Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 09:15     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:President. Except, you don’t have to be hard working either.


+1
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 09:15     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Any decently paying job is going to require some level of ability to pass exams or standards of some sort, either in a classroom setting, training setting, or both.

Take, for example, driving jobs requiring a CDL. The majority of people who try to get a CDL drop out of the CDL programs before they start--they can't pass the exams and, in many cases, they simply do NOT have the spatial awareness skills to complete certain skills in the training like back up a huge truck very close to a curb without hitting it (it's very, very hard if you don't have a certain level of spatial awareness skills). No matter how much they grind or "give it their all," many people (myself included) probably just don't have this skill.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 09:15     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Hair dresser
Retail
Factory work
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 09:14     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:Armed forces
Emt paramedic firefighter
Plumber carpenter electrician
Nurse


You are so wrong. Nurses have to get through difficult coursework. They must be bright.

And, believe it or not, many of the trades do require intellect.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 09:04     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Retail - start as full time staff and work their way up to store management. Either the big box stores like Walmart, or big department stores. Restaurant management too in busier/higher end restaurants with a bar. Some of the trades would be ok. They should try to get into it through the military if they’re eligible to join and open to it. Auto body repair shops - we’re not getting into any fewer car accidents as a society even if car technology will eventually favor electric vehicles.


These are not jobs for someone low IQ nor are they jobs for someone with low educational attainment nowadays.

You can't just "work your way up to store management" through hard work from the bottom in retail at a big box or large chain department store if you don't have the IQ. That's because being management requires a knowledge of finance, HR, operations, etc.

It's also become a "4 year degree" job. Other than some 2 year degree in business holders, you don't see people in store management at the big chains without a bachelor's anymore. Many of the bigger chains will make you go through extensive testing and courses in addition to that if you want to be considered for store management, which makes sense.

In larger/higher end restaurants, you also need financial skills, and more and more it is a job that requires a degree.



This!!!

Even a Taco Bell needs a degree to manage. There is no “work your way up” anymore.



Yep, "work your way up" is gone in the big chains, especially if you don't have a degree or are not actively pursuing a degree. Target, Walmart, McDonald's, etc will have programs where they will pay for you to get your bachelor's in retail management part-time while you work the rest of the time, but you need to be capable of getting your degree while working, so someone low IQ is not going to be able to do this. Also, big chains tend to have really rigorous training, testing/interviews, etc. for future managers on business topics--someone with a low IQ is not going to be able to keep up with the concepts or pass.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:54     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sales often requires good EQ.
Retail is the answer.


Have worked in retail, and this is definitely not the right answer. Sure, you could get a job working in retail. But unless you are management, that’s going to pay about $30,000 a year. And management in retail can be very difficult, and involves a lot of problem-solving that you have to be pretty smart to do. Handling things like inventory and staffing and visuals can be more than a little bit intellectually challenging.


Work as a supervisor for a large grocery chain. Not a difficult job, but it is hard work from a physical standpoint. I know some supervisors who have difficulty with 5th grade level math, but make over $60,000 a year in low cost of living areas.


I’m an attorney, and I have difficulty with fifth grade math. Don’t remember any of that stuff.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:52     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sales often requires good EQ.
Retail is the answer.


Have worked in retail, and this is definitely not the right answer. Sure, you could get a job working in retail. But unless you are management, that’s going to pay about $30,000 a year. And management in retail can be very difficult, and involves a lot of problem-solving that you have to be pretty smart to do. Handling things like inventory and staffing and visuals can be more than a little bit intellectually challenging.


Work as a supervisor for a large grocery chain. Not a difficult job, but it is hard work from a physical standpoint. I know some supervisors who have difficulty with 5th grade level math, but make over $60,000 a year in low cost of living areas.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:52     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses here are absurd and shows how much career snobbery so many people have.


+100
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:50     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Armed forces
Emt paramedic firefighter
Plumber carpenter electrician
Nurse


I don’t know that RN would work. But a medical assistant/LPN might - it’s usually nine months of training and a lot of skills like drawing blood without a lot of theory or medical terminology.

Also receptionist at a medical place- people skills are critical, but the job is mostly data entry and answering phones.


Agreed that all of that might work. But I also think that none of this is going to get anywhere near 75K.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:49     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sales often requires good EQ.
Retail is the answer.


Any sales job netting $75k will only require being able to mimic good eq. The key to sales is being able to pitch 100 people a day so that when 95% of them say “no”, you still hit quota- then doing it again and again and again without letting it grind you down. There’s plenty of scripts to follow and easy to understand goals.

Any retail job earning that much will require an awful lot of “we’re telling you to do x but we really want you to do y only it’s illegal to clearly tell you”.


+100

Can confirm
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:49     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:Sales often requires good EQ.
Retail is the answer.


Have worked in retail, and this is definitely not the right answer. Sure, you could get a job working in retail. But unless you are management, that’s going to pay about $30,000 a year. And management in retail can be very difficult, and involves a lot of problem-solving that you have to be pretty smart to do. Handling things like inventory and staffing and visuals can be more than a little bit intellectually challenging.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:45     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:Armed forces
Emt paramedic firefighter
Plumber carpenter electrician
Nurse


No. None of these are suitable for someone who isn’t of average intelligence—at the very least.

You DCUM folks are confusing low education with low IQ. Not remotely the same thing.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:43     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:What about sales?


Low IQ and sales do not go together.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:42     Subject: Re:Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Costco is a great place to make a career if you have high school diploma or equivalents. Pay, benefits, ability to move up….its a great way to make a good living.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2025 08:33     Subject: Career ideas if low IQ but very hard working?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Retail - start as full time staff and work their way up to store management. Either the big box stores like Walmart, or big department stores. Restaurant management too in busier/higher end restaurants with a bar. Some of the trades would be ok. They should try to get into it through the military if they’re eligible to join and open to it. Auto body repair shops - we’re not getting into any fewer car accidents as a society even if car technology will eventually favor electric vehicles.


These are not jobs for someone low IQ nor are they jobs for someone with low educational attainment nowadays.

You can't just "work your way up to store management" through hard work from the bottom in retail at a big box or large chain department store if you don't have the IQ. That's because being management requires a knowledge of finance, HR, operations, etc.

It's also become a "4 year degree" job. Other than some 2 year degree in business holders, you don't see people in store management at the big chains without a bachelor's anymore. Many of the bigger chains will make you go through extensive testing and courses in addition to that if you want to be considered for store management, which makes sense.

In larger/higher end restaurants, you also need financial skills, and more and more it is a job that requires a degree.



This!!!

Even a Taco Bell needs a degree to manage. There is no “work your way up” anymore.