Happy at work? Apparently so. Ireland ranked an impressive second in this year’s Global Life-Work Balance Index, published by global HR solutions provider Remote. Then again, a survey by recruiter Hays Ireland also found that 61 per cent of professionals want to change jobs this year. If you’re part of this cohort, then take inspiration from these five individuals who, mid-career, packed in the 9-to-5 for their true calling. From IT to goldsmith, Meta to antiques dealer, scientist to schoolteacher each found a way to achieve true happiness at work.

‘I was more interested in people’s inner selves than fashion shows and beauty shoots’

Ellen MacDermott

Graphic designer turned psychotherapist

Psychotherapist Ellen MacDermott. Photograph: Ryan James Fitzmaurice

Ellen MacDermott had a fast-paced, creative and exciting career in her 20s. As the senior designer on fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar US, the now 31-year-old worked in the 46-storey, Norman Foster-designed Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, frequently attending star-studded parties and regularly travelling to Paris fashion week.

To quote The Devil Wears Prada, “a million young girls would kill for this job”, and MacDermott’s story is not unlike that of Andy Sachs, the determined but conflicted second assistant to Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly in the 2006 film. “The job was 24-7. You lived to work,” she says. “So I was always late for dinner parties and birthdays, bringing expensive gifts to make up for the fact that I had no time. I couldn’t hold down a boyfriend; any time I was on a date, I’d get a call to go back to the office to make changes to something.”

MacDermott was on a hamster wheel with no time to think or weigh up. “It was just go, go, go.” But February 2020 proved a pivotal month for the Dubliner. “I was in Paris at the Louvre and my work was part of an exhibition celebrating 150 years of Harper’s Bazaar. It was amazing. Then within a week, Covid hit and everything stopped. Suddenly, I was back in Dublin, living with my parents.”

The dramatic change of scenery and pace forced her to slow down and consider her