UKC

This is a bit whimsical and should be taken lightheartedly...I'm not even sure why I'm asking but I suspect fellow UKCers have some interesting ones...looking back at your life is there a job which you think "I wonder what would have happened if I took that job, how differently would my life have turned out?"

For me there are actually two:
1st was when I was fresh out of University and turned down a job helping at Keswick YHA to carry on working on Poland Street in Soho at a charity. Sadly the charity job turned hellish shortly thereafter! It took me another five or so years to really get into the outdoor activities after that. I still have not been to the Lake District since!

2nd was when I was in New Zealand and turned down a permanent job at District Health Boards New Zealand as I felt I 'still had something to give' at the role I was in at the Ministry of Health. Sadly that role too turned (even more) hellish and I ended up giving a week's notice shortly thereafter. I wonder if we would even now be in NZ if I had taken that permanent job...

Disclaimers apply - i.e you can never tell how things would have worked out. For me this is not about regrets, simply musings on parallel universes.

In reply to Bobling: In the last 12 months turned down a job in Shetland.. turned down teacher training at Bangor.. took a 1 year contract in Germany... assured for 10 months it was being renewed.. today told no...

I still think Shetland could have been the answer. New life. New area.

In reply to IainRUK:

Somehow I knew you'd clock in on this one, now just waiting for Mr Solo...what was the job in Shetland?

In reply to Bobling:
I was offered a job in kansas but turned it down because of a girlfriend.
The girl is now the ex and i wonder where i'd be if i'd gone to the usa.

In reply to Bobling:
Turned down a job in Lyons. Would have been perfect for cllimbing skiing and eating but had just pgot divorced and wanted to be near kids. Prob the right chipoice but....

In reply to Bobling: Shellfish biologist.. basically great wage, low cost of living.. stable secure job... easy job as well... turned it down to stay in pure research on a years contract.. not clever really.. can't say my head was in a good place when I gambled..

In reply to IainRUK:

Ah, but would you have been able to train for/race in the World Champs if you were based on Shetland?

As far as the thread goes, I've had my fair share of turning down great opportunities because although the interviewers had confidence in my abilities, unfortunately I didn't.

In reply to Bobling:

Had 2 more.. 1) interview for medschool in Ediniburgh, wehn just finished PhD in Glasgow, didn't go to follow the bloody ex to NZ..

2) The other one was a job in South Carolina.. great job, I'd been interviewed, was second, they quit and it was readvertised but I was emailed numerous times to re-apply yet didn't.. as I thought NZ was then home and that fell through.

In reply to Bobling:

early 90s i was in a job and was recommended that i take one of several opportunities to progress with that career path. instead i chose to f*ck the entire thing off and go to university instead.

i dont regret the choice at all - university lead to a much greater diversity of life choices, some of which actually came full circle to connect back to the earlier choice in a much more healthy way - but i do sometimes wonder what might have been and who i would have become.

another time i was on a ferry to corfu and was idly drawing a picture of the boats fittings when 2 guys asked if i was an artist. i said not really, but still they asked me to come to athens to work in a studio building huge puppets for european festivals.
i had a gig at the time so declined, again no regrets, but would have been interesting.

in the consulting business ive been asked to relocate for similar work several times. mostly its be a no brainer 'no', but some choices have made me think harder, being more unusual locations, urumqi, tashkent, chongqing and mazar-e-sharif amongst them.

In reply to Tall Clare:

Well thats it.. I was unemployed for 2 months so trained full time... certainly was a factor in making that team... life sorts itself out in the end.. you just have to role with it.. kiss a few frogs..

In reply to Bobling:

When I was 16 I was going to go into the RAF as an apprentice technician. I failed the medical to work on engines due to colour blindness but was as I'd passed all the tests and the rest of the medical I was told I could go back in 5 months to do an airframes technician apprenticeship. In the meantime I got a civvy technician apprenticeship with BAe so never went back to the RAF. Life would have been very different had I gone in to the forces, whether that would have been for better or worse I'll never know. I left the BAe apprenticeship after 2 years as I was bored sh*tless with it and went to work as a motorbike mechanic. I was 18 and wanted to hoon around on fast bikes while 'road testing' them. Took 15 years after that and a lot of hard work to get my career back to the level it would have been if I'd stuck it out at BAe but there were some great experiences along the way. I've got no regrets about the path my working life took but it could have been very different, either if I'd gone in to the RAF or if I'd stayed at BAe.

In reply to ice.solo:

Boom! I have the set – Tashkent eh? You are Fitzroy Mclean and I claim my £5.

In reply to Bobling:

Damn. So where did you pick up a Korcula?

In reply to felt:

If I had got a 2:1 degree I had funding lined up to do a PHD in the riveting topic of "computer modelling of earth moving systems". Only got a 2:2 joined the Army, still in Army 30 years later.

I think life as an academic would have been rather different!

Although to be fair I think was always going to be a solider.

Gary.

In reply to Bobling:

now theres a name one doesnt hear often. flattering, tho im not a pimple on the ass of a guy like that, despite some similarities.

In reply to Bobling:

Best missed opportunity I had was when I was offered the lead in a play (amateur). It was a great part that I would have loved to do but couldn't fit it in my busy life. Subsequently found out that the woman that did get the part was asked to switch on Leicester Christmas lights. Sheesh. I could have been famous....

In reply to Bobling:

I turned down a job as an employment law advisor. Instead I ended up moving to Ireland, ended up unemployed. 14 years later back in the UK, I'm a drystone waller and hedge-layer.

In reply to Bobling:

Had a job offer in the mid 80's from a Canadian company based in Calgary, whilst I had all the industry specific experience they were looking for, they could not get me a work permit at the time as the position was an 'engineer', and the authorities only considered my HNC in Civil Engineering only worthy of senior technician status - and at the time they were only granting work permits in the construction industry for people with degrees.

A couple of years later I began my Arabian 'adventures'

In reply to felt:

OK you've got me - WTF are you on about? Surely not the city in Croatia?

In reply to Lord of Starkness:

In reply to felt:

Arabian Adventures? Fitzroy Mclean and T.E.Lawrence in the same thread? Tell us more!