Help me find a new career please!

[teenyweenytadpole]

Hi all, am sorely lacking in inspiration, would love some ideas. Have had a long term interest in health issues, wanted to be a nurse when younger but was talked out of by my Dad! Still feel I have somehow missed a vocation. I have a degree and an MA, spent 12 years in corporate world in HR but didn't really like it, gave up work when DD1 was born, trained as a doula and antenatal teacher, did that for a few years and loved it but doula work is so hard with small children plus very unpredictable hours and hard work. I now work in childcare which fits well with the children (school hours only) but I am not really happy, can't see me doing this for longer than another couple of years. I am happy to retrain but not to do another degree and I do need to earn money fairly quickly. Any ideas???? I am really interested in health, especially child health or women's health. Don't want to be a midwife. Don't want to be a teacher. What else could I do without a medical qualification? Any creative ideas gratefully received. Thanks!!

[MovingAndScared]

could you work in HR in healthcare?

[WhatsWrongWithYou]

Could you train in some sort of massage therapy? Sports/remedial massage, maybe?

Nutritionist? Counsellor?

[LaCiccolina]

Depends on whether you are looking for money now, or later. If you want money now frankly go back to HR and try to get something in Healthcare. You are going to get a much better salary Id guess. However, you probably need to do 5days 9-5 minimum. You could temp in HR too. Did you have any quals in HR too? Seems everyone now has the CIPD which you might want to look at.

For a slower need, any way you can set yourself up as some sort of childcare advisor? SuperNanny for those with child issues, questions etc? A website is easy to set up these days, start a blog, twitter yourself etc, your current charges could give you references and your interests briefly outlined would give you credibility I think.

You did say creative thinking was allowed here..... Frankly I could have done with some 3rd party help when I had my dd. BF was a nightmare at first and I had no idea what a routine was or which book to read/ignore. Also I didn't know any brands. I didnt know local hospitals or questions to ask / ensure covered. NCT was great but a 1:1 person could have been a godsend. You could advise from pre-pregnancy through to toddlers quite easy. Your local WI might allow you to do a talk, your library, your children's center.

Or is that too creative?

[LaCiccolina]

Dont pay for someone to do you a website without a thorough understanding of what they are doing. They really are not that difficult to do these days yourself.

Now, what career can I do....? Why is it easier to suggest something to someone else than think of something for yourself?!?!

[dustyhousewithdustypeople]

Medical Laboratory Assistant? Dealing with blood or tissue samples in a pathology lab. Not great pay but most places will do training on the job and some qualifications.

[teenyweenytadpole]

Hi all thanks for the ideas. Yes I do have the CIPD but I haven't worked in HR for 10 years now so I'm not feeling very current. To be honest with you I never really liked it that much first time around!

LaCiccolina yes I like your idea, it's related to the work I did before when I was a doula I also used to do breastfeeding support and babycare classes and so on, but it's quite difficult to make that into something that pays a reasonable wage. Would people actually be willing to pay money for support/advice when there is so much information available for free? Nice idea though! Funnily enough a couple of years ago I registered a URL of myvirtualdoula.com but never got any further than that, it's probably expired by now!

Nutritionist I like the sound of. Will do some investigation about that but I suspect a degree would be necessary.

I did wonder about hypnotherapy focussing on things like fertility and stress (women's issues type of thing) but wierdly am a bit skeptical about whether hypnotherapy actually works!!

Perhaps I could just go and get a job in Holland and Barrett!!

Thanks for the ideas....will keep thinking...

[LaCiccolina]

Id suggest theres a massive gap in the market for this type of maternity service. Ive only heard of one other woman in London that does it. She also works in NY which is how I heard of her as a colleague there mentioned she had saved her life. Oddly enough she was in Grazia magazine in the past month but her name escapes me right now. Shes right top end but I thought it a pretty good idea. The woman helped her from start to finish, sourced items for a nursery from paint to nappies, baby clothes, baby shower, pregnancy partner, birth partner, development support and returning to work (nannies, childcare and relational forms for the office). (By the way, people havent altered in 10yrs so I think you could go back into HR relatively easily if you just read the right magazines etc for any legal alterations)

I dont know where you live but NCT can be too expensive for some to attend classes. NHS often doesnt run them (ours didnt) as no staff. Midwives can be hit and miss as its dependant on the hospital and ours is awful. Some people dont know where to start and if you are working as well someone who knows what they are doing would be really useful. Wedding planners work ok so why wouldnt this? Im sure the first wedding planner was told "but no-one will pay for someone else to organise their wedding, its too personal" and now theres loads.

I dont suggest you offer everyone everything but tailor packages and one off classes or something people could pay to use. Check the NCT website for a guess at costs maybe? They get enough people! Id guess anyone who shops in M&S, John Lewis, Mammas and Pappas through to footballers wives (Selfridges etc) would be interested in either a class or a full on platinum package. I thought it a brilliant idea, but personally dont have the skills to enter it and if I study therell be tons by the time I qualify in stuff! Its a slower idea maybe but if you can start this around your childcare perhaps one can tip into the other.....

[LaCiccolina]

Dunno if everyone knows what a doula is or what it entails. Id go for Maternity Personal Shopper or something to attract a bigger market. I don't want to offend but you might want it to sound a little less herbal at first glance and more all encompassing if you know what I mean. If someone has to look the term up they wont pick your website.

[teenyweenytadpole]

Hello again, wow you really have thought this one through haven't you! Some interesting ideas. Thanks - I'll have to get my thinking cap on.

[clemetteattlee]

Ambulance? Basic requirements are 5 A-C GCSE. Check your local trust website...

(PS I am a trained doula as well but could never fit in the 4 week on-call period. I still teach for the NCT and have worked for the ambulance service on my year out from graduate medical school - going back in September)

[drcrab]

have you thought about putting your HR experience into teaching at a college or at university? Teaching HR to university undergraduate students. I say this because I'm at the moment trying to recruit seminar leaders to teaching many many seminars and tutorials that my colleagues and I have no time to do. These seminar leaders typically are our PhD students but we have had (and loved!!) people from the corporate world who have for whatever reasons decided to help out in academia - (retirees, people who do part time...). It pays about £20-30/hour.

[Cazzatina]

Hi, I need some help as I'm running out of ideas of finding work other than through the standard methods...(agency/ direct application) I'm a single parent of a delightful 3 year old. I'm starting to despair at the prospect of finding a part-time job. I was working for a great company back in Sept '10 to Dec '10, which unfortunately came to an end as the company had its funding cut. I have over 12 years senior management level PA experience, which essentially has been gained in media. I'm also and aspiring jewellery designer/ maker and would love to study and work at this on a full-time basis. I currently attend a studio 1 morning a week where I get to work on my craft. I would love to be able to some how marry the two roles as I obviously need to continue earning some money. I'm not opposed to working outside of media so am open to any suggestions....any ideas? Please help!!!