Fed up with your job? ..Get a new one!
Hannah
Fenton Stevens
From stockbroker ..to gardener
A radical career change has left Susan Stuart, 49, from London, poorer but more fulfilled. I'm 100 per cent happier now that I've taken a 90 per cent pay cut. I used to be a stockbroker at a City investment bank but I ditched making money for clients for a new life as a gardener.
My life was consumed with work and 12-hour days were standard. All I was able to do in the evenings was slump exhausted in front of the TV. I looked awful, with grey skin and dark rings under my eyes, and I was no fun to be around.
On the plus side, I was hauling the money in. My six-figure salary allowed me to pay off the mortgage on my three-bed Georgian home in South London. But the pay packet came at a cost...I became more and more disillusioned with the people I worked with. Colleagues would throw tantrums about their yearly bonuses even though they'd pocketed £300,000.
I'd dreamed about a career change for five years but didn't know what to do. Pottering around my walled garden one day, I was struck with an idea. Transforming the derelict plot into an urban oasis had been such a passion for me - and a great way to beat stress. I'd saved well over the years and wasn't a big spender so, in May 2006, when I was offered a job at Thrive - a charity which uses gardening to change the lives of disabled people - I jumped at it.
My boss wished me luck and even said he was jealous. Now I work in Battersea Park in London, helping people to garden flowers, fruit and veg plots and a wildlife area. My new life couldn't be more different. I'm home by 6pm, have bags more energy and friends say I'm fun now.
Having seen the ugly side of human nature, I now see it at its best.
From receptionist.. to jewellery designer
Bored to tears with her receptionist job, Hannah Fenton Stevens, 25, from South London, dreamed of turning her hobby into a career.
Coming home in tears from my receptionist job became the norm for me. I'd always been creative and had qualifications in set design but I hadn't been able to get a job. I thought working for a TV company would be a foot in the door but, after months of dull admin work, the boredom had set in.
I had a two-hour commute to work a nine-hour day in a job I disliked for only £10,500. I couldn't wait for the weekends when I could get back to my jewellery-making hobby. I made my gran a necklace when I was 19 and she'd gushed about how beautiful it was. It gave me the confidence to do more. I dreamed of making a living from it and envied friends doing jobs they loved. My husband Chris was so supportive and said we'd find a way to make it work but I knew I had to stay in a job until I'd built up enough business to leave for good.
The first time I took a market stall to sell my jewellery, I was so nervous. I'll never forget the thrill of my first sale. A woman bought a pair of turquoise earrings and I felt like hugging her. Soon I was able to go part-time at work until I finally left for good in October 2004. I've been running my company, Sweetpea Designs, for three years and now earn about £16,000. I hope to have my own studio and staff one day and to get my jewellery into department stores.
From office worker.. to handygirl
Self-taught handygirl Hafida Sarachi, 34, lives in Wiltshire with her husband and two children, Ben, six, and three-year-old Sam.
I really missed my two children when I went out to work. I commuted from Reading to Swindon for my IT job and I barely had time to see them. If a DIY job needed doing in the house, I'd scribble it down on a list for my husband. But with him being away on business a lot it meant I'd be waiting ages for little things to get fixed.
I decided to contact local tradesmen instead. I remember fuming when one turned up late, charged an extortionate rate and insisted he be paid in full even though he'd done half the job. I was bamboozled by all the jargon and, with a baby in the other room, I felt vulnerable with a stranger in my house.
Uneasy after the experience, I bought all the necessary tools from DIY stores and taught myself how to refurbish my home. I soon discovered I had a flair for it. I remembered when I'd felt at the mercy of that tradesman and was struck with the thought that I'd have been happier dealing with a woman. So I researched star ting my own business and was able to spend more time with my children. I soon found many women and elderly people living alone who felt uncomfortable letting men into their homes. Handygirl was set up in April 2006 and I've never looked back.
Questions and Tasks:
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Is carrier switching popular in your country? What is the reason for it?
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What makes people change their jobs?
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Job satisfaction does not depend on the job alone but on the jobholders as well.
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Is it possible to become a good specialist in two different fields? What do you think?