Office Jobs

[Tundra]

So, a character of mine is working in an office. I don't know what kind of office, if he just has an office and it's some sort of company, or if he's in a cubicle kind of office, just one of the drones. I think it'll be a fairly small business, that involves an office building (perhaps they just have their company in it), oh, and it's not even a big office building...
What kinds of jobs might he have? What kind of company might it be? This is for nano, and it was based on just a really vague idea, and I suddenly realised I have no idea what he's doing, other than he's a workaholic, he's in a suit, he has an office, it's a small office building, probably only about three floors tall, and has a lift that they're going to get stuck in.

[Gholam]

Types of Jobs:
Accountant
Finance Consultant
Lawyer
Engineer
Human Resource Manager
Administrative
Records Management
Executive Assistant
Grants Consultant

Thats all I can think off from the top of my head, most from my current workplace. The top two would be ideal if he is a workaholic as they put in a lot of hours, even working each night after their workday and on weekends.

If he is an accountant you could have him rushing around at the end of the business year in June making sure that everyone has done the budgets for next financial year nd in such a rush he/she takes the lift instead of the stairs and it stuffs up. They could have a panic attack because their not going to get the budget in on time or something like that.

I can give accountants lip as I almost am one. :)

Wait, I hope I don't get stuck in a lift! :(

[Tundra]

Is there any way that any of those people would be working in a sort of small office building of about three floors? Think Adelaide, but a fictional building.

[cowmage]

Accountant
Finance Consultant
Lawyer
Engineer
Human Resource Manager
Administrative
Records Management
Executive Assistant
Grants Consultant
Any of those would work, really. A company of the right size will have most of those jobs in a single structure of a few floors. (Engineer and grants consultant excepted, almost all companies have all of those positions.)
Some others:
Programmer
Systems/Network Administrator (another one that pretty much all companies have)
Accountant (and another)
Conservation Biologist

[AXJ]

My wife used to work in a small office- it was a company that served as a financial aid office for colleges and universities that were too small to have their own, or didn't want the hassle. So this company would do it for them, and their office was a call center. If a student was looking to get a loan so they could go to school, they'd call in, and they would help them fill out the appropriate government forms and everything. Her title was 'financial aid advisor'.

Let's see, what else.... right off the top of my head:

Advertising agency - graphic designer, copy writer, print buyer, coordinator, photographer

Party Planners / Decorators - There's a new trend here in the US where small companies will handle planning parties and/or decorating your home for parties or holidays. Suppose you wanted elaborate Christmas decorations but don't want the hassle of putting them up or taking them down yourself... these firms will design a 'look' for your home with you, take care of buying all the neccessary supplies, install them, then come take them down whenever you want. Likewise, they can plan wedding showers, birthday parties, etc.

Travel Agency - Travel agent. More and more of these are online, with no traditional storefront- they're moving into office buildings because the rent is cheaper.

[Olwen]

If you want a workaholic, I'd go for an engineer. I worked for an environmental engineer (and a decent sized environmental engineering firm would fit your criteria), and he worked full time plus. He brought his blackberry and laptop on his family vacations, and sent work related emails the whole time. When doing invoicing, I found that he had worked an eight hour day on his vacation in northern Ontario.

[Sulis]

Collections (bill collecting on delinquent acounts)
Data entry
But I agree, the Finance people are workaholics... I'm working in a finance department right now, and the lady responsible for processing payment refunds is there pretty much 7 days a week right now, due to computer issues...

[Tundra]

I don't want them all to be workaholics as such, rather just him, or mainly him, in his office.

[cowmage]

If he's the only workaholic, I'd go with something like a systems administrator (these people typically work long hours, but a small company would have only one) or a manager (because the range of dedication here is extreme). I don't know about a lot of the jobs that have been mentioned, so I'm sure there are other options.

[Tundra]

Well, not the 'only' workaholic, but it's more i want a job that would 'allow' him to become a workaholic. Like, isn't required, but could be a benefit. Because his partner can't really complain about him being a workaholic if long hours are part of the job for everyone. And I want him to complain.

[AXJ]

I'll second sys admin. I've got a buddy who is a network security administrator and he works 80+ hours a week, every week. Plus he's on-call 24/7- he might get a call at 2am Sunday morning, and he's got to come in and fix whatever went wrong. Poor guy.

[Tundra]

Did he rise to that job? Can he actually cut down his hours at all? Because my character is hiding from reality by throwing himself into his work.

[AXJ]

Did he rise to that job? Can he actually cut down his hours at all? Because my character is hiding from reality by throwing himself into his work.

Er, sorta. He started out as a programmer there right out of uni, then got promoted to this position. The position itself didn't start out with all those hours- the company keep having cutbacks, meaning the people who don't get fired are left to cover the extra work, but it's also partially his fault for accepting it. If he threatened to leave, they'd get someone to help him. He just won't do that.

You could tweak it some to fit your situation... like, it would be just as believable if your guy volunteered to cover for an open position "for a while", to escape from his life... and of course the company isn't going to fill the open position unless the guy demands it, because it means savings to the bottom line. (most of these sorts of positions are paid salary, not hourly) So it could be one of hese cases where the guy complains about all the hours he's working, but he could really have relief if he only asked for it.

[cowmage]

Did he rise to that job? Can he actually cut down his hours at all? Because my character is hiding from reality by throwing himself into his work.

Being a sysadmin means that there's always something to do. Most of it is optional. The network doesn't always need to be upgraded, but there's always upgrades to be made. Maybe there needs to be a redundant switch here to eliminate this bottleneck. Perhaps there should be a second html server in case the first one goes down. Possibly a router is using an outdated version of the IOS (basically the router's operating system). These things may not be necessary, but, if one wanted, one could certainly justify staying late to do them.