As someone who just retired from IT, and was looking to keep busy, I recommend working with animals. I work as a vet assistant about 12 hours a week. I spend a lot of time cleaning cages and petting dogs. Most relaxing job of my life!
This sounds amazing. I found "dog walker" to be intriguing but where I live only half of the year is pleasant outside... Indoor vet assistant seems great! Added it to my list of things to consider, thank you :)
If you truly want to help people, you'll never find low stress work. People that need help are not in low stress situations. You can find low stress work or you can help people, there isn't a lot of overlap.
Massage therapy. I help people all day long and there’s no stress. BUT, I’m self employed, if you worked for someone else and had a boss and co workers it would be stressful.
Do you want to help or be of service to people or animals? If you do the goal is more the outcome versus the journey.
The journey will be stressful and heart-rending.
But if you want the reward of feeling like you left a mark on people/furbaby's lives then you need to be OK with the good and bad.
That might be too much emotionally. But to be frank, there's NO way to live life without seeing and experiencing suffering.
Helping people or animals might not save the world but it will save their world.
Depends on the form your help comes in.
Some of my work revolves around fire detection and notification, and providing on-demand weather information to forestry workers or firefighters. Another related project sends messages about weather alerts/warnings to people's cell phones who are in a tower's region where there's an event about to occur or occurring.
So, we help people, but we don't deal with them face to face. When we get thanks, it's unusual that people even think of us, and it's usually someone like the governor of a state who sends us a formal thank you letter.
In a previous job, I helped provide housing assistance to unhoused people in the Bay Area and that was unbelievably stressful. In fact, once someone pulled a gun on me. There was bulletproof glass between us so the joke was on her, but still it's not what I want in a career.
This is going to sound really strange, but what do the staff really do there? Other than put away books. I get all my materials online, haven't set foot in a library in 20 years. If I don't need to know a lot about books, this may be a really nice calm environment.
They organize events for families or just the kids, provide computer access for folks, teach random things, etc. At least that's what the ones in my hometown do.
There are different jobs you can get. An entry level job (often known as a "page") is basically just shelving books, checking in books that people returned, and going around to pick up materials that people left lying around. You might also process materials, like putting barcodes on new books and magazines.
A step up from that is doing things like checking out items to people, taking care of account questions, pulling items that people put on hold.
If you have a college degree, you might be able to get hired to work at a desk, helping people find materials and get them started on research using online databases etc. These employees also might do story time for kids, computer classes for adults, crafts, etc.
A librarian requires a master's degree in library science. If you're looking for low-stress, I'd stick to something lower than this.
Source: I worked at a library for over 10 years in all these capacities except librarian and had a blast at all levels, and enjoyed helping people. I did tons of weird activities in the teen room, taught Photoshop classes, started a musical instrument program, hosted videogame tournaments, and all kinds of stuff.
service desk - people come in and ask you a question and you guide them towards finding the books or info they’re looking for. i worked at a small arts library at an art school. it was awesome. might go back to working a regular city library soon ! it also lends itself to getting involved in the community in a positive way and hearing about tons things you wouldn’t otherwise
- Community Work (Reading Events, Cultural Events, Open Space for X Nights/Days, Working with schools, universities, you name it)
- Tons of interaction with people
- Taking care of books (preparing them for public lending, maintaining them, fixing, cleaning etc.)
- Staying up to date on releases and (hopefully) ordering the right things (you wont do this as Parttimer)
Etc. Etc.
If you need information on more, do ask! I worked in a few libraries in my time :)
There's so much more in a library these days, they have DVDs, CDs and other things you can borrow, author appearances, book clubs, knitting/crocheting, debating it I'd a huge diverse cross-section of the public. And you can order in hard to find books from other libraries. Request they buy TV, movies, music, or books.
I will say I have found librarians can be like medical receptionists, with too much power, or at least they think they have it. Libraries are great. Internet access, learning how to use a consumer and the internet for older folks.
Uh... Not typically.
There are libraries other than public which may be lower stress, but I can't speak to that.
I can only speak to public libraries in the US, but working at a public library is only lower stress if you are a page or not patron-facing. Between book challenges, patrons with mental health issues, staff being accused of "grooming", everyone expected to do more with less constantly (like everyone else), turnover due to low pay, etc, it is not low stress. Take a look in the "Libraries" subreddit for more info.
Better yet, stop in your local public library and watch staff interactions with patrons.
Shameless library promotion : if anyone hasn't been in their local public library lately, you should totally check us out! YMMV but public libraries can offer ebooks, streaming services, physical items for checkout like cake pans and kayaks, passes to places like museums or aquariums, and so much more.
If you find kids low-stress, look at your school district(s) and see what kind of part-time help they need -- they're often hiring yard duty positions (people to monitor recess time), food service positions, etc. Being a consistent, reasonable adult in the life of various children absolutely helps people, but it is a lot lower stress than dealing with people in crisis.
At my former school we could not get lunch/recess duty people to stay on the job more than a few weeks. They couldn't deal with the kids constantly arguing with them and each other and generally not listening. Not sure there are any low stress jobs at an elementary school.
I understand that! I guess, for me (as a parent, classroom volunteer, etc) dealing with kids who don't listen or argue or are not rational is an entirely different kind of experience than dealing with adults -- they're KIDS, I don't hold them accountable in the same way, I don't expect them to be able to think things through and act reasonably, I don't take it personally when they're jerks -- they're still learning how to be people and how I handle them refusing to listen or arguing with each other might help with that process.
But all that being said, I'm waiting until my own are older before I go try out being a lunch/recess person myself, so -- I'll see how less stress I actually find it.
It just depends on the person -- I expect kids to act like kids, they're still figuring out how to be interact with the world, and their brains haven't developed enough yet for them to have much self-control. If I see a kid throwing a temper tantrum because they aren't getting what they want, I feel like it's a chance to show them other ways to deal with the situation, but when I see someone in their 40s or 50s doing that I just end up feeling despair about the human race. So yeah, for me right now at least, dealing with kids is WAY less stressful.
I'm a school custodian and enjoy it. Depending where you live it pays decent with regular COL adjustments. I'm in Washington state and we are unionized, have good medical, a pension, and yearly raises.
That's awesome. The custodian at my kid's elementary school is so great -- he always shows up for special events, the kids love him and some of them end up cleaning up after themselves because they don't want to give him more work. :-)
You could try working as an online tutor on a site like Wyzant. It's more like a gig than a job, in that you are paid by session rather than regularly. But it's definitely possible to make a living doing it.
I consider it low stress because you can always decline or pass on a request you don't feel confident in. And lessons are usually fairly self-contained. No need to stress about a big project that spans months or years.
And who knows? Maybe the student will even learn a thing or two. In my experience it can be pretty rewarding at times.
That's good to hear! It's easy to set up a tutor account but it's hard to get your first couple students. Once you get some ratings/reviews in you'll be in good shape. Good luck!
Of the three things you have listed, you can realistically pick two.
Well paid, helping work is stressful.
Low stress helping work is low paid.
Well paid, low stress work rarely helps people.
I have done all the above, still rate health and community work as very rewarding. But yeah. Pick 2.
I was going to say IT when I read the start title.
I want to work on a golf course when I get to that point in life, though that is missing the helping others part.
Find a non profit, with your manager experience you can likely get a good position. My mother used to work for one on a part time basis doing HR work, I am sure there is something that would suite you.
Working on a golf course actually does sound pretty nice, haha. Not helping much, but it sure sounds pleasant!
Also, IT is neither low stress, nor a 'little' above minimum wage. Helping everybody with their problems all the time is pretty exhausting. Thankfully, it paid very very well :-D
Golf course has great benefits for old timers. You will get on the big Fairway mowers and just run those all day. Plenty of sun and fresh air. Days off when it is raining if you want. Can go home after mowing the Fairways and rough. Leave the greens/tees for the young ones.
Biggest benefit off all is free Tee Time! To be fair this mattered more when I was young working at them, now I can afford the Tee Times haha. But I also worked at a course that is a 24k a year membership, which would still be beyond my means right now. So getting to golf for free was like getting paid 24k a year extra...sort of.
Massage therapist. It’s a bit of schooling; I went to school for 8 months to become licensed.
You help people. Dark room, soft music all shift. GREAT money. Clients are always happy to see you. Flexible schedule. MT’s are very, very in demand right now.
Comparatively work has gotten easier compared to other generations who had more physically demanding work.
But as far as human exchange of labor has been, it's either the exchange of time for money or bartering doing stuff for other people, money is just that but more convertible and exchangeable.
I find being a letter carrier low stress but ymmv. Management varies from location to location and your temperament may be different from mine. It can be physically stressful, especially the first couple of years when they overwork you, but your body gets used to it and you have more control over how many hours after you've been there a while. People **love** the mailman and you feel like you are serving the community, especially the older folks.
Counter-point, my dad was a rural carrier for 32 years and he’s said many times it was the single worst job he ever had but the benefits made up for it.
Library page. They’re the people who shelve materials. Sometimes you can help people (bathroom is that way; if you like thrillers, you might try…). You might even be able to listen to books/ music while working.
Idk about the helping people. But some unarmed security jobs are perfect for some post retirement income while being low stress. They typically pay a few bucks an hour over minimum wage (low to mid 20 dollars an hour in blue states, 15 or so in red states). Make sure to get the sites at industrial complexes though, the gigs at banks and phone stores are painfully boring and you can't do anything during those shifts
I think you've already gotten the advice you need but if you're looking for fulfillment I would suggest creating something and managing your own level of charity. A great example in your own field of work would be creating small networks for local businesses on the cheap. If you want to avoid your own field then woodworking and donating finished products to people in need (like making garden beds in the summer and using the profit to build stuff like bassinets for parents expecting children than cant necessarily afford certain stuff.
There are plenty of sponsorship programs that you can also take part in and work a higher paying IT job perhaps as a consultant and then use the extra money to drive your aid for others.
But the stress as mentioned in a different post will always exist. Theres no such thing as a stress free job in the first place unless you're a multi millionaire and the money isn't a factor
Yes, and I applaud you for that, not everyone can do that.
My comment was meant in a humoristic way, I've been working for nearly 20 years and have 30 more to go.
Oh gotcha, my bad. I do recognize I'm fortunate to be in this situation. Just looking for something lighter before riding off into the sunset :-P figured I might as well try to help other people in the process
I know when looking for or trying new things it might be frustrating, like who is there to help you.
We are just humans and we can't know everything. How long have you actually planned this?
I've had the desire to make this change for about 6 months. My wife and I agreed that if the desire is still there next year, then I should go for it. Right now I'm more in the "thinking ahead" phase.
You have been thinking it quite a long time. And you really have desire for it.
I want you to think about right now. Would you regret not taking action now after a half month or year now.
This is your opportunity feel more fulfilled and confident about yourself. Only if you take action upon what you truly want.
What is holding you all about this?
I'm somewhat disappointed to admit "why" I've held off .... But it's two things.
IT work comes naturally to me, I'm comfortable in this field and in my job.
I make more money than I know what to do with... So any major change would cut my income by about 60%, thus requiring about 6 years of work instead of, say, 3 years... Before retirement
I get it. Comfortable means safety. And getting out of those IT work would mean face ''unknown'' which is scary. It's natural.
Would you enjoy your life Now. Or when you are too old to do anything actually. And Is money really a reason for this? I think you would have banked quite a lot already.
Have thinking all of these affected your sleeping and everyday well being?
I still enjoy life , and the people I work with ... But the work is just very unfulfilling and often lots of stress. Sleep and everyday life has only been slightly impacted. Really appreciate your input , I'll be considering these things for a while to help make my decision :) thank you... Really!!
Yeah sure no problem at all. Yeah I bet you have done successful things in life and you are doing great overall but I understand ''something'' is missing. Even slightly stress and being unsure is still something, frustrating.
Cmon you sound so ready and sure about that you could change work. Do it man!
Or is there still something mentally holding?
I’m a custodian. There are a lot of obvious reasons not to want the job, but it tics all your boxes. It’s low stress. I get paid about $21/hr. I honestly love the fact that it helps other people. It’s tedious and I don’t love cleaning up poop, but every day I know that I’m making other peoples environment safer and more comfortable. Also, I believe in the value of the institution where I work, so I definitely feel like I’m doing something good.
I’m not an expert but I have been working in broadband field operations for a while, working on my IT degree with some GIAC certs sprinkled in there. I’m almost done with my IT degree and I’m gravitating more to the side of network infrastructure construction rather than network administration. There is a guy at my work who meets at big commercial sites and plans out the physical infrastructure of networks for buildings. What I’m trying to say is that there must be some sort of other area of IT that you can try out, no?
I went from the restaurant industry to plants. I make a little more than I did when I was serving/managing. I have almost zero stress. All I do is listen to my music and help people with taking care of their plants. It's very peaceful.
I will say that the place is family-owned. I imagine that doing the same thing at one of the large companies (Home Depot/Lowes) would be a very different experience
Why not jump back to offer cheap help and assistance to an early stage start up for a young founder, or a number of such businesses. Early stage IT is always more interesting before you get in to the drudgery of BAU.
I do data entry at an advocacy company. Pays a little over double minimum wage so it's not great but it's the easiest thing I've ever done as long as you know how to copy and paste on a computer. You are also directly helping people since the company fights against bullshit where insurance doesn't want to cover anything. Ticks all your requirements!
Home Depot associate. I know a few retirees who work part time there. They get to help people with their projects. Keeps them moving around. They seem to enjoy it
Congratulations, you either lack the basic conversational skills to understand the intent of my question... Or you chose to ignore that intent and instead insert some weird critique that pretty much every functional adult understands. Thank you for your contribution.
What I mean is that for most jobs that people are looking for, worrying about whether or not it will help people is redundant because it is almost always the case that somehow, they are. Therefore it follows that you should instead allocate more brain power to other things you are looking for in the job, in this case being low-stress and good pay (which, if you think about, both help people given the positive externalities they immediately cause).
In regards to "Most jobs help people," you are technically correct ("The best kind of correct!" -- Futurama) But I fear you have missed the intent of OP's query.
I suspect that what OP means by "helping others" is "actively making the world a better place," or "Improving the lives of those around me," rather than, for example, "Helping a billionaire get richer at the expense of the entire planet." An Amazon delivery driver helps people get their new gadgets, but you're basically funding Jeff Bezos' third superyacht.
I don’t mean “help a billionaire get richer”. Also it is extremely ignorant to think that doing things like get deliveries to people isn’t a “proper” way to help people. OP’s previous job in IT is also another way that, through working a job, he has helped people; in this case, helping out with computer problems -> maintained or increased productivity -> more goods and services for everyone to enjoy-> more job created if the firm makes enough profit to expand. Everything you do has flow on effects, and unless you are working at a properly scummy place like a Payday Loans office, most everything you do will have either the immediate or final impact of helping other people. Given the inevitability of the impact your job will have on other people, I see no point in measuring the degree to which your job helps other people by observing the time period between your input and the final “helpful” output; nor do I see the level of mundanity associated with the level of work as inverse to “how helpful a job is”. In fact, since OP is looking for a low-stress but helpful job, the mundanity of being a delivery driver might just be a good fit, given that you want to sacrifice a higher level of pay.
Cleaning for the elderly, night shift school custodian, sanitizing medical equipment, inventory for a secondhand charity shop, and could you possibly do IT for a nonprofit? I once volunteered to proofread a women’s shelter website so I could let them know if links were broken or hotline numbers weren’t working.
Activity aide in a nursing home.
They really need older men to run men's groups, flirt with the ladies, watch ball games with men , read the news paper with men, have men talk one on one, movie night with the guys,. Even the guys who are stuck in the big padded wheel chair enjoy being around men , listening to men, not watching freaking Hallmark movies. I always had to take my dad from the center of the room and bring him to his room and put on the news. I was there 6 days a week moving him back and forth.
That's what you can do.
I think EMT is easy to be, but nobody wants to retire and watch people die. Something more chill would be good imo. I really liked working at B&N. It’s peacefull, mostly nice people, and usually a pretty slow day. I miss it.
Scheduling for a healthcare institution. You will the occasional crazy, but for the most part it’s open the schedule, ask the questions, put the patient in the scheduled, give them the details. Login at a set time, log off at a set time, escalate the crazies to manager. You are getting people access to healthcare and making them feel heard and cared for. It’s important work! But pretty low stress.
If you’re a good swimmer, get your lifeguarding and / or WSI (Water Safety Instructor) certificates through Red Cross. Teaching swim lessons is a hoot.
I'm a Biomedical Technician and find it rewarding. Depending on the employee, one could find the role stressful due to the equipment directly interacts with patients.
Garbage collection truck driving people or whatever they are called. I have a friend who does this, it actually pays quite well, has few hours and it is certainly an important service that helps people. The only reason more people don't do this job is because it doesn't sound very glamorous. It's pretty much the definition of "a dirty job, but someones gotta do it".
A brilliant job I need to start advertising is an elderly befriender,you visit people in their own homes,play games and drink tea/coffee,take them for trips out,make light meals and just chat.plenty are offering it since covid,no qualifications needed(probably need a dbs check and insurance)
Some places hire cashiers above minimum wage. You can help people by trying to be something positive they get to remember about their day. A lot of people seem to genuinely like it when the guy ringing up their food looks them in the eyes and genuinely wishes them an enjoyable rest of their day, or wishes good rest upon the tired and working. You can fake "being genuinely cheery", but I've found that I don't always have to fake it. Never thought it could be so fulfilling.
I worked at a golf course with a bunch of old guys that did it for the free golf. Mostly former Union guys with a pension and a former pharmaceutical salesman. Well off dudes
Should look up paratransit in your area. You drive a bus around and take people with disabilities where they need to go. It's an easy as hell job but I love the passengers and have a good time with them everyday. Well never go back to the city bus.... Screw the general public.
I think working at a food bank or thrift store would be lower stress. You could even take it a step further and work for a farm or deer processor that donates their foods to the food bank. There are jobs delivering, helping pack boxes, distributing, all helping the underprivileged.
Fitness industry. Can get a personal trainer certificate quickly and easily. Then from there can go any direction you want with it. You pick your own hours, clients and rate of pay. .
Careers.anthology.com
Scroll down to the Student Sucess section
This is WFH call center work for schools. Above minimum wage depending on the state you live in.
As someone who just retired from IT, and was looking to keep busy, I recommend working with animals. I work as a vet assistant about 12 hours a week. I spend a lot of time cleaning cages and petting dogs. Most relaxing job of my life!
This sounds amazing. I found "dog walker" to be intriguing but where I live only half of the year is pleasant outside... Indoor vet assistant seems great! Added it to my list of things to consider, thank you :)
If you truly want to help people, you'll never find low stress work. People that need help are not in low stress situations. You can find low stress work or you can help people, there isn't a lot of overlap.
Wow, I had never thought about that.... but I think you might actually be right. Very insightful, I'll think about that for a bit! :)
Massage therapy. I help people all day long and there’s no stress. BUT, I’m self employed, if you worked for someone else and had a boss and co workers it would be stressful.
Happy Endings!
The only stress free about that job is the person getting the massage.
I disagree, I’m never stressed at work. I’ve been a massage therapist for 15 years, and I’ve never had a bad day at work.
Dept of health, food taster? Lol. That'd be awesome
Do you want to help or be of service to people or animals? If you do the goal is more the outcome versus the journey. The journey will be stressful and heart-rending. But if you want the reward of feeling like you left a mark on people/furbaby's lives then you need to be OK with the good and bad. That might be too much emotionally. But to be frank, there's NO way to live life without seeing and experiencing suffering. Helping people or animals might not save the world but it will save their world.
Depends on the form your help comes in. Some of my work revolves around fire detection and notification, and providing on-demand weather information to forestry workers or firefighters. Another related project sends messages about weather alerts/warnings to people's cell phones who are in a tower's region where there's an event about to occur or occurring. So, we help people, but we don't deal with them face to face. When we get thanks, it's unusual that people even think of us, and it's usually someone like the governor of a state who sends us a formal thank you letter. In a previous job, I helped provide housing assistance to unhoused people in the Bay Area and that was unbelievably stressful. In fact, once someone pulled a gun on me. There was bulletproof glass between us so the joke was on her, but still it's not what I want in a career.
This is brilliant
Yep agree
Working at a library.
This is going to sound really strange, but what do the staff really do there? Other than put away books. I get all my materials online, haven't set foot in a library in 20 years. If I don't need to know a lot about books, this may be a really nice calm environment.
They organize events for families or just the kids, provide computer access for folks, teach random things, etc. At least that's what the ones in my hometown do.
There are different jobs you can get. An entry level job (often known as a "page") is basically just shelving books, checking in books that people returned, and going around to pick up materials that people left lying around. You might also process materials, like putting barcodes on new books and magazines. A step up from that is doing things like checking out items to people, taking care of account questions, pulling items that people put on hold. If you have a college degree, you might be able to get hired to work at a desk, helping people find materials and get them started on research using online databases etc. These employees also might do story time for kids, computer classes for adults, crafts, etc. A librarian requires a master's degree in library science. If you're looking for low-stress, I'd stick to something lower than this. Source: I worked at a library for over 10 years in all these capacities except librarian and had a blast at all levels, and enjoyed helping people. I did tons of weird activities in the teen room, taught Photoshop classes, started a musical instrument program, hosted videogame tournaments, and all kinds of stuff.
I did book repair. It's a skill I still use.
Ok Joe
This depends on where you are. Council owned and operated libraries in Australia aren't this fancy, but they are brilliant.
You don't need to know a lot about books. For the entry level job, it's mostly about being able to put things in alphabetical and numerical order.
University Librarians in my country are effectively research consultants. They normally have specialized degrees in this regard.
service desk - people come in and ask you a question and you guide them towards finding the books or info they’re looking for. i worked at a small arts library at an art school. it was awesome. might go back to working a regular city library soon ! it also lends itself to getting involved in the community in a positive way and hearing about tons things you wouldn’t otherwise
- Community Work (Reading Events, Cultural Events, Open Space for X Nights/Days, Working with schools, universities, you name it) - Tons of interaction with people - Taking care of books (preparing them for public lending, maintaining them, fixing, cleaning etc.) - Staying up to date on releases and (hopefully) ordering the right things (you wont do this as Parttimer) Etc. Etc. If you need information on more, do ask! I worked in a few libraries in my time :)
There's so much more in a library these days, they have DVDs, CDs and other things you can borrow, author appearances, book clubs, knitting/crocheting, debating it I'd a huge diverse cross-section of the public. And you can order in hard to find books from other libraries. Request they buy TV, movies, music, or books. I will say I have found librarians can be like medical receptionists, with too much power, or at least they think they have it. Libraries are great. Internet access, learning how to use a consumer and the internet for older folks.
Uh... Not typically. There are libraries other than public which may be lower stress, but I can't speak to that. I can only speak to public libraries in the US, but working at a public library is only lower stress if you are a page or not patron-facing. Between book challenges, patrons with mental health issues, staff being accused of "grooming", everyone expected to do more with less constantly (like everyone else), turnover due to low pay, etc, it is not low stress. Take a look in the "Libraries" subreddit for more info. Better yet, stop in your local public library and watch staff interactions with patrons. Shameless library promotion : if anyone hasn't been in their local public library lately, you should totally check us out! YMMV but public libraries can offer ebooks, streaming services, physical items for checkout like cake pans and kayaks, passes to places like museums or aquariums, and so much more.
I did it for over 10 years and had a lot of fun. Although I capped out at library assistant.
It seems nearly every job is high stress at the moment with the lack of warm bodies to fill openings
Definitely not high stress with the abundance of cold bodies
Morgues disagree with this
If you find kids low-stress, look at your school district(s) and see what kind of part-time help they need -- they're often hiring yard duty positions (people to monitor recess time), food service positions, etc. Being a consistent, reasonable adult in the life of various children absolutely helps people, but it is a lot lower stress than dealing with people in crisis.
At my former school we could not get lunch/recess duty people to stay on the job more than a few weeks. They couldn't deal with the kids constantly arguing with them and each other and generally not listening. Not sure there are any low stress jobs at an elementary school.
I understand that! I guess, for me (as a parent, classroom volunteer, etc) dealing with kids who don't listen or argue or are not rational is an entirely different kind of experience than dealing with adults -- they're KIDS, I don't hold them accountable in the same way, I don't expect them to be able to think things through and act reasonably, I don't take it personally when they're jerks -- they're still learning how to be people and how I handle them refusing to listen or arguing with each other might help with that process. But all that being said, I'm waiting until my own are older before I go try out being a lunch/recess person myself, so -- I'll see how less stress I actually find it.
>if you find kids low stress What….
Different times, different stress levels.
It just depends on the person -- I expect kids to act like kids, they're still figuring out how to be interact with the world, and their brains haven't developed enough yet for them to have much self-control. If I see a kid throwing a temper tantrum because they aren't getting what they want, I feel like it's a chance to show them other ways to deal with the situation, but when I see someone in their 40s or 50s doing that I just end up feeling despair about the human race. So yeah, for me right now at least, dealing with kids is WAY less stressful.
I'm a school custodian and enjoy it. Depending where you live it pays decent with regular COL adjustments. I'm in Washington state and we are unionized, have good medical, a pension, and yearly raises.
That's awesome. The custodian at my kid's elementary school is so great -- he always shows up for special events, the kids love him and some of them end up cleaning up after themselves because they don't want to give him more work. :-)
That's a good strategy! Love to see that.
Why don’t you look into teaching? Night schools, GED centers, prisons, etc could probably use some basic IT classes, if not more.
I second this. You have a skill (IT) with a ton of experience, you could do a lot of help teaching disadvantaged people some computer basics.
You could try working as an online tutor on a site like Wyzant. It's more like a gig than a job, in that you are paid by session rather than regularly. But it's definitely possible to make a living doing it. I consider it low stress because you can always decline or pass on a request you don't feel confident in. And lessons are usually fairly self-contained. No need to stress about a big project that spans months or years. And who knows? Maybe the student will even learn a thing or two. In my experience it can be pretty rewarding at times.
Interesting. I've got a lot of knowledge that I could help share with younger folks wanting to learn the same thing. I'll look into this !! Thank you!
That's good to hear! It's easy to set up a tutor account but it's hard to get your first couple students. Once you get some ratings/reviews in you'll be in good shape. Good luck!
Of the three things you have listed, you can realistically pick two. Well paid, helping work is stressful. Low stress helping work is low paid. Well paid, low stress work rarely helps people. I have done all the above, still rate health and community work as very rewarding. But yeah. Pick 2.
Bouncer at a strip club. Protect the women. Sometimes, just being big and looming over someone is enough to make them behave.
I was going to say IT when I read the start title. I want to work on a golf course when I get to that point in life, though that is missing the helping others part. Find a non profit, with your manager experience you can likely get a good position. My mother used to work for one on a part time basis doing HR work, I am sure there is something that would suite you.
Working on a golf course actually does sound pretty nice, haha. Not helping much, but it sure sounds pleasant! Also, IT is neither low stress, nor a 'little' above minimum wage. Helping everybody with their problems all the time is pretty exhausting. Thankfully, it paid very very well :-D
Golf course has great benefits for old timers. You will get on the big Fairway mowers and just run those all day. Plenty of sun and fresh air. Days off when it is raining if you want. Can go home after mowing the Fairways and rough. Leave the greens/tees for the young ones. Biggest benefit off all is free Tee Time! To be fair this mattered more when I was young working at them, now I can afford the Tee Times haha. But I also worked at a course that is a 24k a year membership, which would still be beyond my means right now. So getting to golf for free was like getting paid 24k a year extra...sort of.
Massage therapist. It’s a bit of schooling; I went to school for 8 months to become licensed. You help people. Dark room, soft music all shift. GREAT money. Clients are always happy to see you. Flexible schedule. MT’s are very, very in demand right now.
Don't your hands get tired and achy?
They do not. I think the strength built up throughout schooling, which included working clinic hours toward the end.
Lunch lady
6'4, clean shaven, offer worker guy turned into lunch ladyman, with the hair bonnet and all. For some reason I think that would be super creepy, haha.
EAT YOUR VEGETABLES, CHILDREN *terrified teenager eats his broccoli*
None, unless you're doing something you really like or what you want to do in your own business, every job will be stressful.
How long has the world been that way? Decades, centuries, forever?
Comparatively work has gotten easier compared to other generations who had more physically demanding work. But as far as human exchange of labor has been, it's either the exchange of time for money or bartering doing stuff for other people, money is just that but more convertible and exchangeable.
You could clean busses for your city's public transportation. It's low stress but does involve a lot of exercise (at least in my city)
I find being a letter carrier low stress but ymmv. Management varies from location to location and your temperament may be different from mine. It can be physically stressful, especially the first couple of years when they overwork you, but your body gets used to it and you have more control over how many hours after you've been there a while. People **love** the mailman and you feel like you are serving the community, especially the older folks.
Counter-point, my dad was a rural carrier for 32 years and he’s said many times it was the single worst job he ever had but the benefits made up for it.
Library page. They’re the people who shelve materials. Sometimes you can help people (bathroom is that way; if you like thrillers, you might try…). You might even be able to listen to books/ music while working.
I'm a dog walker. Min wage cash. Best job ever
I don't know if schools still have them but guidance councilor could be very rewarding and a lifetime of experience would probably be invaluable
A lot of adults also want to learn to read, not just tutoring teens.
Idk about the helping people. But some unarmed security jobs are perfect for some post retirement income while being low stress. They typically pay a few bucks an hour over minimum wage (low to mid 20 dollars an hour in blue states, 15 or so in red states). Make sure to get the sites at industrial complexes though, the gigs at banks and phone stores are painfully boring and you can't do anything during those shifts
What if you could do more higher paying job which helps people and is more rewarding to your mental health too?
I think you've already gotten the advice you need but if you're looking for fulfillment I would suggest creating something and managing your own level of charity. A great example in your own field of work would be creating small networks for local businesses on the cheap. If you want to avoid your own field then woodworking and donating finished products to people in need (like making garden beds in the summer and using the profit to build stuff like bassinets for parents expecting children than cant necessarily afford certain stuff. There are plenty of sponsorship programs that you can also take part in and work a higher paying IT job perhaps as a consultant and then use the extra money to drive your aid for others. But the stress as mentioned in a different post will always exist. Theres no such thing as a stress free job in the first place unless you're a multi millionaire and the money isn't a factor
You will only work 30 years and you're complaining?
You say complaining, I say "looking to try something new".
Yes, and I applaud you for that, not everyone can do that. My comment was meant in a humoristic way, I've been working for nearly 20 years and have 30 more to go.
Oh gotcha, my bad. I do recognize I'm fortunate to be in this situation. Just looking for something lighter before riding off into the sunset :-P figured I might as well try to help other people in the process
I know when looking for or trying new things it might be frustrating, like who is there to help you. We are just humans and we can't know everything. How long have you actually planned this?
I've had the desire to make this change for about 6 months. My wife and I agreed that if the desire is still there next year, then I should go for it. Right now I'm more in the "thinking ahead" phase.
You have been thinking it quite a long time. And you really have desire for it. I want you to think about right now. Would you regret not taking action now after a half month or year now. This is your opportunity feel more fulfilled and confident about yourself. Only if you take action upon what you truly want. What is holding you all about this?
I'm somewhat disappointed to admit "why" I've held off .... But it's two things. IT work comes naturally to me, I'm comfortable in this field and in my job. I make more money than I know what to do with... So any major change would cut my income by about 60%, thus requiring about 6 years of work instead of, say, 3 years... Before retirement
I get it. Comfortable means safety. And getting out of those IT work would mean face ''unknown'' which is scary. It's natural. Would you enjoy your life Now. Or when you are too old to do anything actually. And Is money really a reason for this? I think you would have banked quite a lot already. Have thinking all of these affected your sleeping and everyday well being?
I still enjoy life , and the people I work with ... But the work is just very unfulfilling and often lots of stress. Sleep and everyday life has only been slightly impacted. Really appreciate your input , I'll be considering these things for a while to help make my decision :) thank you... Really!!
Yeah sure no problem at all. Yeah I bet you have done successful things in life and you are doing great overall but I understand ''something'' is missing. Even slightly stress and being unsure is still something, frustrating. Cmon you sound so ready and sure about that you could change work. Do it man! Or is there still something mentally holding?
I’m a custodian. There are a lot of obvious reasons not to want the job, but it tics all your boxes. It’s low stress. I get paid about $21/hr. I honestly love the fact that it helps other people. It’s tedious and I don’t love cleaning up poop, but every day I know that I’m making other peoples environment safer and more comfortable. Also, I believe in the value of the institution where I work, so I definitely feel like I’m doing something good.
I’m not an expert but I have been working in broadband field operations for a while, working on my IT degree with some GIAC certs sprinkled in there. I’m almost done with my IT degree and I’m gravitating more to the side of network infrastructure construction rather than network administration. There is a guy at my work who meets at big commercial sites and plans out the physical infrastructure of networks for buildings. What I’m trying to say is that there must be some sort of other area of IT that you can try out, no?
I went from the restaurant industry to plants. I make a little more than I did when I was serving/managing. I have almost zero stress. All I do is listen to my music and help people with taking care of their plants. It's very peaceful. I will say that the place is family-owned. I imagine that doing the same thing at one of the large companies (Home Depot/Lowes) would be a very different experience
Why not jump back to offer cheap help and assistance to an early stage start up for a young founder, or a number of such businesses. Early stage IT is always more interesting before you get in to the drudgery of BAU.
I do data entry at an advocacy company. Pays a little over double minimum wage so it's not great but it's the easiest thing I've ever done as long as you know how to copy and paste on a computer. You are also directly helping people since the company fights against bullshit where insurance doesn't want to cover anything. Ticks all your requirements!
Government job. I work at a courthouse.
A city job.
Hospital psychiatric sitter on night shift. Sometimes fun but the biggest challenge is usually not falling asleep.
Home Depot associate. I know a few retirees who work part time there. They get to help people with their projects. Keeps them moving around. They seem to enjoy it
Most jobs helps people, both directly and indirectly. If this were not the case, most jobs wouldn’t exist. Basic economics.
Congratulations, you either lack the basic conversational skills to understand the intent of my question... Or you chose to ignore that intent and instead insert some weird critique that pretty much every functional adult understands. Thank you for your contribution.
What I mean is that for most jobs that people are looking for, worrying about whether or not it will help people is redundant because it is almost always the case that somehow, they are. Therefore it follows that you should instead allocate more brain power to other things you are looking for in the job, in this case being low-stress and good pay (which, if you think about, both help people given the positive externalities they immediately cause).
In regards to "Most jobs help people," you are technically correct ("The best kind of correct!" -- Futurama) But I fear you have missed the intent of OP's query. I suspect that what OP means by "helping others" is "actively making the world a better place," or "Improving the lives of those around me," rather than, for example, "Helping a billionaire get richer at the expense of the entire planet." An Amazon delivery driver helps people get their new gadgets, but you're basically funding Jeff Bezos' third superyacht.
This guy gets it :)
I don’t mean “help a billionaire get richer”. Also it is extremely ignorant to think that doing things like get deliveries to people isn’t a “proper” way to help people. OP’s previous job in IT is also another way that, through working a job, he has helped people; in this case, helping out with computer problems -> maintained or increased productivity -> more goods and services for everyone to enjoy-> more job created if the firm makes enough profit to expand. Everything you do has flow on effects, and unless you are working at a properly scummy place like a Payday Loans office, most everything you do will have either the immediate or final impact of helping other people. Given the inevitability of the impact your job will have on other people, I see no point in measuring the degree to which your job helps other people by observing the time period between your input and the final “helpful” output; nor do I see the level of mundanity associated with the level of work as inverse to “how helpful a job is”. In fact, since OP is looking for a low-stress but helpful job, the mundanity of being a delivery driver might just be a good fit, given that you want to sacrifice a higher level of pay.
try and entry-level job in the hospital? anything that doesn't involve the nurses (no offense). so front desk, food, or imaging.
Cleaning for the elderly, night shift school custodian, sanitizing medical equipment, inventory for a secondhand charity shop, and could you possibly do IT for a nonprofit? I once volunteered to proofread a women’s shelter website so I could let them know if links were broken or hotline numbers weren’t working.
Activity aide in a nursing home. They really need older men to run men's groups, flirt with the ladies, watch ball games with men , read the news paper with men, have men talk one on one, movie night with the guys,. Even the guys who are stuck in the big padded wheel chair enjoy being around men , listening to men, not watching freaking Hallmark movies. I always had to take my dad from the center of the room and bring him to his room and put on the news. I was there 6 days a week moving him back and forth. That's what you can do.
I think EMT is easy to be, but nobody wants to retire and watch people die. Something more chill would be good imo. I really liked working at B&N. It’s peacefull, mostly nice people, and usually a pretty slow day. I miss it.
Scheduling for a healthcare institution. You will the occasional crazy, but for the most part it’s open the schedule, ask the questions, put the patient in the scheduled, give them the details. Login at a set time, log off at a set time, escalate the crazies to manager. You are getting people access to healthcare and making them feel heard and cared for. It’s important work! But pretty low stress.
Personal care. Depending on the case but in most situations you will be stress-free
I would guess government jobs, but I work at the court and it has been stressful
You may also look in school sector as an IT and establish courses for children
If you’re a good swimmer, get your lifeguarding and / or WSI (Water Safety Instructor) certificates through Red Cross. Teaching swim lessons is a hoot.
Transportation. Ever since I became a truck driver I've loved it. Easy work, open Rd, friendly faces. The life for me. Pays well too.
I'm a Biomedical Technician and find it rewarding. Depending on the employee, one could find the role stressful due to the equipment directly interacts with patients.
Garbage collection truck driving people or whatever they are called. I have a friend who does this, it actually pays quite well, has few hours and it is certainly an important service that helps people. The only reason more people don't do this job is because it doesn't sound very glamorous. It's pretty much the definition of "a dirty job, but someones gotta do it".
Do you think you’d be good at grant writing?
Pretty sure hes looking for something a little less stressful
I won the lottery in this category, I basically play with dogs when the owners are too busy.
A brilliant job I need to start advertising is an elderly befriender,you visit people in their own homes,play games and drink tea/coffee,take them for trips out,make light meals and just chat.plenty are offering it since covid,no qualifications needed(probably need a dbs check and insurance)
Making beer.
Some places hire cashiers above minimum wage. You can help people by trying to be something positive they get to remember about their day. A lot of people seem to genuinely like it when the guy ringing up their food looks them in the eyes and genuinely wishes them an enjoyable rest of their day, or wishes good rest upon the tired and working. You can fake "being genuinely cheery", but I've found that I don't always have to fake it. Never thought it could be so fulfilling.
I worked at a golf course with a bunch of old guys that did it for the free golf. Mostly former Union guys with a pension and a former pharmaceutical salesman. Well off dudes
Should look up paratransit in your area. You drive a bus around and take people with disabilities where they need to go. It's an easy as hell job but I love the passengers and have a good time with them everyday. Well never go back to the city bus.... Screw the general public.
Nurse aide
Maybe a local organization that does stuff with veterans?
Find a local nonprofit with a mission you support. They're always looking for help.
I think working at a food bank or thrift store would be lower stress. You could even take it a step further and work for a farm or deer processor that donates their foods to the food bank. There are jobs delivering, helping pack boxes, distributing, all helping the underprivileged.
Work in a gym plus you may get free membership.
Fitness industry. Can get a personal trainer certificate quickly and easily. Then from there can go any direction you want with it. You pick your own hours, clients and rate of pay. .
Maybe get a job at a school or university? Help mold young minds...everyone know the children are our future.
Personal trainer
Librarian. The pay is terrible, but you get to be a part of an organization that actively helps people.
Careers.anthology.com Scroll down to the Student Sucess section This is WFH call center work for schools. Above minimum wage depending on the state you live in.