I Love My Job

I never hear people say they love their job.

Why does everyone you speak to seem to hate their job when they spend the best part of the week doing it? Would you spend all evening watching a TV programme that you didn't like and sit there saying "I hate this programme"?

I, on the other hand, love my job. I love everything about it and I never wake up thinking "Oh God, I don't want to go to work". The day you think that, is the day you look for another job.

One of my favourite jobs of all time was filing test results in a doctor's surgery. There's something satisfying about filing, and to this day I still do my own. The only reason I left was because I was offered the job I have now, which is as satisfying as the filing, but more pay so not much contest.

I haven't had a job I didn't like for many years, and I've had some jobs that sound really crap on the surface too. I've worked as a dinner lady in schools, barmaid in many bars and clubs, McDonalds Crew Member, making car parts in a factory, administrator/receptionist, dancer in a night club, manager of a charity shop, ICT Facilitator, University Lecturer, Learndirect Tutor, and of course, filing.

In fact, when I come to think about it, all the jobs I thought had been crap over the years, were not so much the tasks or the pay, but the people I worked with. To illustrate a point, some of the bar jobs I had I really loved, others I ditinctly remember not liking, and it was always down to either the people I worked with or the people I served. If you've got good people you can cope with crap pay and conditions. I can only vaguely remember my crap jobs because I didn't stay long enough for them to make an impression. I once got a job in a town centre club in Manchester. I did one night and never even went back to collect my pay it was so rotten.

Just before Christmas I was given my redundancy notice. My team were also given theirs. It seems that we are a "thorn in the side" to our host organisation, although we are very successful at what we do. Senior managers say that if I want to keep the service going, and also protect the jobs of my team, I will have to embark on a "management takeover" (their words, not mine). This sounds great till you find out I'm the only management there and I've only got till the end of March to get it operational. Still, I love my job like it was a member of my family so I'm on the case. When you've got something good you need to hold on with both hands. I've now handcuffed myself to it and got both legs wrapped around it too... it isn't going anywhere!

If you say you hate your job, ask yourself why, don't just sit there and hate it. When you actually start to think about it, you might find that you like your job more than you think. Some jobs are harder to cope with than others, but when it comes down to it you wouldn't necessarily leave to go and do something else? It's like people who work outside complaining about working in bad weather, but if it actually came down to it they would choose standing in the rain to being stuck behind a desk. It might just be that the tasks and pay are fine but you work with a bunch of pillocks - you just need to take yourself to another firm.

If you don't like it, get another job, and don't use the excuse that you can't get another job because I've heard it all before and its total crap. I hear stuff like this every day "there aren't any jobs", "I haven't got any qualifications", "I've been unemployed too long", "The Job Centre says all I'll get is cleaning/factory/picking/packing", blah blah.

How come I hear all this? Here's the irony, I manage a centre that provides training and support for people who want work... and we're very good at what we do. What I can tell you is that all those that actually WANT a job, GET one. People who the Job Centre gave up on long ago, people who have no self confidence left, people who want a career change, people who have been made redundant (just like me). I see people every day that would bite your hand off for a job stacking shelves in ASDA and would wear that green t-shirt with pride. When they come in and tell you that they got the job your eyes well up and you want to give them a hug. Sometimes, you just can't help having a cry and giving them a little hug too. All it took was for us to give them a bit of self belief and show them that they had value in society.

What I say is don't listen to people who tell you that you can't. Give yourself the respect you deserve and tell yourself that you CAN do it. For most people the key to success is just believing that you can, so if you think you can't, come and see me and I'll convince you!