10 Jobs that Help People

When considering future career paths or switching professions, there's lots to consider. You may want a job that gives better work life balance. You may look at jobs that command a high salary. For some people it’s looking for jobs that make a difference. Here we look at 10 jobs that help people and why you might consider choosing a rewarding career.

There are lots of commonalities between the most rewarding jobs and plenty of reasons why you should choose jobs that make a difference. Here are a few:

• Your work will have a positive impact on communities, nationally or even globally.
• You know you are contributing on a daily basis.
• Knowing you are helping others means you have a fulfilling career.
• However tough it might get you know you’ve made a difference to another person’s life.

Here are our top 10 rewarding careers:

There are lots of career opportunities within psychology including as a clinical, counselling, occupational, educational, forensic or health psychologist, amongst others. There are also a wide range of mental health jobs such as counselling, Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner or Mental Health Nurse. Depending on your job role, you will help people suffering from mental health issues within a community setting, that could be in schools, connected to GP surgeries or referred through your local NHS trust. 

Interested in working in psychology? Find out more about ARU’s distance learning bachelors degree in Applied & Clinical Psychology BSc (Hons).

Further your career in mental health with ARU’s masters degree in Mental Health MSc or Child & Adolescent Mental Health Wellbeing MSc.

Teaching can provide a fulfilling career whether with young children in primary education, teenagers in secondary education, or adults on a college or university course. What qualifications you need depends on your teaching role and who you teach; Get into Teaching provides a comprehensive guide. If you are already a teacher, you may consider moving into a leadership role within education such as Head of Year, Curriculum Leader, Deputy Principal or Principal, or you may consider mentoring or consultancy roles. 

Interested in teaching? Find out more about ARU’s distance learning courses in Education.

This isn’t an obvious one but being a good communicator and working in a communications-related job role wields enormous influence. Imagine how good it would feel to be creating content around worthy causes to campaign for social justice, anti-poverty, environmental issues, and educational benefits. Job roles include communications, PR, marketing, careers as a software developer, and even social media can all provide value to your community. 

Interested in marketing? Find out more about ARU’s Digital Marketing BSc online course.

Working to develop and shape young minds in Early Years Education can be incredibly rewarding. As anyone who has already worked with young children, or is a parent or carer, will already know young children have curious minds that love to learn through play. Careers you could consider include Early Years or Special Education Teacher, Teaching Assistant, Health Play Specialist, Learning Mentor or Family Support Worker. 

Interested in a career in Early Years? Find out more about our BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies or Montessori Early Childhood Studies.

When we think of healthcare, we immediately think of doctors and nurses, but there are many worthy job roles within the health sector that have a positive impact on the patients they see day to day. They include audiology, midwifery, healthcare support workers, ambulance team, dentistry, health informatics, a physical therapist, and many more. 

Interested in starting or progressing your career in healthcare? See our distance learning healthcare degree courses.

There’s a real need for care workers at the moment and they were one of the key workers during the pandemic. Whereas care workers don’t start their careers being paid well, it is a fulfilling job helping those who are vulnerable to live more comfortably and with more dignity. With experience, care workers can progress into supervisory and management roles which pay higher salaries. Other jobs in the social care sector include social workers, community support and outreach workers, occupational therapists, amongst others.

Interested in starting or progressing your career in health and social work? See our distance learning relevant to the health and social care sector.

Imagine what it felt like to be part of the scientific team that developed one of the Covid vaccines. Incredibly proud of what they achieved, likely. Immense sense of job satisfaction, probably. You may not immediately think a job in science is one of the jobs that help people, but it is, because as a scientist your job can make a huge difference. 

Find out more about ARU’s distance learning Biomedical Science MSc.

Job roles that impact change are wide ranging. They can include high level positions such as senior managers, directors, and CEOs responsible for steering the course of a company. It can be a job role that advises and, therefore, influences management level decisions on important company initiatives such as sustainability, corporate responsibility, or equal opportunities. These job roles could include civil service, human resources, sustainability officers, amongst others.

Gain the management skills to impact change. Find out more about our MBA and Sustainability MSc.

There are so many different types of jobs that make a difference in the charity sector, so if you are considering a career switch because you want a more rewarding career, first consider whether you can do the same type of job but for a charity instead. Examples include retail assistants, sales and fundraising, marketing, communications, administration, finance, entrepreneurship, management, delivery and logistics, and supply chain management. You can also consider charity work on a voluntary basis in your spare time or if you are retired.

Find out more about our Business & Management BSc and Project Management MSc online degrees.

We’re all familiar with these frontline job roles; the people we call when there’s an emergency and we need help and save lives. These include paramedics, A&E doctors, nurses and healthcare support team, firefighters, and police. The armed forces not only protect their countries, but their work often overlaps with humanitarian emergencies such as distributing food and medicine in countries in crisis.

Find out more about our online degrees for armed forces. 

Interested in becoming a police officer? You can with a Degree Apprenticeship or Degree Holder Entry programme in Policing.

As you can see there are many jobs that have a positive impact. Best of all, when you join a team of like-minded individuals that want to make a difference as well, then real change can happen. As Nelson Mandela once said: “We can change the world and make it a better place. It’s in our hands to make a difference.”