Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?
I’m a doctor working in the NHS, about two years from finishing training to become a consultant.
I have been offered an opportunity to work in the private sector in the research and development section of a large pharmaceutical company. The perks would be better pay – I’m being offered more than double the salary I would earn in the NHS – and sociable working hours. On top of this all my professional subscriptions and registration fees would paid by the company.
The work sounds interesting – a project based on various different bits of research and new drugs.
Currently I find my work as a doctor very unsatisfactory. I enjoy patient interaction and all the clinical stuff but it’s repetitive and almost like pattern recognition. The stress and long hours aren’t a problem, it’s the ennui that is getting to me. My day-to-day ward work is basically looking after elderly patients whose main problem is social – they need a residential home etc. and are better looked after by a social worker.
My non-medical friends think I’m crazy for not just jumping ship. My doctor friends are split – some say go for it and “I’m so jealous” and some say stay and finish your training. Do I just take this job and run, taking the incumbent risks or stick out the next two years and see how it goes?
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
