I'm sure that to many of you, the title is a bit disconcerting, especially if you've just done a couple 100+ hour weeks. Sadly, according to data compiled from O*NET (Occupational Information Network), this appears to be the case, as shown in a list of the top 14 most stressful jobs in America. Now, in the interests of complete disclosure, the data from O*NET is fairly broad based and "Investment Banking Associate" is not an occupation found within the data.
However, there's plenty of finance occupations, including, "Securities and Commodities Trader" which, is absolutely among the jobs found on O*NET, but not on the list of most streesful jobs (guess you S&T guys have it pretty easy). So, what would you think are among the most stressful jobs out there? If I had to guess the top three, I'd go with:
1) Fisherman
2) Logger
3) Miner
I'd guess these three because they all have very high fatality rates. Nothing like the potential for an early demise to add a little stress to your day. Interestingly, all three of those did not make the list, either. Apparently, "early death" isn't a major cause of stress (clearly, I'm a huge pansy as it would stress the hell out of me). So, what's more stressful according to O*NET data than all of finance? Well, some of them make sense (or are at least debatably more stressful) like (actual rank listed):
1) First Line Police and Detective Supervisors - Nothing like dealing with armed criminals and armed employees to add a little stress.
7) Pilots, Co-Pilots, and Flight Engineers - Maneuvering a metal tube filled with hundreds of people seven miles in the air seems reasonably stressful.
9) Surgeons - Hand steady? If it's not, not only will you kill someone, but you'll also get crap sued out of you. Reasonably stressful I'd imagine.
10) OB/GYN - It's not all pap smears and ortho tri-cyclen, sometimes you have to deliver a baby which, I can assure you, even absent all the actual risks, is still pretty stressful.
13) Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers - You have to imagine that when a majority of phone calls you receive are matters of actual, life/death/injury/accident importance, you'll probably end up a bit stressed.
The rest, at least in my opinion, vary from "included unreasonably" to "absolutely absurd". Let's take a look at the jobs that beat out each and every finance related occupation on O*NET (actual rank listed):
2) Mental Health Counselors
3) Education Administrators
4) Broadcast News Analysts
5) Nurse Anesthetists
6) Phlebotomy Technicians
8) Air Traffic Controllers
11) Dancers
12) Psychiatric Technicians
14) Psychiatric Aides
Not all of these are completely ridiculous. "Dancer" is completely ridiculous, but "Nurse Anesthetist" merely shouldn't be on the list if "Anesthesiologist" (or, really, "Critical Care Nurse") is not (in my opinion at least). Some may take issue with my inclusion of "Air Traffic Controller" but, as far as I can tell, times have changed and many flights come in and out of airports uncontrolled. And yes, "Dancer" is exactly that, someone who dances for a living (i.e. not a stripper). Frankly, I'd say that "Securities and Commodities Trader" is probably more stressful than at least half of the above list. Seems like finance has gotten the short shrift in this list!
So, what do you monkeys think? Am I being too hard on these occupations? Or do you think they deserve to be called highly stressful?
I don't put much stock in lists like that. Especially lists that are that broad in scope.
I think there are 2 completely different kinds of stress here:
1) An extremely high level of production is expected of you at all times (banking) 2) Your life is in danger at any given time of the job (half the ones on the list)
Alot of teachers think their job is super stressful (my gf being one) which to me as an absolute cake walk so I guess it's all relative.
This might be bullshit, because I don't know from experience, but I don't think people actually stress about the fear of dying on a daily basis no matter what their job is.
We all drive cars, j-walk, ride the subway, and do other things that kill millions of people per year, but we never think about the possibility of dying. I saw some lady get stabbed at the Lex/59th subway station once, but still ride the subway.
If they go down, they go down making bank for their family, doing what they love, and were able to beat cancer.
They don't stress about it while they are doing it, but they do stress about it at other times. Have a doctor friend that got sued for something that wasn't his fault. (Patient lied.) He was a complete stress ball for the entire 6 months that the suit drug on.
There are ways to measure the risk or the sacrifice of a job, and those methods are different from measuring the stress of a job. One way to measure the stress of a job is to look at early heart attack rates, normalized for weight or exercise.
maybe adrenaline trumps stress, and cocaine is the only adrenaline rush you can get in between formatting a 12 page lbo model
You were on that train? With the crazy lady (and the staring contest or something?)? Read about that, insane that it happened on 4,5,6 line up in that area. Honestly wouldn't be too surprised if it was out on the J or G or some weird lettered subway (I avoid the letters).
I didn't get any blood on the Hermes tie, so it's all good.
I think that's all bullshit. If you're not working a job where someone is actually trying to kill, blow you up, kidnap, slice you into tiny pieces or take pot-shots at you every single freaking day....YOU'RE JOB IS NOT STRESSFUL.
You may be afraid of getting sued, losing your job, getting crap from your boss or just plain looking like a dumb ass. But your job is not stressful.
+1 definitely deserve a SB for that one Illini.
Agreed, and monkey shit cleaned.
If you work in an office, especially in the US, and you think your job is stressful...
Well that's actually what's so great about this country. I guess stress is a relative term. Murica!
If your occupation involves the reality you stated above, I think you should find a new line of work. What jobs are you even referring to?
The kind of job that pays crap (starts @ $18.3k), where you work remotely in places where they don't speak English & the wrong figures or math errors get others killed.
That's stress.
I actually think being a professional dancer could be pretty stressful - bet rehearsals could be horrible if things aren't going well etc.
Being a mental health counselor is one of the more stressful jobs I can imagine - definitely deserves number 2. Way more stressful than finance/banking.
Investment Bankers in Mexico don't worry about getting shot/kidnapped, they know where the money is, so they have top notch security & spend most of the time in NY anyway!
You should consider the type of person who has those jobs in the first place. This is self-reported stress, I'm sure. Some are actually stressful jobs, some are just jobs filled with softies.
Exactly. Most people think their jobs are stressful and arduous no matter how easy they are. My high school teachers, who were glorified babysitters, used to whine and complain all day how much work they had to do.
This.
My wife is #2 and formerly #11 on that list and I can promise you her life and job is not stressful at all ! Maybe busy during the day but given the easy hours and lack of work outside of hours, its not stressful !
/
Yeah broadly putting all cops in a stressful category is really stretching. Street patrol in Compton? Yup. My buddy that works in Florida picking up delinquent dads, DUIers and gets to work off duty sitting in his car at warehouses making 50+ per hour and will probably never fire his weapon? Not so much...
To say that a professional dance has a more stressful job than a stripper is ludicrous. Boss to professional dancer - "You were behind on that number. Plus you could stand to drop 5 lbs." Boss to stripper - "We're not taking in as much as we used to. Try to push the rip off drinks more heavily without making the customers mad enough to hit you. Oh, and it would be beneficial to your employment if you started sleeping with the clients. Try not to get pregnant, too."
I'd say, self selection bias.
I think the reason Finance is not on there is because people working in high finance are generally good at dealing with stress and have lived their entire lives with it. Traders on trading floors may be stressed, but they know what they are doing, have knowledge and are very very good at dealing with stress. They have just gotten used to it, adapted to the kind of lifestyle. However, some other people have not necessarily been involved in stressful occupations before, and when confronted to situations with high-stress, it appears much larger.
Also, people are more stressed out when they are responsible for lives, rather than money. I am surprised they did not include certain occupations in the military such as convoy drivers in war-zones, medevac pilots, combat enigineers (clearing mine fields, etc.) and special forces.
Surprised to see mental health careers here. I think if you enjoy the work, mental health isn't that stressful. If you aren't cut out for it (aka have no patience, like me) it's probably awful though and some patients/parents would make me want to stab someone in the face. My sister is a newly minted child psychiatrist and works 35 hour weeks for >200K. No call responsibilities. It can be very sad at times, but it's not like finance where you are constantly worried about layoffs and have little control over your schedule. The stress is definitely different. This probably doesn't apply to every finance job though (I'm hoping to exit to 9-5 corporate side work at some point.)
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