Talk to me about jobs in marketing / project management

[GraciousPiglet]

Right 2020 is over and I desperately now need to work out how to leave my awful teaching job. I teach primary and have done for 10 years. I absolutely hate it. I have three young kids and work 3 days a week. Live in a large town with plenty of opportunities. I want a job with some flexibility but would happily work 4/5 days if I could do the odd pick up here and there.

Before teaching I did a degree in design and worked as a digital designer in London for 5 years. Gave it all up to teach.

Obviously I can't get back into design now as my portfolio is over a decade old. I can still design things OK and my digital skills are good. Am v computer literate.

I'm after a job that can utilise skills from both careers. Was thinking marketing might be good? Or something in project management? I like working with other people, I'm very organised and can plan things well. I'm not the best with numbers but I enjoy statistics and analysis. I like to problem solve.

I am very happy to retrain so long as I can do so fairly quickly full time or part time. I could afford to take 6 months off work to retrain full time but anything longer would have to be part time.

I know you can get certificates in marketing/project management. Do they lead to jobs easily enough? What is career progression like?

Any other recommendations for an ex teacher would be welcome. It feels like a lot of options aren't open to me as I did a creative main degree rather than a traditional academic one. I can't afford (time or money) to do another main degree, otherwise I would and I would probably do a social science degree.

Help! The most important thing is that I need to leave my current job. ASAP.

@Goldfinch7654567 that company look really interesting! They are Kent based though, unfortunately. I would quite like to still have some aspect of education/training in my job but it's definitely not a necessity.

I would also recommend not going down the marketing agency route. It's much less flexible and more difficult to enter into as a second or third career. I think looking for a junior marketing role in something education related could work.

That's a shame. Still worth keeping an eye out though. I came from a completely unrelated business background and got a maternity cover doing an admin role in a state secondary school. I then became a Business Manager at a state primary and then moved to take a maternity cover in an independent school doing marketing and admissions. When the post holder didn't return I was asked to stay on (but had to leave for personal reasons). Just giving you an example of how things can progress.

Could I ask, what is it about teaching that you hate so much and what made you go into it from another career in the first place?

Have you considered an apprenticeship? Not just for school leavers and some of will pay more than 20K.

@doadeer I think my skills would place me well for tech based stuff. My design work was London based and mostly digital.

I think I could become confident with all of those things with a little training. I am.very familiar with them and from my design says I understand a lot of the basics just from sitting in on meetings etc. I am very computer literate. My DH is a software engineer and very geeky so I am aware of a lot of stuff anyway.

I'm too sociable to work in programming and not quite detail orientated like he is. I prefer bigger picture/planning and working with people. He wants to just be given something tricky to do, put on his headphones and get on with it.

Sorry that wasn't clear by me, when I said tech I meant I do marketing for technology businesses (like Facebook, or companies that help retailers sell on marketplaces) my job isn't technical at all, I write content, do digital, organise events, PR etc. It's just a booming industry so there's tons of jobs.

I can give you some recruitment agencies if you want to speak to them to get a feel for the market? Sure they'd speak to you.

@WitchesGlove I absolutely love teaching and working with little kids. But there is no progression available that I want to take from here and the thought of just sitting teaching day in, day out for another 30 years fills me with dread. I need a change, a challenge and something a bit more.

Look at the College of Policing. They are always advertising for the kind of roles you could do and lots of jobs are home-based.

www.college.police.uk/About/Work-for-us/current-vacancies/Pages/Current-Vacancies.aspx

@doadeer that would be really good thank you. That sort of role definitely sounds appealing.

Look at PMO / project support work too as a way in.

The basics of project management involves getting stuff delivered on time, to the requirements and quality and, equally importantly, within budget. You do need to be good with numbers to run any mid sized plus project.
I also don’t know the reasons you’re leaving teaching but project management is (usually) very stressful.

You should also check that the careers you are looking at changing into will work for you and your family. For example, Project management can be all-consuming, even at a junior level, meaning you can't always finish work at a set time. Don't want to put a downer on your desire to change, just encourage you to be sure the change will meet your needs. I'm a little bit sensitive to that as I have lots of friends who teach, several of whom think that people in industry get paid a ridiculous amount of money for doing very little, neither of which are true in most cases!

Funnily enough I was looking at the College of Policing last night!

Try:

www.nativegravity.co.uk

www.greymatterrecruitment.co.uk

www.emrrecruitment.co.uk