Partner looking to retrain at 43, any advice

[Belleende]

My DP has no education beyond school. He is v bright, knowledgeable, well read, but his mum moved the family to live on a beach in Portugal the year of his GCSEs, and that was that. He has spent his working life in catering and has had enough (can home to find he had quit his job, whole other thread there).

He wants to retrain, but doesn't know where to start. He is looking at OU degrees in things like health and social care. Any advice on resources we can tap into to help develop his thinking?
Ta

It’s really interesting to see the types of job people are suggesting for him. Based, I suppose on the perceived low status of catering - or on his current lack of academic qualifications.

So, a quarter of a century in catering? Which he presumably fell into because he needed a job? Was it really the stress of doing the job or the stress of being in the job that got on top of him? (Have you suggested to him, or has he considered, that a period of counselling might be helpful?)

Surely the first limitation might be whether he feels he has the necessary energy and determination to start again and work towards either a degree or an apprenticeship? If he does then surely the world is his oyster - he doesn’t have to work in a hospital or a prison or a care home; there are other choices ...

A history degree, for instance, is a degree - and thus a gateway to various graduate schemes, the civil service, law, etc. (Assuming one doesn’t proceed to postgrad and research options - which is a whole other life ...) I’d imagine the limitation there might be competing with people half his age - but recruiters should not be actively discriminating against older applicants.

You mentioned the OU? I guess the necessity of factoring in childcare would be a very present limitation. Are you in a university town? I know the OU is a fantastic institution but there are innumerable reasons why a concrete university might be a more attractive option for him, if it could work with family life. He might find day to day interaction with peers and tutors enormously strengthening and encouraging. And, of course, he would be within the flow of information on evolving graduate opportunities.

But that’s a long way down the road! He needs counselling and careers advice first.

It might be worthwhile for him to try some volunteering in a related area, just to get closer look at how the industry works.

Oops - sorry for x-posting. I just wanted to post quickly before heading off to bed...and missed a bit.

He really likes history. He is incredibly knowledgeable about society and politics, I just dont know how this translates into a job.

An Access course in Humanities and Social Sciences might be a good start.

If he goes straight from Access to Uni without a gap, then there's the slight difficulty that he has to apply for degree courses when he's only been studying a term, but he could apply for joint honours, liberal arts or similar. He can always switch to single honours after the first year.

He is interested in history and the like, but we can't afford the money or the time for him to retrain without a job at the end, and I don't know where a degree in history for example would get him.

Most graduate jobs don't specify a subject. A good degree is a good degree and he'll have lots of options whatever subject he chooses. Studying something that interests him will result in better grades.

Personally, I'd be more worried that he's zoomed in so quickly on OU and health and social care. That's a distance learning degree in a grinding sector. You don't even mention that he has any particular vocation for that kind of work. Maybe he's panicking?

One of my brothers got a history degree and then a masters and I must admit struggled to find a graduate job for about 18 months afterwards. He was doing retail work but then got a job on the civil service graduate scheme which he is loving.

As he has so much experience in catering can he get a part time job in that field that fits in with your hours and gives him time to decide what to do? Just until he finds another career.
Here in lreland we have degrees in Community work which enables you to eg work as an advocate for refugees or the marginalised which may fit in with his political interests.

There really is no need to be concerned about the value of a History degree (or any humanities subject):-

www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/history

If I was him I'd do maths/ English GCSEs in the short term and look at what higher apprenticeships are available. That way he'd get paid to retrain.

Don't get too hung up about stress, its normally about toxic work environments rather than the individual and it happens to lots of people who hold down good jobs. Social work however sounds pretty awful to me from what I've heard.

colehawlins totally agree about him panicking. He is being led by where jobs might be needed, not where his interest lie. I want him to spend some time really figuring out what he should do and how to do it.
He can earn a bit in the meantime catering from home, my salary is enough to live on as long as we have no child care costs.

He is leaning towards something vocational, which I think is sensible. I hire graduates and I know how brutal the graduate job market is. I think a mature grad might struggle to compete against the bright young things, (,but that could be just the not for profit sector, I swear to Christ they kill women when they got 50)

Please consider the Construction industry. We are desperate for good people. There are loads of ‘inside’ jobs that don’t require 7am-in-high-vis if he thinks he wouldn’t like that.

The money is fair-to-good and age is not going to be an issue. Lots of site management roles would benefit from age.

You said he's stressed at work. What type of stress? That affects what he goes for next.
Deadline stress?
Too much input stress?
Too busy/fast/noisy?
Or....working for shirking assholes who belittle him?

If it's the latter, he may be ok with a high stress job, as long as the Managers are not ghastly.

To be honest if a catering job is too stressful then social Work, teaching etc are off the table. Perhaps a catering job where he isn't working shifts, such as in a school or old people home. If he earned £25k and childcare is £1k per month you'd still be significantly better off with him working, even in a low paid job.

I think he's better off doing something related to his experience than starting again in some new and the not coping due to stress thing is a key concern for many jobs.

I agree with the pp who are saying he would be better off dealing with stress and arming himself with the tools to deal with it: CBT, counselling, whatever.

If he doesn’t, his earning power will be restricted across his lifetime. Far easier to find a job for someone without qualifications than someone who struggles to cope.