What can I do to get a job I actually like?

Post Reply New Topic

I got laid off of my job, a job which I didn't really like either, and my friends and gf told me that I have been going from jobs I hate for the last 15 or so years, which is true, and that it's time I work the job I actually want and no more screwing around.

I am trying to produce and direct my first feature film at the moment, and I almost got offered some other jobs in the industry at a convention I was going to go to, but my best friend died, which prevented me from going. But now I'm thinking I should have just went anyway.

But what do you think I could do for work, since they get a job you like and not just any job available? If I could work a job related to my filmmaking skills that would help, but been having trouble finding one. But at the same time, I was advised not to settle for less again. What do you think?

Ideal versus practical

Every situation is different

Your skills, your situation, the economy

Many factors determine the answer to that question


Not everyone works at their ideal job

Not everyone has a job

Not everyone is good at their job

Not everyone likes their job

Not everyone likes their boss




Some jobs are hard to find fulfilling but someone has to do the job


Filmmaking , there are not many jobs available,. A lot of competition.


Like actor , dancer, visual artist, musician whatever


It is good to follow your passion sometimes

It is good to be practical sometimes

Like SFBUM said, it depends on a lot of things, and ideal jobs are extremely rare. It might be more reasonable to seek a "better job" (a relative measure) or a job you don't absolutely hate.

The more you have marketable skills and experience which are rare and sought after, the more flexibility you will have in your job search. Having them also empowers you to find a better job so you can leave a lackluster workplace.

The key is to identify something you like doing, for which there is market demand, and practice it to improve your skills. It is important to be able to demonstrate your skills so they are visible to prospective employers. For artists this means building up a portfolio. For software engineers it means Github projects. Eventually you will collect letters of recommendation from former employers/clients, but in the meantime you need something you can point at during a job interview which demonstrates your skills.

You can usually get some idea of whether a prospective employer will give you a good workplace experience by doing a little research. Glassdoor.org is a free service where employees rate and review their employers, for example. You should also take advantage of the interview to ask questions about corporate culture, management practices, employee turnover rate, and other factors which might be relevant to your workplace enjoyment. You can also mention to them one or two things you found in your research and ask them to explain it.

When your skills are rare and market demand for them is high, employees are more likely to treat you nicely. They don't want you to leave for another company. Developing such skills can be difficult, though, since if it were easy everyone would be doing it and the skills wouldn't be rare anymore.

If you can't find a way to monetize what you love to do, you might want to drop your expectations back a bit and find a way to monetize tasks which don't make you miserable.

In my own career, I made a habit of seeking projects within my field which other people didn't want to work on. That made my job harder, sometimes, but it was also a rare skill in its own right, with commensurate demand. Sometimes you can leverage an under-exploited niche in a job market to your own advantage. The trick is finding a niche with an unmet need, which you can fill.

Good luck!

Every job I really liked went away. A lot of the time I end up at a job I dislike the pays well enough I would have to take a pay cut to leave.

It is really hard to do that. Some people find that hobbies cease to be fun if they have to do it all day.

Okay thanks. Well the thing is, is that I keep going form job to job, hoping I might like the next one better. But I am told this looks bad, if you hop from job to job like that. But at the same time, I shouldn't limit myself to one job for the rest of my life, when there could be something better out there, that I might miss out on otherwise, right?

If you are interested in the entertainment industry and can accept the fact that you will may not become rich and may be subject to extreme criticism...then go for it.


You should take an available job within the industry and learn the inner workings.

I'm 59 y.o.
If I add up all the jobs I've had from when I started working at the age of 8... it's over 50.
Sometimes the jobs were short-term, sometimes I worked more than one at-a-time.
Been fired from...mmmmm... 4 jobs total (pretty sure that's accurate), quit many many others, and as mentioned above... some jobs expired because they were meant to.
.
I've worked in medical mostly... direct patient care. Also commercial diving, industrial construction, sales, phone survey, wildland firefighting, phonebook delivery..... and others, making a diverse career experience for me.
.
Up until a few years ago, I never had much of an issue finding work. I feel that being older, plus being burned out emotionally by the politics of our local medical scene here, kept me from finding jobs until last year.
.
I have a job now that I have SO much fun at... a majority of the time.
I drive a city bus, for a small university city. Love it when the students are in class... otherwise it's not as interesting during semester/Summer breaks.
.
Okay... enough about ME!
.
I don't believe in... "learning to love the job you have".
I don't believe in... "sucking it up and just doing it"
.
I do believe in my mental health taking priority... along with my physical health.
I've learned what work-related stress can do to me if not taken seriously... and it wasn't good!
.
I have very little retirement saved up, am in a financial pit that I don't believe I'll be out of for many years (remember.. I'm almost 60), yet I am happy overall!
I have a parttime job I enjoy doing (actually I have 2 part time bus driving jobs.. one more hours than the other, and I own/operate a dive business working mostly on boats in our bay).
I've never been too overwrought about the money angle, but my personal happiness has been at the top of my list.
.
If you want a job in film, either find or create one locally... or move somewhere you will have more opportunities at.
Really... that's the truth of jobs. If you want to do one skill or have one career... the jobs have to be available where you're at, or allow you to work remotely, or you have to create your own, or you move to where the jobs are.
.
Is it possible you can take your film making skills and apply them in a manner that isn't actually making movies?
Would that allow you to keep your experience growing, yet pay the bills and help finance your own personal film making on the side?
.
My kid graduated Uni with a Chemistry degree and almost a Minor in Computer Science. Definite coding skills.
Had trouble finding a Chemistry-related job where they lived.
I suggested looking for an IT position with a company that also had a Department that utilized Chemists in the specific area they wanted to work at.
Going in through a different door.... IT... they could get inside the company, have their hands in every department, and possibly start selling themselves as a Chemist in order to move laterally to that position once one opened up.
.
So... again... can you see a different way to use your film skills in order to find a job that might not be straight up film making?

wsmac really is on the right track of things - loads of companies have marketing departments that need promotional or training materials.
Another option could be to offer your skills on a freelance basis - have a simple website set up as a portfolio (and movie promotion platform) and offer your skills on places like Fiverr, Upwork or your local town posterboard.
If you also offer photography, it could be a possible avenue for a good and steady income that can support you and your filmmaking hobby.

For instance, James Rolfe, before becoming the Angry Video Game Nerd did industrial training and safety videos professionally to support his own movie making and the first baby-steps of AVGN.
Material for training and advertisement is a big market - getting customers is really the hardest part.

If you do want a "proper" job - the best thing you can do, is to check out any of their material, reviews and ratings (yelp, glassdoor etc) before you apply. The company webpage also usually has a few pointers on the core values of the company. If your values and ethics mesh with theirs, go for it

EDIT: An excellent future-proof idea would be to look into adding photogrammetry to the list. While it is admittedly rather boring - you might already have the equipment.
With photogrammetry, you use images or film footage, along with measurements or coordinates (GPS or otherwise) to create 3D-images of objects or entire areas - this is often used for computer animation or virtual-reality.
While it does take some time to get into the software, it can be very lucrative. Realistic 3D models can fetch a nice price, and you can gain skills that can supplement your filmmaking career
There are loads of guides on the internet to get you started....

Oh okay thanks. I don't know much about photogammetry but it sounds interesting. However, there hasn't been a lot of opportunities for jobs in that area that I have seen, it seems.

The thing is, is that I spent all my time learning how to direct when it comes to filmmaking and took a filmmaking course in directing. So it's hard starting out another job in the industry besides a director cause I don't feel I am knowledgeable in other jobs in filmmaking. I find it hard to apply those skills I learned to other areas.

go after the job you want. if you want to work for a certain industry then work at it and make it work. keep applying for different positions in that industry and make connections/contacts.

I have just thought about my past work history. I tend to naturally blinker myself into certain catagories which mirror my special interests. If I work outside those areas I did not last more then a day or two.
Within those areas I could (In the past before I had burnouts) usually last about two years in a job. Sometimss three. Usually two. The reason why was because of masking and the length of time I could keep masking amongst work collegues before I was discovered. When the masking started to fail, I would move on.
I am wondering if you have a similar sort of experience?

When I moved to my current location about two years ago, I started looking for a martial arts school to join. There's a Brazilian Ju Jutsu school that I heard about from the school I attended. So I looked up this BJJ teacher. And in researching him and joining his FB page, I got to see the genesis of his interest in photography expand into film. So he started doing short films about his dojo and interesting people in it.

This expanded to him seeking out other interesting people in the region to interview. He kept pushing and expanding. Next thing you know he was able to use his previous history in competition bodybuilding to acquire the position of dude filming Arnold Schwarzenegger in a recent visit to Australia.

Now I see him advertising his filming business abilities on regional TV. We're a small state. He'll never be rich, but he has a life focused on three passions. His family, his BJJ, and his filming.

The thing is, I can't think of a way to make a career out of my passions, but he did find a way for his. Our entire state only has half a million people, and this segment of the state has but a small fraction of that. However, film and advertising aren't particularly limited by geography. He just has to be able to get to his gigs.

It may be possible for you to grab a map of your state, pencil in the region you live and how far you wish to cover, then build a regional film business. Seek to own that area. Brainstorm as many different ways that you can apply your film skills to the region that you can. Not all of it needs to be paid. Exposure of your work is advertising. Put your filming of events onto FB news groups, etc. Build your presence in the community mind. Do interviews with interesting locals. Do the filming for your local High School production of Hamlet. Just don't do it anonymously. Make sure your logo appears on all of your work. It doesn't have to be huge. Just present.

Have a go.

But record everything. I don't mean film. I mean make lists, plan, keep records of what you've done.

Good luck.