What's your job?

[DanTheMan]

I know we had one of these threads a while back but I couldn't find it from a quick thread search and I thought it's a good time to start a fresh. I'm sure plenty of people have moved jobs since and there's plenty of newcomers who may not have posted originally.

I'm interested to hear what everyone does for a living and the main pros and cons of the role. Just job title, brief overview and 2 main pros and cons of the role.

I'll start:

Job title: Compliance Caseworker for HMRC

Essentially, I carry out compliance checks on individuals and small businesses to ensure the correct tax has been paid. I raise tax assessments where necessary and try to educate those that want to be educated on how to file their returns correctly.

Pros:

- Interesting variety to the work. Always interesting to see the accounts and financial information of various people and businesses.
- Excellent job security and pension

Cons:

- Limited progression within the role. It can be very easy to become stuck on your pay band as pay progression is limited within pay bands and the opportunities for promotion are quite limited.
- I'm generally disliked by the people I come into contact with due to the nature of the role.

 

[DanTheMan]

Sadly there’s a lot of that going around. I used to fly A330/A340 and have also been made redundant. Hopefully I’ll get my job back sometime next year if I’m lucky.

In the mean time, I’ve no idea what I’m going to do!

The guy helping out at our local newsagents is an EasyJet pilot! I think fortunately he has enough money to get by for a while but he didn't have much hope of flying again anytime soon.

 

[DanTheMan]

Dot com delivery driver for a well known supermarket.

Pro's:
Getting paid to travel the countryside visiting nice places (most of the time).
Pretty much being your own boss once you leave the depot.
Good pay for easy work and flexible hours. I'm on the same net pay now doing 30 hours a week as I was previously doing 40. Paying considerably less tax and NI helps with that too though.
Staff discount card, pension scheme, stocks and shares bonuses.

Cons:
Delivering in all weather conditions.
Dealing with road closures, tail backs etc.
Taking over from a lazy driver who can't keep a cab tidy.
The occasional ***** customer to deal with.

I imagine home shopping delivery is far nicer in rural Devon than it is in Manchester but my stint delivering for a supermarket was definitely my worst job so far.

We delivered to Manchester City Centre so I'd spend my time blocking roads and getting abuse of customers for not bringing their shopping up 20 floors to their apartment door.

 

[DanTheMan]

@2Thumbs good thing you have two thumbs..

I applied for a delivery driver role at a supermarket unfortunately didn’t pass the driving assessment! Seems like they were allowing anyone as I hadn’t even drove a van before let alone a LWB.
Obviously when driving there may be small things you’re doing which you shouldn’t but I can’t think of anything major, except at a roundabout unknowingly I used one hand for a split second, which was mentioned..

but they don’t tell you the outcome on the spot or the reason for failure, I could have asked I guess..

It was obviously different for me as I already worked on another department at the supermarket I drove for but my 'driving assessment' consisted of me driving the team leader to dominos in the van and then to another store to drop off a click and collect order. I think there was also a short multiple choice test online somewhere along the way.

 

[DanTheMan]

Corporate Tax Senior Manager at one of the Big 4

Pros:
Lots of variety
Technical work is really interesting
Genuinely feel valued by (most of) my clients
Freedom to manage my own time, especially WFH
Lots of opportunities for career progression

Cons:
Hours can be long and unpredictable
Lack of junior staff means a lot of pressure on efficiency vs quality when delivering work - I do a lot more than I would like at this stage to ensure our work is up to scratch, but I’d rather be less profitable and do good quality work.

Did you get in via a grad scheme or experience elsewhere?

I always wonder whether the move from HMRC to private sector tax would be for me. I know a few people who have moved and most are happy enough with the pay increase but seem massively more stressed with the workload and deadlines.

 

[DanTheMan]

I joined the audit grad scheme in 2012 and transferred in 2015. Stress management is a fairly essential skill I would say, but workloads vary massively depending on team. Something like M&A will inevitably have more concentrated busy periods whereas the workload is spread more evenly in theory in less transaction based service lines.

I would say some of my colleagues have a better work life balance but mainly through their own ability to switch off and draw clearer lines between work and home life. I’m not so great at that but I at least feel like it’s been recognised and rewarded so far.

Thanks. I always feel like I've missed the boat with the big tax firms as everyone I've ever known to work for them has gone in straight from university or has joined them in their late 30s / 40s with years of experience. I'm kind of in between.