well paid, flexible part time jobs?

[micegg]

Do they exist?

I have been posting on here for some time querying different career options so thought I'd try a different approach.

This is my situation: 35 years, 2 children pre school age (nearly 2 as I am heavily pregnant at the moment)
Science degree from a good uni. 10 years experience working in a specialised scientific field.

Positive about my job: Quite interesting, flexible and p/t, pay is OKish (£20k for 3 day week so far from horrendous)

Not so good: Little in the way of career prospects and future earnings power, feel very over looked since returning P/T and its a good hours travel home.

Changing to a company nearer home is not an option because of what I do (dont want to say but its not that interesting anyway)

This is what I would like: A well paid P/T job, near home, flexible hours and some level of career progression. My plan is to work P/T for the next 5 years and then if I were in the right job increase my hours once both DC are at school to focus on career progression and earning more money.

Am I being completely and utterly unrealistic? Is it the case that you either have a career or children? And if you have the career is it beacuse you work F/T? I prefer P/T work whilst the DC are young. However there is a possibility that I will be a SAHM for a few years after this baby is born. Will that mean the complete end to any chance of having a decent career. Please give me hope MNs.

[nailpolish]

my job would fit that description
im a nurse
there are thousands of career paths open to me

[chocolatemummy]

there are some jobs you can do well part time but I do think the old career or children thing massively exists. Greatly depends on your working area too, £20,000 for 3 day week sounds pretty good but if you are not happy........

[micegg]

funnily enough i used to be a nurse

[indiechick]

Don't know the answer but I think there is some truth in the career or children thing. Certainly if you work part time it seems that way.
What do you think about 16K for 18 hours, does that sound reasonable? How much net per month do you think that would bring me?

[nailpolish]

why not go back to nursing then? i work 36hrs a week over 3 days

so the hrs and pay is ft but it feels like pt

[ClareVoiant]

i haven't found one, and tbh £20k for 3 days sounds pretty good to me, but i suppose you have to counter the money with childcare costs (for 2 children) and the cost of travel!

I used to have a great job in London that paid really well til i had ds, then i found that shelling out £900 a month in childcare and trainfares made it soo not worthwhile, not to mention being out of the house for 12 hours a day.

I gave it up, bought a coffee van and now sell espresso based drinks at the side of the road 5 mornings a week. I get all afternoons with ds, and ds nows goes to a cm next door but one, so it doesnt cost the earth. I bought the van outright and all the profit is mine (less tax). its never going to be a career path (well i could expand i guess), but the money is good for pt (equiv of what i was earning ft in london!)

It gives me what i need, money, no aggravating boss or office politics and time with ds.

Can you do, what you do for yourself? Then you can progress at the rate you want.

the only downside of being self employed is you dont get paid if you dont work.

[micegg]

Two lots of childcare would be about £10k per year and travel would be about £1k so that reduces my money to £9k. However, thats still quite alot to be bringing in to the house. Plus the childcare wont be so expensive forever.

[pippylongstockings]

I'm sure there is hope, but you may find your priorities change once you have a 2nd child.
I continued to work f/t when I had DS1 but returned to work p/time once DS2 was 10 months old.

I am pretty well paid for Devon earing £18k for 3 days work, and they are fairly flexible in me swapping days as long as they have enough prior notice. But they have now asked me to apply for a lesser grade job to ensure I can stay working in the city where I live! Not an ideal situation but my attitude has changed - the kids and working close to home are my priority for the next few years and it is such hard work with 2DS that I am happy to take a bit more of a back seat for a while.

I

[micegg]

Thanks pippylongstockings (love the name). DH comes from Devon so thats a very good wage for the hours - well done to you. I think you are right about the priorities changing. I just need to chill out about the whole thing. I just worry about ending up in a dull low paid job (even duller than now ) 10 years from now wondering what could have been. I worked hard to get my degree and have lots of experience in my field so I think somthing will come up. Time I started living a bit more for the here and now I think.

[OrmIrian]

Mine ticks a lot of your boxes. Apart from the career progression thing. I have the distinct feeling that once you've been part-time it's nigh on impossible to move back, and be taken as seriously as before.

[Oblomov]

I get nearly £19,000 for a 2 1/2 day week - 20 hours.
I suppose I am basically a book keeper, but I have higher skills, being pq from practice.
A very good book keeper could work from home and do whatever hours suited. Could visit clients, if need be, whilst children were at school or pre-school at aged 3.
I am not suggesting to you specifically, becasue you have science degree and are clearly highly qualified, but I am surprised that more mums don't consider this option - lots of mumsnetters - reading the lastest 'Tax Return Thread', already do a similar service for their dp's/dh's.

[Oblomov]

In my time, going back f/t after being p/t is not a problem - you wouldn't miss out on any career progression in that sense.

[Oblomov]

pippi is doing well to get good money like hers.

[pippylongstockings]

Miceegg - not sure how old you are but the way I look at it, I worked for 15 years to get to a level where I am lucky enough to earn a good wage part-time, at the other end of it there is still going to be another 25 years before I retire so I need to enjoy the hear and now of my LO and worry about the rest of it in a few years......

.....unless I win the euro-millions tonight!

[micegg]

Pippy -I am 35 with 10 years experience.

Oblomov - Funnily enough I am looking into doing a bookeeping course. Could you recommend any in particular? I thought it would be a good skill to have no matter what happens. I have just had an info pack from ATT but a friend has said I would be better off doing ACCA - although that looks like a huge commitment unless I am certain about being an accountant.

Agree about living for the here and now Pippy. So wish I would fret less! In fact I am off to change DDs very wiffy nappy before taking her to the park to collect leaves so we can make some pictures together.

[Lazycow]

Well my job pays £30,000 for 3 days a week. For 4 days a week it is £40,000. It is local to me (15 min drive) and the employer is quite child friendly. BUT I work in an industry that is generally not very family friendly.

The reason I go this opportunity is that I have 20+ years experience in my field and had worked for my current employer for 7 years before going on maternity leave. They also bent over backwards to keep me, letting me work 3 days a week for a year when I first came back despite the fact that my job really doesn't lend itself to this.

I don't have a great deal of scope for career progression though as my work is in a very specialised area of my industry and I've been her so long now (10 years) it would be difficult to move somewhere else in the same field with anything like the flexibility I have here.

My personal view is that I will probably be aiming to work slightly less hours when ds starts school (at least for the first few years anyway)

[sparklesandwine]

Oblomov - can i just ask how long the training is for book keeping? how long until your fully qualified and can take on your own clients/do you work for a company etc?

Sorry i've been interested in trying to start doing something like this myself but have never come across anyone who actually does this work

[blueshoes]

Same as lazycow. I stayed with the same company, specialised skills, but changed to a different role (support, rather than fee-earning) for flexibility. Despite the discounted pay and pro-ration, my pay is still very decent because it was high pre-flex.

No career progression, unless I go back to ft and change firm.

I am quite fine with that actually. micegg, if I were you, I would stay put until you are ready to gear up.

[micegg]

Hmmmm. food for thought here. Thanks everyone. I think you are right about staying put at least for now. As I said there is a possibility that I will not go back after DC2 is born becuase of the commute. If that happens I think I will have rethink. I may still look into the bookeeping course. I ahve always had vague notions of setting up my own business so it will useful to have some acounts knowledge even if I dont actually work in that area. Certainly no harm in adding to my skills.

[Oblomov]

sorry for delay in answering, I was off spending time with lovely dh - we do that here ????
Micegg and sparklesandwine, I am afraid that it is very difficult for me to answer your question- sorry if I misled you /confused you I never actually did a book keeping course.
I worked in accounts for 20 years, in between running hotels and doing BA's etc. I was sacked form my firm of accountants, from my ICAEW training contract for failing a paper. After ds I wanted to work p/t, but couldn't get a p/t purchase ledger manager. So did some book keeping type roles. Plus becasue I have the added advantage of practice training, and I do personal tax returns, complicated statutory accounts, and corp tax calulations, for one of the local accountants, that is why I get paid well, and am now classified as a 'book keeper'.
But at work I do forecasts, budgeting, and stat accs and corp tax calculations ,I suppose a book keeper probably wouldn't take things that far.

So, to answer your questions:
I can not recommend any particular book keeping course as such, but they do have ones for a weekend, or 6 nights, they are brilliant, specially as a beginners foundation.
micegg, you yourself said it, ACCA is no joke, takes years, they recommedn 6 hours of study per week minimum - you need to be sure.
AAT is no joke either. My best friend , lives in Devon , she has done AAT, after we met at uni, runs her own book keeping and tax returns business, plus a p/time role similar to mine.
Her company wants her to do CIMA, which is very atttractive to both of us - my firm may let me transfer my ICAEW papers and complete CIMA.

There are of course many ways to do book keeping online, or join the institute, depends what you want. It does narrow you carrer progression though into that specifically. But you could take these skills and then use them, I suppose as I have done/ how life has forced me to, into all sorts of areas.
I hope that helps. ask me more if I can assist.

[micegg]

Thanks Oblomov. Very kind of you. I will look into doing a course once DC2 is born and life is a bit more settled.