Fear the 9 – 5? Try working the Witching Hours
Fear the 9 – 5? Try working the Witching Hours
If you're not  suited to a 9 – 5 work lifestyle, there’s a huge variety of careers that require different working hours, often through the evening and night. Check out our top ideas for jobs around the clock.
Careers in healthcare
Whether you’re a night owl or an early bird, medical care has a vast range of careers at every level and flexible shifts to choose from. From surgeons, doctors and nurses to healthcare assistants, lab technicians and porters, all of these roles require working outside of the traditional 9 – 5 schedule.
WATCH Â VIDEO: consultant anaesthetist
WATCH VIDEO: operational matron
The emergency services
Emergencies happen at any time of the day or night. If you hate the idea of spending your daytime in an office job and love being out and about dealing with challenging situations and helping people then working for the police, ambulance, or fire services could be for you. You could find yourself working early morning or night shifts, or perhaps several days on followed by several days off.
WATCH VIDEO: firefighter company managerÂ
Become a personal fitness trainer
If you thrived more on the sports field than in the classroom and the thought of sitting still in front of a computer from 9 – 5 fills you with dread, then why not consider a career as a personal fitness trainer or aerobics instructor? You can set your own hours to meet clients, either individuals or groups, and sessions often need to be scheduled for before or after the working day.
Working in the news – broadcast and journalism
News is breaking all the time and all over the world so a career in this industry is anything but your standard 9 – 5, especially if there’s a big story to report. There’s a wide range of roles involved in reporting the news from being a journalist or picture editor on a newspaper, to working in TV and radio as a reporter or presenter,  or a director, floor manager or camera operator behind the scenes.
WATCH VIDEO: floor manager and camera operator
WATCH VIDEO: television news directorÂ
Careers in tourism, leisure and entertainment
There’s a vast array of exciting careers in tourism and leisure, and it’s all about focusing on people, hospitality and customer service which entails 24/7 work.  From managing a luxury hotel, pub or restaurant to running adventure holidays or working within the catering sector – you will always find flexible hours of work outside of the traditional working day.
Within the leisure industry you can also find out of hours roles covering sport and entertainment such as working in fitness centres, cinemas and theatres.
WATCH VIDEO: hotel front office manager
WATCH VIDEO: conference and banqueting manager
Freelance work in graphic or web design and social media
In today’s world of technology and the internet, the demand for attention-grabbing and functional websites is high, as well as the need for new branding, logos and design work. Businesses and organisations also need to stay up to date with the latest social media trends. Working as a freelance graphic or web designer, or as a social media consultant, allows you to work flexible hours from home on projects for different clients.
Whilst the idea of being able to work in your pyjamas is appealing – don’t forget it’s competitive industry and you’ll need to tout for business!
WATCH VIDEO: social media freelancer
Be your own boss!
The ultimate way to control your working hours is to be your own boss! Freelancing is one way to do it or perhaps you’re an entrepreneur at heart and have a great idea that you want to turn into a business. Beware however, setting up your own business is not the easy option as latest figures show that 55 per cent of small and medium sized enterprises in Britain don’t survive more than 5 years. So although you will be able to work flexible hours you’ll need to put lots of hours in to make it succeed!
WATCH VIDEO: Richard Branson, entrepreneur Â
WATCH VIDEO: jewellery designer
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