What career has more longevity?

[3gorgeousgirlies]

Hi, I’m 38 and looking into retraining. I am considering either nursing or teaching.

As I will be 41 when I qualify I need to be able to work as long as possible as I have been out of the workforce for 12 years.

I would like to chose a career where I can work as long as possible .

Does anyone have any advice or experience please ?

I have experience in neither, but would pressume teaching had more longevity.

To me, with teaching comes a little diversification such as tutoring, exam marking etc. Nursing seems like a physically more demanding career, which would deter me (as a 40year old woman), and less option to wind down with in later life.

Thank you

nursing I think. Plenty of options and office type jobs as you get older and might not want to be as physical. Also many more senior ie band 6 and above jobs have sociable hours

I’m in nursing. It’s very physically demanding! Most nurses I know have shoulder/back/knee problems due to the nature of the work. Obviously some areas are lighter than others but it’s tough.

Have you done you any work experience? IME people are either called to nursing (or not) and most people know within a couple of weeks of hands on experience. I would advise getting on the ‘nurse bank’ as a healthcare to get some experience and see what you think.

Neither are particularly good when you look at current retention rates. From a teaching perspecive, the job is highly demanding - both physically and emotionally - and you will have to get used to having no life during term-time. It's certainly not something I would recommend if you do not have extremely high levels of energy, and are likely to keep those up for the next 30+ years.
On the other hand, getting a job (once qualified) should be easy, especially in one of the shortage subjects.

Would you consider primary or secondary teaching? Both are quite different, with different levels of demand on you.

I am considering primary. I will be 41 once qualified . Thank you for your replies.