I've screwed my career up- anyone else?

I did the pgce but didn't finished my nqt year: totally wrong thing at the wrong time. I've worked in adult since, but recently been made redundant: I got a lot of calls from recruiters to work in pupil referral units, alternate provision, even working in schools, as a lot of academies have different rules. It shouldn't be a a massive barrier.

I'd have thought the private sector would snap you up for teaching, especially given your experience of living and working abroad. Go for it.

Good suggestions on some corporate roles before. You could also consider social value roles as there is a strong link with an educational background. You may need to do some volunteering to back up your CV but have a look at social value advisor roles and see if any take your fancy. If you could volunteer in a role that helps people back into work or tries to reach children and parents around STEM subjects and careers, that would improve your application. I am now at manager level and have increased my wage by about 40%. Earning better means I have more money now to do stuff and can also pay well into my work pension.

Social value is a growing area so worth getting in at the low level and work your way up. Be focused and aim to be moving to next role after two years. This is how I developed my experience in the charity sector first.

I would definitely explore your teaching options in great detail.
My mother was a foreign language teacher when I was a kid, she stopped teaching for a really long time and then when she looked for a job again was employed very quickly and on a decent pay scale.
There is a teacher shortage and when there's needs, there are opportunities.
Good luck.

Do you really want to be a teacher in England. Becuase you have been avoiding it for a very long time. If you truly wanted to do that you would have done it by now. I think that you are just wishing you had better pay. Which is fair enough as I would be pissed off on 26k at 35 too. If i were you I would get into a corporate role and work your way up. You have loads of time. Even secretarial work can earn a large amount in corporate, I have friends on 60k as a secretary in finance for example. But there are loads of other types of jobs out there. Maybe time to knock teaching on the head and stop wasting time and go for something else entirely.

I'd be worried that a teacher doesn’t realise that "scoring 5s and 6s" is completely meaningless to everyone not familiar with Civil Service recruitment procedures. I have no idea whether that’s good. But no harm in applying to schools looking for language teachers.

OP, bit of wildcard, but have you thought about applying to Fast Stream? It isn't only for new grads, and it's one way to move through the glass ceiling to reach more senior grades/ to pivot into new career directions.

@jknhfdaww
Locally we have something called 'Get Oldham working' where they assist people who want to work to find voluntary work. They are very supportive. Perhaps you have something similar local - via the council or job centre?

Why don’t you do something else with your languages? The technology sector is crying out for language specialists for AI roles and most of those pay 2-3x what a TA makes. You could even try a bit of consulting.

Op, do not go and be a manager in a call centre unless you want your soul to be hollowed out. I know you want to progress and move on from the CS, but don’t do it at any cost.

Hi OP. I love your message. I had a full on career but gave it up as it was affecting my health and my husband has a full on super career and was not around to help me. My youngest is starting secondary school and I need to go back to work. My confidence has really taken a hit and I need to get the courage to get out there. I also wish that there were more accesible roles for people who have taken career breaks. i used to work in the Civil Service and I would recommend that you leave. It is a great place to stay once you are at the grade that you want to be but promotion can be super difficult and much easier and more meritocratic in the private sector.

I wouldn't bother with teaching. It's hellish nowadays. Why dont you have a complete rethink. Do some other kind of admin role and, if you're good, get promoted that way.

I'd be surprised if you got a teaching role in an independent school. From my experience, they have applications from a wide range of qualified staff as the working conditions are perceived to be better. The pay and pension are often worse.

Maybe apply for a language assistant role in an independent to see how you like being on a school? Though the money will be very poor.

Good luck whatever you decide to do. If you decide to stay in the CS then get someone more senior with experience of sifting and interviewing to review your next application. There are various things you can do to improve your chances of getting through the anonymised sift, and then it's all about perfecting your STAR examples for the behaviour questions at interview.

I'm a bit confused by your post, I just just offering OP a bit of a good news story to show even if she did go down the right 'path' career wise there's plenty people who still walk away from it and start over 🤷‍♀️

100% - it's glib comments like that, that come across as completely out of touch with the grinding reality of trying to be in some form of meaningful work that you can enjoy and do well at. A career most certainly is worth fighting for, especially if you're a woman and want to have a dignified, financially stable life where you can call the shots. everywhere else on MN is about women getting a job, and being financially independent!

Surely you act as a leader in a classroom? I would think your teaching roles abroad would be adaptable to cover "leadership".

With respect, that’s easy to say if you’ve had one and earned a decent amount. It’s also stressful being on a low wage.

Oh my gosh, this would be SUCH a good idea. A couple of iffy choices in your 20s, a bit of bad luck and suddenly you're 30 and having children and the career you were promised if you just worked hard is suddenly completely unattainable. This is what happened to me.

I'm also a languages teacher, I ended up using the head of my children's primary school as a referee (a character reference rather than professional) as I had done LOADS of PTA and other volunteering work in the school, and I couldn't tell you who my second referee was now, I've no idea. But that got me my first job back, which led to the second, where I still am, nearly nine years later.

OP - you don't say what language(s?) you teach. If you teach Spanish you just need to keep applying for jobs, you will definitely get one. If you teach German (as I did) the 'shortage of languages teachers' doesn't apply and it never has! Or at least not this century.

Google 'return to teaching'. There must be a way, if you have QTS. I took so long to complete my NQT year that the five-year limit came in and went away again in that time! Good luck.

You made the best choices with what you knew at the time and also got to live abroad. Now you can apply for teaching jobs- nothing to lose, and I bet you're already qualified for indie schools - especially as you've kept up experience through tutoring.

FE/adult Ed and work your way up.

And it's never too late to change career - just look at Judi Dench!

I don't agree that in all cases, you need to spend £000 on training. It depends at what point you are in your career, what skills you bring and to some extent the business need - some of the cost of training is borne by the employer..

I don’t know if you’d be open to another overseas move but I’m in Sydney and language teachers are always in short supply. My sons go to a very good private school and they had to cancel one language as although the demand was there, they couldn’t get the teaching staff for it.

Plus tutoring is very very common and popular here, you could run language groups, small classes, one on one. Because not many people speak European languages it’s seen as a real plus if you do.

This is reassuring! I had a great freelance career from 25-35 but a lot of the work has disappeared (the industries and roles just no longer exist, killed by internet, AI, covid, budgets, etc). Then I had kids and now it feels almost impossible to get back to the level I was at but in a salaried role – everywhere I interview comments on how I seem too senior and experienced for the role, but I don’t get a sniff when applying for the senior roles! I did interview for a Head of role but didn’t get it due to my managerial experience being in fixed-term and contract positions or from too long ago, pre kids.

Currently earning a pittance with the only benefit that it’s 0.6 FTE and flexible so I can shift around primary years and nursery hours, holding on until both children are in one place and I can free up more availability. In the meantime applying for a couple of better jobs a week but it’s so disheartening because I know from the other side of things, our crappy jobs attract 350+ applicants so anything good is truly off the scale.

At 44 it does feel like I’ve missed the boat and everyone around me is higher up, with the same flexibility because they’re senior/established, I’m bored out of my skull at work in a junior grunt role and not earning enough, but the job market is dire and my opportunities to stuff my pension with cash are dwindling. Aaaaargh.