these guys are in real short supply at the moment. Any advertising would be in industry publications/websites.

Have you ever seen other jobs like yours advertised? Where?
I have seem other jobs like mine advertised, usually on the company's own web site or other industry websites.

What would you be doing if not in this line of work?
Probably something like I was doing, technology or computer related. Then again, being a racing driver sounds pretty cool too!... Or perhaps an astronaut!?!

Dream Job - Writer

Who do you work for? What is your job? Where do you work?

I work for anyone who will pay me is the flippant answer. In reality I teach Creative Writing for Richmond Adult College in Richmond 2 or 3 days a week, depending on which courses I'm teaching. I teach private students at my flat. I have also recently been Visiting Lecturer at Solent Southampton Uni. I'm currently working on a PhD for Creative Writing and working on a couple of film projects

What do you do on an average day?

It is probably easier if I take you through a week (I won't say average, because there is no such thing).
Monday is spent preparing lesson plans for the week, this week I'm starting up a new 'Movie in a Month' course and 'Novel in a Month' starts up again on Saturday - so I'll check my notes for that. Then I go through any marking left over from the weekend. I tend to do any reading/marking scripts over the weekend - either with my partner in a cafe or on Sunday night with the promise of a glass of wine when I'm done.
Tuesday I see private student in the morning - discuss with her any problems she's having. I take her through some warm up exercises that should help break a block and she sketches out a couple of scenes there and then - Result!
I check emails when she's gone and make an appointment to see an Agent who is also a friend - I am going to need someone to look at contracts for the film project soon. We agree coffee Wednesday morning.
Tuesday evening I teach 'Developing Your Novel' class. One of the students who has brought work in to workshop blows us all away with a piece. The discussion goes on in the pub afterwards and it is pretty late when I get back home.
Wednesday I go for a run first thing - my work is so sedentary, I need to do something - I also need waking up. Head over to Agent for coffee, contacts and gossip. It is good to see her, she asks when my novel will be finished (she's had nothing but the first three chapters since Christmas) I promise it for end of August and cross my fingers.
Wednesday (I have a private student alternate Wednesday evenings) I'm free so I meet friends for dinner and then go to a Horror film night - I'm teaching Horror Writing next semester in Southampton and need to keep up to date.
Thursday another private student in the morning and I try to organise a meeting with the producer of the film I've been commissioned to write the treatment for, we need to discuss money. He agrees to Friday. I finish working on changes for another script and email it to the Director who calls and promises to read and reply asap, she has just come in from Africa where she is filming a documentary. We talk over the changes and a couple of scenes that the producer wanted included. Then there is just enough time to grab a sandwich and go to Richmond to teach Movie in a Month.
Friday morning, meet with producer and get money. Go home and start working on the treatment. Friday night I have off. The work to be marked is beginning to pile up in my email. I also have an academic paper to write for a conference later this month - I look through the diary and work out that I can do it on the train going up there - some things will need to be juggled!

What’s the best part of the job?

On the plus side, I love what I do, there are great moments when you write something someone loves or fix something that wasn't working. I get to work in bed, in my PJ's a lot of the time or if it is sunny I can sit outside in the park or a cafe. I can organise my time according to my own schedule and being an insomniac helps.

When a student tells you, you've changed their life or a director sits laughing and crying over the final scene you wrote on the back of an envelope - well, that's pretty good. It makes up for the 'sorry your book isn't right for our lists right now', 'your course has been cancelled' 'the money dropped out' 'we found someone else to do it.'
Well...almost.

And the worst?

I don't have a pension and I do worry about my financial future sometimes. But I wouldn't change what I do for anything else

What can you not do your job without - Qualifications, licences, insurance, comfy shoes, eye for detail, sense of humour?

You need patience, a sense of humour and the ability to bounce back in my job. Rejections are frequent and always horrible. Even when you have been commissioned for a job, you may or may not get the money, the job can suddenly disappear, never get made, given to someone else. That's why I teach as well - my students keep me sane and allow me to eat.

Odd jobs

All over the internet there are lists of weird and wonderful jobs, some of them are the sort of thing you could probably find easily, others are a little more esoteric. A lot are american though they are a useful starting point for research on other countries.


The rise of unusual jobs, an article by Hiscox describing how their business in professional insurance has started to see a lot of jobs that are new and unconventional.




Here are some more lists.






Quintessential Careers has found links to a number of specialist job sites for seasonal jobs ranging from theme park work to ski jobs. 


Student jobs with a difference by Mookychick



Fun jobs from Yahoo


Unusual jobs at Employment Spot


Unusual Jobs has a range of articles on different careers, though there are a lot of adverts on the page. Their affiliate Dream Jobs has more articles and links to more affiliated pages at the bottom.


This list of strange jobs by an American blogger is a good place to look for ideas.


Job Monkey lists a lot of odd jobs and also offer some tips on finding the job of your dreams.


If you're flush, or have some pull at a library you could purchase some of the books in this series.

Dream Job - Musician/Label Owner

Who do you work for? What is your job? Where do you work? 
I run my own label, Round Records, which was set up specifically to release my own music and that of The Wildhearts. We occasionally release albums by friends of ours too.

How did you start in this line of work?

Frustration at how restricting record labels can be for certain artists, such as myself. This way I get to say 'yes' to all my crazy ideas.

How did you find out about the job? Or where did you get the idea?

After being in the music industry I figured out that any record company is simply a system of delegated jobs, like marketing, press and distribution. Once I figured this out it made sense to put my discoveries into practice.

How did you get the job?

I asked the boss to hire me and I said yes.

What do you do on an average day?

Dream about the future and thank God for the present, a result of being screwed in the past.

What hours do you work?

Twenty four.

What’s the best part of the job?

Seeing the Round Records logo on the back of any release is still a thrill, but the greatest thing has to be writing songs that I know will be released without any resistance from the MD of a label.

And the worst?

There is no worst, this is a dream come true.

What can you not do your job without - Qualifications, licences, insurance, comfy shoes, eye for detail, sense of humour?

The ability to start and finish with grace and calm.

How much initial investment did you have to spend to get started in your career?

I invested years of experience into this venture. Money is fresh air without knowledge.

How does the pay and career path compare to other people you know? Can you support yourself, a family, a house on the income from this work?

Yeah, I do fine. A damn sight better than I ever did on a major label. In fact I now realise how much money the labels I've been involved with have taken from me.

Does your organisation ever advertise for staff? Where?

We tend to employ people we know and believe will do the best job.

Have you ever seen other jobs like yours advertised? Where?

Nope.

at would you be doing if not in this line of work?

Arguing with a record company about why something that sounds good is good.