• Question: What is a common misconception about your job that a lot of people assume?

    Asked by Lara on 15 Jan 2025.
    • Photo: Heather Thompson

      Heather Thompson answered on 15 Jan 2025:

      I work in a zoo and so everyone assumes that I am a zoo keeper. Whilst I know quite a bit about animals and their environments, I actually don’t have much hands on animal keeping experience.

Comments

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    People think that working as a vet is all about handling animals – (almost) every animal has an owner (sometimes more than one person) so interacting with people is just as big a part of the job as interacting with animals – if you apply to university do a vet degree, when they ask you ‘why do you want to be a vet rather than a doctor’ it’s not a good idea to answer ‘because I like animals better than people’!

  • Photo: Catherine Mcquillan

    Catherine Mcquillan commented on :

    Perhaps that it’s a very dirty job that only a man can do and that i am always on site. Half of my work is out on site and these could be beautiful green fields on the top of the mountain, or a construction site. Almost half of my colleagues are women, so it’s not a mans world anymore

  • Photo: star520knew

    star520knew commented on :

    I can’t believe that’s a misconception. I’ve never heard of it!!

  • Photo: Edward

    Edward commented on :

    I work in a University and I think sometimes people believe they cannot talk to us because they would probably ask silly questions or that they wouldn’t be able to understand our answers.
    Not at all! We like talking about what we do and enjoy talking to the general public. We are enthusiastic about what we do and want to encourage others to enjoy it as well