The career I am in is constantly derided, and I am offended by this

[Anonymous]

Accountant?

[Anonymous]

My undergrad degree is in English. I graduated high school in 1987 and college in 1991. At the time, English majors were on par with other academic subject majors. Business majors and communications majors and psychology majors were seen as silly easy degrees. English majors were those smart intellectual students who could easily read and interpret text from Chaucer to Margaret Atwood.

Fast forward today. Everyone thinks English majors are "gender studies." And "psychologists" are now the intellectual thought leaders, especially "cognitive psychologists." Just put the word "cognitive" or "scientist" in front of someone's title and that garners instant success.

[Anonymous]

If someone is enthusiastic about their work, I tend to be more interested. Think about a fun story you could tell from your work, or if you lack enthusiasm, lean on humor, even poke fun at yourself for doing something no one understands. These people may just be trying to make conversation, so take the lead and direct the conversation yourself. in general humor will take you far.

[Anonymous]

It warms my heart that the first two posts took an opportunity to sh:t on the two most useless "professions". Hr and real estate suuuuuck.

[Anonymous]

Meter maid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It’s not that I’m in a career that people would find morally objectionable (so not lobbyist or OnlyFans). Rather, it’s that people don’t understand what I do and assume I am either just a paper pusher, that the work is mind-numbing or that it’s meaningless. I also have to sign confidentiality agreements frequently and am not really allowed to explain what I’m doing.

And lastly, there is some insecurity at play.

What’s morally objectionable about OnlyFans?

Sex work is immoral. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in HR. People have all kinds of ideas about HR. I don’t care, I like my work.

Can you say more? Once you work in HR, do you think you are sidelined forever because of this notion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Accountant?

Who derides that? I don’t find people have strong opinions about accountants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:sahm?

This was my first thought, though it doesn’t exactly fit the description. Certainly nothing gets as much derision around here as a woman living off her husband’s paycheck to (gasp) perform her own childcare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It’s not that I’m in a career that people would find morally objectionable (so not lobbyist or OnlyFans). Rather, it’s that people don’t understand what I do and assume I am either just a paper pusher, that the work is mind-numbing or that it’s meaningless. I also have to sign confidentiality agreements frequently and am not really allowed to explain what I’m doing.

And lastly, there is some insecurity at play.

What’s morally objectionable about OnlyFans?

Sex work is immoral. Duh.

Is it? It is practically almost the same (technically speaking) as a massage therapist.
Just differs slightly on which part is getting the therapy...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:sahm?

This was my first thought, though it doesn’t exactly fit the description. Certainly nothing gets as much derision around here as a woman living off her husband’s paycheck to (gasp) perform her own childcare

Imagine having to sign an NDA to be a SAHM...

[Anonymous]

Spill it Op.

What's your job?

[Anonymous]

I used to work in the technology group at IRS- it was the worst job I ever had surrounded by terrible people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in HR. People have all kinds of ideas about HR. I don’t care, I like my work.

Can you say more? Once you work in HR, do you think you are sidelined forever because of this notion?

PP here. People on this board think that HR is only one of a few things: the person that helps you onboard, the person who helps with your benefits, someone who will advocate for you when you disagree with your boss. The first two are certainly functions of HR, the last one is somewhat true if your boss is engaging in illegal activity or discrimination but HR isn’t there to advocate for you, but to get the boss to stop doing bad things in order to protect the company.

I work in HR but I do not really deal with staff. I work closely with senior leadership in a quasi-legal and strategic role. That isn’t something people usually think of when they think of HR. I’m not sure what you mean about “sidelined” because I have a seat at the table. This is my career and I have worked in many different programs under the HR umbrella throughout my career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in HR. People have all kinds of ideas about HR. I don’t care, I like my work.

Can you say more? Once you work in HR, do you think you are sidelined forever because of this notion?

PP here. People on this board think that HR is only one of a few things: the person that helps you onboard, the person who helps with your benefits, someone who will advocate for you when you disagree with your boss. The first two are certainly functions of HR, the last one is somewhat true if your boss is engaging in illegal activity or discrimination but HR isn’t there to advocate for you, but to get the boss to stop doing bad things in order to protect the company.

I work in HR but I do not really deal with staff. I work closely with senior leadership in a quasi-legal and strategic role. That isn’t something people usually think of when they think of HR. I’m not sure what you mean about “sidelined” because I have a seat at the table. This is my career and I have worked in many different programs under the HR umbrella throughout my career.

NP -- HR 100% is not there for employee advocacy. I wish it were different but it isn't. I am now in the top role in my company and we've reshaped HR to be AS employee friendly as possible. In my past firm, I watched SO many employees think they could safely take their issues to HR and then see HR turn around and pretend to be their advocate while simply doing everything they can to meet the obligation with as least liability and risk to the company as possible, that I've become extremely jaded. To the extent that I tell all of my friends and family that if you are being harassed or subjected to something truly objectionable at work, consult an outside source like a lawyer before telling HR. HR works for the company. Get someone who works with you and is not conflicted to advocate for you.