I have stability in my social work, but becoming a nurse has always been a dream. What would you do ?

 

If you only get to ask one question during an interview, ask why the job is open.

This may be obvious to some. But I just had a recent experience with 2 different companies with drastically different answers to this seemingly simple question. It's almost like the Uno reverse card of them asking you, "What makes you qualified for this job?"

**Company A**:

This was a senior person in charge of company operations. They laid out their vision for the next 10 years and explained that they specifically need someone to help lead in this position to achieve that long-term goal. Super clear scope, they knew the assignment, and they knew exactly why they needed the headcount.

**Company B**:

This was an alternate recruiter who I never engaged with before, because the recruiter who had reached out to me initially was mysteriously out of office on the very day we scheduled an interview. So I guess the red flag was already flapping. Oh, and they only gave me 1 minute at the end to ask any questions. When I asked why the role was open, they stuttered and said that my main recruiter will need to answer that.

Depending on how your interview went, there is plenty of information to glean from the way the interviewer answers the question. Sometimes, they have an articulate reply that boils down to the position being a revolving door because people who join quit shortly after. Other times, they have a clunky response that reveals how much help they desperately need because of rapid growth.

In any of these settings, you can at least observe their behavior cues as a data point for when it comes time to accept an offer.

Jobadvisor

That observation hits on a core dynamic of interviewing that candidates often miss until it is too late: the opening of a role reveals the health of the organization.

Your contrast between Company A and Company B highlights three specific operational traits you uncover with that single question:

• Strategic Clarity vs. Firefighting: Company A viewed the requisition as an investment toward a 10-year goal. Company B viewed it as a line item they needed to fill without understanding the context.
  
  
• Organizational Transparency: An interviewer who cannot or will not answer why a position is vacant indicates internal communication silos—or worse, active damage control around high turnover.
  
  
• Respect for the Candidate: Allocating one minute for questions at the end signalizes that the company treats interviews purely as an evaluation of you, rather than a mutual fit assessment.
  
  

Asking why a role is open forces the interviewer to step out of their evaluation script and articulate their team's current trajectory, immediate pain points, and management style.

How to avoid corparate jobs?

From what I've heard so far, it sounds soul sucking and I don't know how I'm supposed to do well in an interview where I simply don't care about the company's values or goal or whatever. For context, I'm going to start a maths degree at Warwick University this September. I suppose it's early days but still something worth thinking about.

Jobadvisor

Fair question to be chewing on before you've even started - it means you're thinking about your life rather than just drifting into whatever's next.

A few honest things worth knowing:

"Corporate" isn't one thing. A math degree from Warwick opens doors way beyond generic office jobs. You could end up in: academia/research, teaching, actuarial work, government statistics, quant finance, data science at a small startup, working for a charity or NGO that needs analytical skills, freelance/consulting, or even something totally unrelated like software development. Some of these are more "corporate" in feel than others, and some pay very differently — worth knowing that tradeoff exists before you rule things out.

The soul-sucking part is often about the specific job, not "corporate" as a category. Long hours, bad management, meaningless output, no autonomy, culture mismatch — these exist at startups and nonprofits too. Conversely, some corporate jobs (especially technical/analytical ones) leave you alone to do interesting work and go home at 5. It's less "corporate vs not" and more "does this specific role/team/manager suck."

On interviews: you don't have to fake caring about "company values." You do need to convincingly answer "why this role" — which is usually really "why does this work interest you" and "will you actually do it well and stick around." That's answerable honestly even if you don't care about the mission statement. Plenty of people work jobs they don't feel any grand purpose about and just answer "I'm good at this, it pays well, the work itself is interesting to me" — dressed a bit more diplomatically, but that's the substance.

If it'd help, I could sketch out what different career paths for a math grad actually look like day-to-day (academia vs industry vs actuarial vs something more independent) so you have more concrete options to weigh rather than just "corporate or not corporate."

How to deal with a boss who makes incorrect assumptions about me all the time?

I'm the intern. This is the first time my boss has had an intern.

I checked all the paperwork and saw that my boss wrote in blue handwriting that there was a discrepancy. So when the client called, I told the boss the client is on the phone and since we have lots of clients, i just reminded the boss that there is one discrepancy. And then my boss comes over to the phone and says to me, "if you had looked through the paperwork, then you would've seen this". And then she points to the discrepancy that I picked up and was talking about.

Another time, i was printing out paperwork from the emails. And my boss was on the phone and she asked me did I receive an email for paperwork regarding John Smith. The paperwork I was printing out had the initials for a client KR, so clearly it wasn't John smith. But I scanned it on our qr code reader so I could write down the full name. I scanned it and it said Katelyn Reid, so I was just about to write that on the paper I was holding. And my boss misinterpreted it and thought I was clueless, and she said, "the initials say KR so clearly it's not John Smith".

Every single day, my boss just complains and whinges. Not always about me. But just whinging about her life, about her vacations she still needs to book, whinges about almost everything you can think of.

I will never be able to change my boss' incorrect assumptions about me.

In fact, she said to me "I dont think you understand our processes". I do understand them. It's just that she thinks i dont.

She wants me to stay here forever. But life is short and temporary, and I can't be in this environment for the rest of my life. I'm going to resign and she's going to be 100% angry because i am taking her power away to fire me. Yes, she has fired two staff members this year already.

Jobadvisor

It is completely understandable that you are feeling exhausted and ready to walk away. You are dealing with a boss who jumps to conclusions, refuses to listen long enough to get the facts, and projects her own underlying stress and disorganization onto you.

When a manager is already prone to complaining and firing people, they default to assuming lower-level team members—especially their very first intern—are at fault before taking a second to look at what is actually happening.

Since you have already decided to resign, your primary focus now is emotional detachment and protecting your professional reputation until you step out the door.

Phase 1: Navigating the Daily Interactions (Until You Leave)

When someone consistently misinterprets your actions, trying to argue logic in the moment often backfires because they care more about being "right" than being accurate.

• Narrate your actions in real time (Over-communicate context):
  Instead of handing her a folder or answering a quick question, prefix your action with the fact.
  
  
  • Old way: "The client is on the phone. Just reminding you there's a discrepancy."
    
    
  • New way: "I saw the blue note you wrote about the discrepancy on file, and that client is on line 1 for you."
    
    
  • Old way: Scanning the KR paper silently when asked about John Smith.
    
    
  • New way: "I don't have John Smith's email yet—I'm currently scanning KR's file to log Katelyn Reid."
    
    
• Use the "Grey Rock" method for the complaining:
  When she whines about her personal life, vacation planning, or workload, do not feed the conversation. Give short, neutral, non-committal replies ("Sounds like a lot on your plate," "Hope that gets sorted out") and immediately pivot back to a task.
  
  
• Don't take the bait:
  When she says, "If you had looked through the paperwork..." or "I don't think you understand our processes," resist the urge to get defensive. A simple, calm, "I did check the blue note—I'll make sure to specify that next time," takes the wind out of her sails without creating a battle.
  
  

Phase 2: Protecting Yourself and Preparing to Leave

Because she has already fired two people this year and is clearly unpredictable, you need to protect your transition.

• Document everything internally: Keep a private log (on your personal device or notebook, not work equipment) of the tasks you complete, projects you finish, and positive feedback from clients or co-workers. This ensures you have clear resume bullet points and defense if she ever tries to claim poor performance on paper.
  
  
• Line up alternative references: Since she may react poorly to your resignation, identify other people in the company—other team members, senior staff, or clients you've helped—who can speak to your work ethic and capability.
  
  
• Keep your resignation professional and bulletproof:
  When you hand in your notice, keep it brief, polite, and completely focused on your timeline. Do not list your grievances or point out her poor management skills; it will only invite a defensive explosion.
  
  

Designing Your Resignation Strategy

Since you anticipate a strong reaction when you give notice, keeping your resignation letter strictly formal and short will limit her ability to create drama.

• Give a standard notice period: (Usually two weeks, or whatever is specified in your contract).
  
  
• Be prepared for an immediate exit: Given that she has fired two people recently, be mentally and logistically prepared in case she tells you to pack up and leave the same day you hand in your notice. Make sure all personal items and contacts are taken home before you hand over the letter.
  
  

What is your planned timeline for handing in your resignation, and do you have another team member or supervisor who can act as a reference?

What’s a career path that will require me to travel constantly?

*Other than roles like pilot or flight attendant or anything directly related to being flight crew.

I’m a young adult I already have my bachelors in a social sciences field, I know I want a career that will require me to constantly travel internationally.

Travel:

I mean flying to a new city/country every week it can seriously be constant, I don’t care about work life balance, nor do I have a family or ever intend to start one, so I literally would not mind the job being my life, (as long as the pay isn’t absolute dogshit)

I speak 4 languages fluently and am conversational in another three, my long term goal is to become a polyglot, my strongest skill is picking up languages quickly, I’m used to traveling and moving and have done so most of childhood.

I’m good at adapting to new environments and cultures quickly and I’m great at handling new or unfamiliar experiences.

Schooling:

I wouldn’t mind extra schooling for a career path that would grant me what I’m looking for, as long it’s not longer than 4-5 years. I’m comfortable pivoting to a STEM field or a liberal arts/social sciences directions.

Ideally I don’t mind traveling to less developed or less desirable countries/locations either but I wouldn’t rather it be where I go exclusively.

Jobadvisor

Given your language skills and total flexibility, you're actually in a strong position — most people ruling out flight crew still assume they're stuck. Here are real paths that involve near-constant international travel:Given your specific mix — no interest in work-life balance, comfort with less desirable locations, and rapid language acquisition as your standout skill — conference interpreting and humanitarian field work are probably the two that most directly reward exactly what you've got, rather than just tolerating your lifestyle preferences. Consulting and international sales pay better but care less about your languages specifically; diplomacy and journalism sit in between.

One honest caveat: even in these paths, "constant" travel (new city every week, indefinitely) is more common in the first several years or in specific roles (field logistics, freelance interpreting, consulting analyst years) than as a permanent steady state — people who stay in these fields long-term often eventually get offered more senior, less mobile roles, precisely because they're good at the job. If never settling down is a hard requirement for decades, freelance interpreting or freelance journalism give you the most control over refusing that trajectory, since nobody can "promote" you into a desk.

What do I study in college to have an office job?

Hello all, I’m not interested in science or medical as job options, and I really want to have an office job or a job I can work at home (but I wouldn’t mind if that’s not an option), I would also like a job with a liveable wage that I can also buy myself nice things with. I tell my family I’m going to study finance but that’s really all. I would appreciate if anyone could give me any advice on what to study or even some specific jobs so I can have a set career to look forward to so when someone asks me what i want to be in the future I can say an exact job name! Thanks for reading

Jobadvisor

To secure a stable, comfortable office job—or a remote position with a livable, comfortable wage—you do not need a medical or hard science degree.

Business administration, technology, and communications degrees open up standard corporate career paths. Below are the most reliable degree options paired with specific, well-paying office job titles you can name when people ask about your plans.

Recommended College Majors & Specific Job Titles

Degree / Major	What You Actually Do	Specific Job Titles to Use	Work Style / Remote Potential
Finance or Accounting	Manage budgets, evaluate corporate investments, analyze financial reports, and handle corporate tax or auditing.	• Financial Analyst • Corporate Accountant • Budget Analyst	High remote potential; steady growth and structured corporate progression.
Marketing or Digital Marketing	Conduct market research, run advertising campaigns, manage brand presence, and optimize digital sales channels.	• Marketing Specialist • SEO / Content Strategist • Brand Coordinator	Excellent remote potential; heavily collaborative and creative office environments.
Information Systems / Management Information Systems (MIS)	Serve as the bridge between business operations and tech teams; manage databases and software systems.	• Business Systems Analyst • IT Project Coordinator • Data Analyst	Very high remote potential; highly sought-after technical skills without requiring software engineering.
Human Resources (HR) or Business Admin	Oversee employee relations, corporate hiring, benefits administration, and day-to-day business operations.	• HR Generalist / Specialist • Corporate Recruiter • Operations Analyst	Hybrid or remote friendly; focuses heavily on people, communication, and organizational policy.
Communications or Public Relations	Write press releases, manage corporate communications, coordinate internal employee messaging, and handle media relations.	• Communications Specialist • Public Relations Associate • Copywriter	High remote potential; ideal if you enjoy writing, editing, and strategy over numbers.

How to Choose the Right Target Job

If you want a clear, specific answer when family or peers ask what you want to do, consider which daily work environment sounds most appealing:

1. If you like numbers, spreadsheets, and structured problem-solving:
   
   
   • Target Job: "I'm studying Finance to become a Financial Analyst."
     
     
2. If you prefer organization, planning, and coordinating teams:
   
   
   • Target Job: "I'm studying Information Systems to become a Business Analyst or Project Coordinator."
     
     
3. If you prefer working with people, interviewing, and workplace culture:
   
   
   • Target Job: "I'm studying Human Resources to become a Corporate Recruiter."
     
     
4. If you like creative strategy, writing, or social media:
   
   
   • Target Job: "I'm studying Marketing to become a Digital Marketing Specialist."
     
     

Core Tips for College Success

• Prioritize Internships: In the corporate world, entry-level office jobs care far more about relevant internship experience than the specific name of your university. Aim to complete at least 1–2 summer corporate internships before graduating.
  
  
• Learn Core Software: Regardless of your major, becoming proficient in Microsoft Excel, data visualization tools (like Power BI or Tableau), and project management software (such as Jira or Asana) makes you instantly hireable for hybrid and remote roles.

I have stability in my social work, but becoming a nurse has always been a dream. What would you do ?

I have been working as a social worker for six years now and have gained some stability in the field which I can point at, but lately I've been thinking about changing career and going into nursing which has always been my dream. My problem is that the thought of starting over from scratch feels like a pretty big risk, and I'm not so sure if I'm being to unrealistic.

I also hear from most people, especially colleagues, that nursing is demanding and getting work-life balance is a big challenge. Right now, I'm also at a point where I feel like I'm about to start a family, so having a career that will at least give me that is very important to me. To those who have experienced similar or related dilemma on career change, would you take the risk and start over in nursing, or how did you go about yours? I can learn one or two things.

Jobadvisor

That combination changes things a bit — I want to be honest about it.

On the burnout point specifically: this is worth sitting with before you commit to a full career change. Burnout has a way of making anything else look like the dream, precisely because the grass-is-greener feeling is strongest when you're depleted. That doesn't mean nursing isn't right for you — it might genuinely be. But it's worth separating two different questions: "Do I want to leave social work?" and "Do I specifically want to become a nurse?" Sometimes the honest answer is more the first than the second, and if that's true, a full retrain into an even more physically and emotionally demanding field could trade one kind of burnout for another, at the worst possible time (right as you're trying to start a family).

On feasibility being tough right now: that's a real, practical constraint, not just cold feet. Nursing school — even accelerated or bridge paths — usually asks for a serious chunk of time, money, and energy up front, right when you'd also want stability for a growing family. That tension is worth taking seriously rather than pushing through on willpower alone.

Given where you're at, here's how I'd think about the options rather than a single "go or don't go" answer:If I were in your position, I'd start with option one, even briefly — not to talk you out of nursing, but because burnout is a bad advisor. It tends to whisper "everything else would be better" without being specific about why. If a few months of addressing the burnout directly still leaves you wanting nursing, that's much stronger information than deciding while depleted.

The middle option (medical social work, case management) is worth a serious look too, because it might actually solve more of your problem than you'd expect — new environment, closer to the clinical world you're drawn to, without asking you to abandon six years of built-up stability right as you're planning a family.

And if nursing still calls to you after that, going in through LPN or a part-time bridge program, rather than quitting cold and doing a full accelerated BSN, would let you test the fit without betting everything on it at once.