An odd job situation

Are you wedded to the idea of an office job? Because if you really want to be able to just do your job and then go home and not think about it, perhaps you should consider looking into more blue collar jobs like manufacturing, warehouse, shipping, etc. Bonus: you get to exercise at work.

I actually found being an administrative assistant more stressful than say, being an accounting clerk. As an admin assistant, you have very little control over your workflow, people can stop and interrupt you at any given moment and dump urgent work on your desk. There is also a barrier between you and the rest of the office workers, whereby you are not deemed as good as they are due to a presumed lack of a degree and doing work that is beneath them (photocopying, sorting mail, travel arrangements, expense reports, answering the phone). The work itself isn't that difficult, but there is a constant pressure to get things done in a timely manner, while wrangling a bunch of people who each have their own individual personality quirks, yet having zero authority over them. This depends on the atmosphere of the company you work for, of course, but I would not say it is a low stress job. Accounting clerk was relatively low-key: data entry, going over the books to resolve discrepancies, correcting price discrepancies so invoices could be resolved, etc. This was corporate accounts receivables for a large widget manufacturer, so it also involved getting proof of delivery for some items and submitting those to the big customer. In short: doing things that had been messed up due to computer or operator error. It was very predictable work, quiet atmosphere, and allowed for much more control over workflow. I would try http://www.roberthalf.com/, they have a good reputation, and tell them exactly what you want: a job to keep you afloat while you go back to school. You can also try to get placed in an industry related to your new career goal, or one that vends with that industry. For instance, I once worked at a company that did wire and spring steel and they serviced the oil and gas industry, the medical industry, NASA, and a whole bunch of other things that use springs.

Have you thought about working in local government / the civil service or equivalent where you are? I transitioned out of a horribly stressful non profit job to a simple phone jockey in local government while I got my head together / focused on my studies and considered my future direction. Local goverment / civil service jobs can be tricky to get into, and have the same frustrations as many other workplaces, but are pretty good as they go in offering stability, security and established hierarchy, and while you might be busy in your work, there is balance that everyone leaves at 5:00 Management can be a bit weak, and sometimes a little self important, organisations are generally pretty consensus driven so slave drivers and ego trippers don't last long. HR issues like wages, duties, holidays etc can be a bit of pain but are generally run by-the-book which is handy if you're trying to work around other things in your life. As a result of being relatively enlightened these sorts of organisations are often are a bit of a haven for other intelligent and other overqualified people working to live rather than living to work, so you're likely to be among friends. Its not fantastic money, and it can be rather repetitive but I work in a pleasant office, with good people, get pension, paid holidays and aside from being at my desk at the start of my shift, and getting through my calls, and generally doing a good job is the only thing I need to worry about. Different teams can be pretty different though so if you're looking for an easy life its definitely a good idea to be selective about the role you take. Its pretty low in the pecking order but generic call centre customer service though not "interesting" by any means was a pretty good choice for me, in that the calls I answer are mainly straightforward and are usually pretty easily deal with, taking messages, transferring calls and basic database work, and every contact is new so there are no ongoing queries or things to get bogged down in, no team dynamics, and no micromanagement. Come the end of my shift I take off my headset, leave my computer and am done until the next day which works really well in giving me the time to work on my own projects and think about my own things which really works for me. Recruiting into these sorts of jobs is often pretty straightforward in that there's a standard competence profile and standard interview, though getting your head around citing examples of your competences for everything they ask can be baffling to begin with. But appointment is based on simple scoring systems rather than personal questions or overly subjective judgments, and not put at a disadvantage by irrelevant factors. Reading this its surprising to find myself writing such an encomium to local government but as a place to think, study and be, with the bonus of a regular small pay cheque its a pretty good place to be!

Is it possible to turn your current job into a 8-5 job by just not working after hours? I mean, what are they going to do, fire you? You are considering quitting anyway. A lot of professional jobs only require a lot extra work to get ahead, you're not interested in getting ahead and probably wouldn't mind a demotion.

You're going to have a hard time I think. There's a lot of competition for these jobs so people with experience are going to be first picks. When I was applying for office jobs, it was normal to be competing against a lot of people, who were just like me. I also think getting to 30k could be problematic depending on where in the country you live. Most of the full-time, entry-level positions I saw you wouldn't be making 30k. Maybe25-28k was a more normal range, though you could get higher depending on how skilled you are for what they need. I'd look for "enclosed" offices. What I mean by that is offices where there are no customers. Even if you aren't a receptionist, being the office person at a doctor's office or a walk-in service business is a lot more stressful due to interruptions from both the staff and your customer base. You'll definitely need to tailor your resume. If interviewing directly with employers I would be a bit vague about things, and I would definitely not say you only plan to be there two years. I'm convinced few things will get you a no quicker. You need to focus on your transferable skills and why you actually are a good fit, and just that you bring good things to the table. When I first started applying for these types of jobs I think I made myself sound like too much work, so don't downplay your strengths even if you never much thought about them in your current job.

Here's what you do. You dumb-down your resume and jobs. You leave off an advanced degree(s), you tailor your bullet points to stress the skills you'd need for the job you're applying for. So instead of Director of Marketing, you can put Marketing Assistant. Instead of "Managed a team of 10 marketing professionals," you put, "supported the marketing team." Stress the skills that would be in demand, Excel, Word, Outlook, etc. I did this when the recession started so that I could learn Salesforce.com. It was great for that, but BOY was I bored, and I started resenting not making good money and I felt that my skills and talents were being ignored. It made me a bit crazy. But if you honestly believe this is the path for you, you lie in reverse.

Be careful with that. Just because a job is lower prestige and lower pay doesn't mean it's going to require less effort or be less stressful. Have you ever worked a customer service job? Wait staff? Cashier during the holiday season? All jobs that require enormous effort and mental resolve not to murder every customer that you interact with, yet pay very little. That said, I can understand why, if you were trying to train for a new professional job, you would want to take a break somehow from your current professional job while you make the transition, especially if you're burnt out on the current career. Is there a way you could do your current job in a part-time capacity, or work as a consultant where you would have a bit more control over your hours? It's hard to give you advice given the vague description of your background. But to answer your question more directly, I would just go to a temp staffing firm. They might tell you you're overqualified but at least you wouldn't have to interview directly with the employer.

One thing that could be helpful is to choose something you do have passion for (say, an admin job at a nonprofit working on an issue you truly care about, or as you say in the field that you're truly interested in moving into). I think you'll have better luck if you can make a strong argument as to why you want to work with a specific org, versus just trying to find a random admin job.

In my experience, the lowest stress job is doing what you know best at an unhurried pace. Think of the difference between Big Law and a small town attorney. Most high-paying jobs just require you to do too much.